#and a PhD

[christinaroseandrews]

Oooh! Oooh!

This is literally what I have a degree in (Earth Science) from a university in Michigan. And I actually took specific coursework in this over the summer one year. So seriously this is my jam.

So in Michigan climate change isn't having as dramatic of an effect as it is in places like California or Colorado, but it is absolutely having an effect.

OP mentioned later freezes and earlier thaws... But that's only part of it. First off one of the biggest things that is happening is we are not having consistent hard freezes that are reaching down into the soil as much as we used to. This means that insects like mosquitoes and emerald ash borers and spotted lantern flies aren't being killed off and so are thus spreading further northward. This is actually really harming our local forests and increasing our risk of wildfire.

Also as the climate warms our planting zones are changing. There were plants that used to never be able to grow here in Michigan because it got too cold that are now present in the state. Like the insects, these plants are migrating northward.

OP also mentioned that instead of getting snow we are getting rains which can lead to flooding. This is sort of true it's a little more insidious than that. So one of the main things that's happening is Michigan used to get a lot of snow in the winter and it would stay. Not only would it freeze over the little lakes but you get a good chunk of the Great lakes freezing over as well. And as the weather warmed in the spring the snow would gradually melt. The key word in there is gradually. What's happening now is we'll get storms that dump a huge amount of snow on the region and then it will very quickly melt. What this means is that the snow is not permeating down through the ground and refilling the aquifers particularly the aquifers that are in the center of the state. So there are wells in areas like Mount Pleasant or Midland or Clare that have gone dry because the aquifers have gone down so much. It's not as bad as it is out west but it's not great. Because despite what people think, a lot of the inland part of the state gets their water from aquifers as opposed to surface water from rivers or the Great lakes themselves. Additionally when the snow melts quickly it all rushes into the rivers causing greater scope flooding. If you've lived out in the west you understand flash flooding you can go from having a trickle in the morning to up to your rafters in just a few hours. That's honestly happening here. The Grand River has had more severe flooding in the last decade and it had in the previous 50 years. There are areas of downtown which never used to flood that now have to have flooding systems in place.

Another thing that is happening is that we are actually getting less precipitation. We're not at drought levels yet, but we are definitely having less snowfall in the winter and less rain in the summer. This late summer/early fall, for instance, we went for almost 5 weeks without any measurable precipitation. That's pretty much unheard of... And yet it happened. Again the biggest thing that's happening is we are getting so much less snow in the winter which are environment depends on. Last winter we came in at 43 inches of snow, that might sound like a lot but when our average is 77 inches of snow you can see the deficit.

And everything is just getting warmer. Last year was the warmest year on record for Michigan and like a lot of Europe Michigan's houses are built to keep the heat in and the cold out. Several houses around here do not have air conditioning. My house for instance did not and I had it installed several years ago. But many of my neighbors still don't have AC; we haven't needed it.

The climate change is also really affecting our crops. Particularly our fruit crops. This was one of our worst years for cherries for instance. This is happening in a couple of ways. The first off is that we're getting thaws earlier in the season which is causing trees to wake up sooner and then we're getting a really hard freeze that ends up killing the trees themselves or if we're lucky just the flowers. Second, we're getting weirder weather in the spring and summer. We're getting more intense storms so things like hail are destroying crops. But also we're getting rains at the wrong time which leads to the fruit rotting on the tree. And come winter we're actually getting more ice storms which is really harmful for our trees. So no matter how you look at it, we're getting fewer fruit crops.

The thing is the lakes shield us some, but it's not enough. Our climate is becoming more and more like that of Missouri or Kentucky... Or at least the weather that they used to have. We are getting more droughts. We are getting more wildfires--last year we had more wildfires than I can ever recall us having. We're getting more severe/extreme weather.

And each year it is getting worse.

Aaa as someone with very little understanding this is probably a vague question, but how does Michigan and its Glorious Scary Lakes fair with climate change? I live in California and it’s just dry and so so so hot and on fire a lot, which is making picturing zora’s domain tricky!

Ty :)

Same as pretty much everywhere, Michigan is seeing effects of climate change, but it's not the same effects you're probably seeing out west! The Great Lakes do insulate us a bit, though.

