With Earth Day (Friday, April 22) right around the corner and the signs of spring popping up everywhere, I am feeling reflective on our connection with the natural world. The feeling is clearly shared throughout Southeast Michigan, as residents plan to gather on Earth Day to participate in park cleanups, plant trees and gardens, take part in educational opportunities, and walk, bike, and paddle their way across our region.
Earth Day, particularly in a four-season state like Michigan, is a wonderful opportunity for education, celebration, and stewardship; it also reminds us of uncertainties in our planet’s future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released its Sixth Assessment Report, which details rapid environmental deterioration and urges communities across the globe to take swift action. With the rate and severity of climate-driven challenges growing by the day, communities are stepping up to lead by taking action and working together to create a sustainable future.
Data Show More Frequent and Intense Storms
In recent years, Southeast Michigan has experienced increasing precipitation, more frequent and intense storm events, more extreme heat days, and fluctuating lake water levels and ice cover. These changes are noticeable in our quality of life, and all of them also impact our region’s livelihood. Southeast Michigan Current and Future Precipitation study shows that rainfall is expected to increase 57% by 2050.
Current projections forecast that what is considered a 100-year event (the kind of storm that happens once every hundred years or that would be considered a 1% probability any given year) of today could potentially be the 10-year event by 2050. In addition to precipitation, the Great Lakes Integrated Science Assessment (GLISA) found that average air temperatures have increased by 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the Great Lakes region. Current models project air temperatures to increase by anywhere from 3-to-6 F by 2050.
Converting Challenge to Opportunity
While these findings are a cause for concern, they are also a call to action. Addressing climate change is a daunting task, and it can feel easier to ignore it than to take action. With a challenge this large, how can any of us make a difference? Don’t ask me. Ask all the residents, neighborhoods, communities, regions, and states that have stopped waiting around and worked together to develop plans for the future, with achievable actions that will help to mitigate the impacts climate change and create sustainable resilience.
In the SEMCOG region alone, communities like Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township, Northville, Southgate, Ypsilanti, Royal Oak, and more are developing or implementing Climate/Sustainability Action plans. Many of these plans set about bold actions for achieving carbon neutrality; updating infrastructure systems; increasing recycling capacity; developing holistic, regional food systems; increasing green infrastructure; and providing equitable access to natural resources. While each initiative may seem small on its own, the collective impact of community-level progress (especially when communities share what they have learned with their neighbors) becomes immense.
Beyond goals of carbon neutrality, Climate Action plans and associated grants are prioritizing holistic approaches to how we achieve these goals, adding lenses of equity and environmental justice. These factors are essential to consider when developing solutions as the impacts of climate change disproportionately affect the health, prosperity, and safety of low-income populations, communities with higher proportions of people of color. Ensuring that all residents in Southeast Michigan are able to withstand environmental impacts and build resilience is key to the shared prosperity of our region, and it is a goal that many communities are currently working to address.
Tools to Build Sustainability
SEMCOG is committed to helping local communities across Southeast Michigan build resilience, and we strive to encourage and facilitate collaborative solutions. Over the past year, SEMCOG has been working on many projects that help address some of the region’s most challenging issues.
Our Flood Risk Tool is helping communities to further understand vulnerabilities in the transportation network, and identify areas that may be susceptible to flooding. This tool may be used to guide planning and investment decisions to ensure a safe and efficient transportation network.
SEMCOG and LIAA are currently collaborating on a Michigan Coastal Management Grant, in which LIAA is conducting a coastal sustainability assessment of zoning and planning documents for the region’s coastal communities. This work will produce Heat Vulnerability and Flooding Scenario Maps that can be used for community planning purposes. This work will also guide green infrastructure planning, as SEMCOG and the Center for Watershed Protection look to identify potential green infrastructure sites along Southeast Michigan’s coastline in order to develop concept plans and future next steps for these sites.
Starting in April, SEMCOG will be working with Public Sector Consultants and ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) to complete a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for the Southeast Michigan region. This will help local communities to take the first step in sustainability planning, and the data can be used to identify community sectors where emissions can be reduced.
Dive into Sustainability with Us in New Webinar Series
The topics of sustainability and resilience-building are multifaceted, and it can be challenging for communities to determine what first steps need to be made. Over the next month, SEMCOG will be walking through the process in a webinar series called Sustainability for Local Governments. The series will feature presentations from SEMCOG and partners across the region on how local governments are building resilient economies; implementing new solutions to energy use, solid waste, and recycling; and aligning local projects with state and federal funding opportunities. SEMCOG is excited to work with communities across the region to step further into sustainable solutions and building resilience for the changing world.
Leave a Reply