Popularly known as the “windy city”, Chicago is on its way to a warmer and wetter future, according to climate scientists. Like many other American cities, Chicago is experiencing the real effects of climate change and city planners are already adapting to the changes in temperature.
According to the scientists, Chicago could expect 35 percent more precipitation in winter and spring, but 20 percent less in summer and fall, by 2070. By then, the conditions would have changed enough to make the area’s plant hardiness zone akin to Birmingham, Ala.
Among the various solutions proposed by city planners, including shutting down local coal-powered plants and updating infrastructure, is a rather simple answer: planting more trees. Trees are not only aesthetically pleasing, but they also provide shade which reduces heat and improves the quality of air by absorbing carbon dioxide.
Chicago already spends over $10 million a year planting roughly 2,200 trees. From 1991 to 2008, the city added so many that officials estimate tree cover increased to 17.6 percent from 11 percent. The goal is to exceed 23 percent this decade.
As temperatures continue to rise and the effects of global warming become more apparent, agricultural innovations, such as urban agriculture, have the ability to provide the solution we need to address these dire problems. Other cities would be wise to follow Chicago’s lead in this endeavor, and take a proactive step towards combating climate change, before it’s too late.
What do you think? What are some initiatives that cities can take to combat the effects of climate change? Let us know in the comments section!
By Supriya Kumar
Supriya Kumar is a research fellow with the Nourishing the Planet project.
Danielle Nierenberg, an expert on livestock and sustainability, currently serves as Project Director of State of World 2011 for the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC-based environmental think tank. Her knowledge of factory farming and its global spread and sustainable agriculture has been cited widely in the New York Times Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, and other publications.
Danielle worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. She is currently traveling across Africa looking at innovations that are working to alleviate hunger and poverty and blogging everyday at Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. She has a regular column with the Mail & Guardian, the Kansas City Star, and the Huffington Post and her writing was been featured in newspapers across Africa including the Cape Town Argus, the Zambia Daily Mail, Coast Week (Kenya), and other African publications. She holds an M.S. in agriculture, food, and environment from Tufts University and a B.A. in environmental policy from Monmouth College.
