Two Presentations: 1) How Climate Change is Impacting Mississippi River Health: Can We Adapt Quickly Enough to Produce Meaningful Change? 2) At Risk: Climate, Flooding & Public Health
Stream: Hot Topics (will also be available via Zoom)
1:30 PM - 2:30 PMFri
Expo 1
Also VirtualClimate ChangeStream: Hot Topics
Registration Required
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Presentation #1: How Climate Change is Impacting Mississippi River Health: Can We Adapt Quickly Enough to Produce Meaningful Change?
Climate change is causing significant degradation to the Mississippi River ecosystem. Increased water and sediment delivery are making maintenance of the navigation channel difficult and diminishing the quality and quantity of critical backwater habitat. Adaptation to these changing conditions requires optimizing connection between channels and backwater habitat, creating deep water refugia in backwaters, planning for increased navigation channel dredging, and making strategic infrastructure retrofits. Many successful adaptations have been implemented on the Mississippi River, but more are needed to keep pace with the rate of ecosystem degradation resulting from climate change.
Presenter: Shawn Giblin
Presentation #2: At Risk: Climate, Flooding & Public Health
Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of rainfall events across Wisconsin. These intense storms have led to catastrophic damage and pose an increasingly greater risk to public health. Populations that experience existing public health challenges given their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics can expect compounding health impacts due to flooding. We will demonstrate the relationship between flood vulnerability and health indicators in Wisconsin to identify areas of the state with particularly at-risk populations. We pay particular attention to the intersection of flooding and mental health.
Presenter: Maggie Thelen