Climate Change and Its Impact on Environment - Essay Example

Climate change impacts the human condition, in terms of altering available fresh water sources, proper irrigation of consumable agriculture, and even infrastructure when exposed to irregular weather patterns. Changing temperatures and unpredictable swings in the jet stream continue to alter the distribution and predictability of precipitation throughout the country, all caused by climate changes. Though the root cause of climate change is not fully understood, the long-term impact on ecosystems throughout the United States is an altered environment in which humans, animals, and infrastructures have grown dependent. This paper focuses specifically on the Gulf region in the United States, an area in which environment and living creatures have grown interdependent on adequate precipitation to effectively sustain lifestyle and longevity. The problem in this region, specifically, is the current water level in the Mississippi River which is significantly reduced due to climate change.

            The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2002) identifies that the Mississippi River region provides shelter and breeding grounds for migrating birds in the winter. Many different species of birds move away from colder regions to reproduce before returning to these regions to assist in the pollination of plants and insect management in the food chain. The adequate waters near the Mississippi River in this region, historically, have provided quality shelter and water sources, thus providing other areas of the country with beneficial species regeneration. Today, however, climate change has shifted the volume of precipitation normally distributed within this region, inundating the Northern regions of the U.S. with these much-needed rains.

            Climatescience.gov (2007) further offers that when trees are exposed to higher carbon dioxide, rather than the highly oxygenated precipitation usually found in the Gulf region, trees

alter their wood-producing output. Instead of thickening trunks, the trees tend to establish more ground-level roots and smaller twig-like branches. Less oxygen replenishment through precipitation alters the scope of the environment, impacting the availability of building materials and thus impacting human lifestyles and the economy.

            Nonliving dependencies associated with this problem include the infrastructures in this area created for predictable precipitation patterns. Walton (2012) indicates that a group of scientists and the Army Corps of Engineers will be rebuilding levees that were previously destroyed by humans to accommodate for rising water levels in a particular area just a year previously. This represents significant costs to destroy and rebuild infrastructure as well as causing problems with the homes and businesses that cannot predict their fluctuating dependency on barrier placement depending on water levels. The lack of predictability in climate change continues to disrupt levee longevity which considerable risks to the community due to depleting precipitation volumes.

            The human effects in this situation are largely negative, as most scientists and engineers are running on previous assumptions about precipitation predictability and infrastructure development without considering long-term sustainability. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is ever-diligent to attempt to sustain this environment for species migration and breeding, however using age-old sustainability plans that are no longer relevant in the face of dramatic shifts in precipitation distribution.

            An effective sustainability plan would include dredging the Mississippi River so as to maintain more control over depth and tap the underlying water table in this region to feed during periods of drought. Pumping stations designed to draw water from under the soil would be a long-term strategy to combat climate change. At the same time, it would ensure water is

effectively delivered to much-needed marshlands so that the ecological balance remains steady even during drought periods. This would require a significant capital investment that would likely take two to four years for infrastructure development and dredging activities. However, the recent hurricane Isaac as well as drought caused by climate change continue to erode available capital with the destruction and redevelopment of levee systems occurring annually. By removing such reliance on individual levees and altering the dynamics of water replenishment, it would provide more sustainability without reliance on predictable precipitation patterns. Desalinization plants for tapping Gulf waters would also serve a sustainability objective by building an appropriate pipeline for consumption and delivery.

            Capital investment in these projects can be procured from local authorities, donations, and charities, and the federal government to ensure more control over groundwater supply and replenishment. Sustainability for species development and renewal would automatically be satisfied through managed pumping facilities and by regularly feeding the desalinization plant with ocean volumes. The timeline for completion of the proposed pipeline would depend on engineering skills and capital procurement plan, but likely two to four years in the project life cycle.