Thomas Dietz

Thomas Dietz is a Professor of Sociology and Environmental Scienceand Policy and Assistant Vice President for Environmental Research at Michigan State University.

David Bidwell

David Bidwell currently serves as Program Manager for the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center and is a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University.

Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region
Navigating an Uncertain Future

 Edited by

Thomas Dietz

David Bidwell

People living in the Great Lakes region are already feeling the effects of a changing climate. Shifts in seasonal temperatures and precipitation patterns could have dramatic impacts on the economy, ecology, and quality of life. In this illuminating and thorough volume, leading scholars address the challenge of preparing for climate change in the region, where decision makers from various sectors — government, agriculture, recreation, and tourism — must increasingly be aware of the need to incorporate climate change into their short- and long-term planning. The chapters in this revealing book, written by some of the foremost climate change scholars in North America, outline the major trends in the climate of the Great Lakes region, how humans might cope with the uncertainty of climate change impacts, and examples of on-the-ground projects that have addressed these issues.

Reviews

"Climate change becomes "real" only in a local and regional context...this book has great immediate value with vital insights into the changing world of the Great Lakes Region. A critical contribution." —Thomas E. Lovejoy, George Mason University

"This engaging and well- written book brings climate change and its impacts home to the Great Lakes region, but its lessons are relevant far beyond. In their discussions of what is known about climate change, of uncertainties (and why they need not get in the way of action), and of ways of deliberately linking scientific knowledge with decision making processes, the authors set out a strategy that is sensible in the Great Lakes as well as many other regions of the world."
—Pamela Matson, Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies, and Senior Fellow at Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University

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