Climate change and the Midwest United States

The Midwest is home to expansive agriculture, forests, industry, and people. Climate change will tend to amplify existing risks climate poses to people (increased heat waves, flooding, reduced air and water quality), agriculture (reduced yields despite longer seasons and added CO₂, springtime cold air outbreaks), forests (species habitats move north, species migration through fragmented flatlands extra problematic), and the Great Lakes (stormwater runoff, algal blooms, reduced ice). Nonetheless, the region has great potential for mitigation and planning via alternate energy, carbon storage, and strategic placement of infrastructure and vegetation.