Winter has arrived in Michigan, and with it, loads and loads of road salt. It’s terrible for the environment. What can we do about it?

"If climate change isn’t stopped soon, the impacts of the change will become much worse in Michigan."

It’s winter in Michigan, and with it come loads and loads of road salt.

Winter has arrived in Michigan, and with it, loads and loads of road salt. It’s terrible for the environment. What can we do about it?

2022 will be a key year for Michigan’s energy and climate future -- and we now have a peek into what could be the path forward. A look at some of the key points.

“Basically, human impact is putting our atmosphere on steroids.”

“If we don’t slow down the cycle, pollen production will only get worse.”

The U.S. is investing big resources into electric vehicles, and Michigan will be leading the way in manufacturing -- but are they better for the climate?

“For Michigan to avoid the future harms of climate change and to enable the state to take advantage of the ongoing global energy transformation, it’s imperative to transition to carbon neutrality.”

This article was first published in the “In This Climate” Newsletter, a periodical newsletter looking at the impact of climate change in Michigan. How is climate change impacting Michigan right now -- and how will it impact Michigan in the future? He has studied weather and climate for decades, and has been reporting on climate change since the early 1990s (before it was on other meteorologist’s radar). UN report : Humans are making Earth a broken and increasingly unlivable planet through climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Humans are making Earth a broken and increasingly unlivable planet through climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

"Michigan needs to become a leader in transitioning the state to low-carbon energy, and eliminating all forms of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 or earlier."

Often, we think of climate change as a thing that will happen many years from now. But that’s no longer the case. Climate change is happening right now, and its impacts can be seen across Michigan.

The differences in average global temperatures among the three warmest years – 2016, 2019 and 2020 – are indistinguishably small. The average global temperature in 2020 was about 14.9°C, 1.2 (± 0.1) °C above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) level. For instance, the United States reported a record 22 billion-dollar disasters in 2020, which was the nation’s fifth warmest year on record. NASA and Copernicus Climate Change Service estimate that 2020 is jointly the warmest year on record together with 2016. NOAA and the United Kingdom’s HadCRUT dataset both ranked 2020 as the second warmest behind 2016, with JRA ranking 2020 as the third warmest.