Even within my own lifetime, we're seeing less cold winters with freezes happening later. Anecdotally, warm temperature spikes mean that snow thaws during the winter and doesn't really accumulate in the same way. Increased temps means we get heavier rains, which can in turn result in flooding--much of lower michigan is very flat so we don't really get mudslides so much but flooding is still very not good. Ice coverage on the Great Lakes has decreased in the winters, which means a longer traversable shipping season but also negative ecological impacts--and also thin ice on the Great Lakes means you can't do things like drive to islands over the naturally-forming ice bridges, which is not crucial but is fun.

We do get tornadoes, which have increased with severity and frequency. Overall, though, we're still not at risk from hurricanes; we're usually too wet for widespread wildfires. The thermal battery of the Great Lakes does insulate us a little from temperature swings and droughts. We get blizzards but we're prepared for blizzards, so while it can be dangerous, it's generally a hunker-down-at-home problem, not a evacuate-at-risk-of-your-life problem.

[great-and-small]

Apparently the local university’s undergraduate entomology course sends students to catch insect specimens at the same place I like to go birdwatching, which explains why I saw three enormous frat looking dudes with tiny bug nets and overheard one emphatically say “bro BRO I told you we already have enough lepidopterans”

[prlssprfctn]

I know the fandom mostly agrees that Jason is that one always unemployed sibling in the family, but let me offer you a slightly enhanced concept - unemployed sibling Jason, who is the busiest sibling in the family.

No one can get hold of him. Like, ever. And it is not like he is lying, he is genuinely always has something else to do! Something random and unexpected, and, honestly, all his family can think is: what the hell?

Bruce, frowning: Remind me again, why the dinner in the circle of the family today doesn't suit your... schedule?

Jason, shrugging: I have a book club evening in the nursing home. We are discussing Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad tonight. Can't miss it. Also, Jennet-

Alfred, confused: Who is Jennet?

Jason: One of the old ladies in the nursing home, duh... Anyway, yeah, Jennet is having a birthday. She would be hella mad if her favourite grandson missed it, you know?

Bruce: ...Jason, you are not her-

Jason: (leaves)

Dick: Hey, wanna join me for tomorrow morning's training?

Jason, sighs: Sounds nice, but I have classes tomorrow.

Dick, confused: Classes? Since when you are enrolled in college?

Jason: Oh, no. I am a substitute teacher in one of the school's around.

Dick: WHAT-

Damian, calling Jason in the middle of the day: Can you pick me up from school? Others are busy, there is an emergency in the town.

Jason: Damn, sorry, kid, but I am not in the country right now. By the way, do you want to talk with your mother?

Damian: ...What that supposed to mean? Where are you?

Jason: I was planning to visit All-Caste, but first decided to meet up with Talia. I am kinda in Egypt right now, anyway.

Damian: ...

Tim, already used to Jason's constant busy status, sighing: I bet you won't agree if I call you on the lunch tomorrow?

Jason: Uh, no. I have plans. But if you tag along with me, we can get lunch together later.

Tim, surprised: ...Okay. What do you have tomorrow? Knitting club? A shift in library?

Jason: Nah, graduation ceremony.

Tim: Right, you are a substitute teacher.

Jason: No, no. My graduation ceremony. I am getting my PHD in literature.

Tim: SINCE FUCKING WHEN-

[ellenchain]

I am Jayce

[valtsv]

some observations on color coding eyewear in ficton and their meanings

[pressuredrightnow]

i love how we were scared theyd go full hetero for wicked but the movie turned out to be gayer than the play, and then the deleted scenes come out and it turns out it couldve been gayer somehow.

[galaxymagitech]

Bruce: Congratulations, Jason! You’re the first of my kids to graduate college!

Dick: Yeah, first and only one for all eternity!

Bruce: *Ignoring Dick by sheer willpower* Anyway, what are you planning to do next?

Jason: I think I’m going to continue my education in English Lit.

Bruce: *nervously* Great. You’ll get a Master’s Degree, right?

Jason: …

Bruce: …right?

Jason: Actually, I’m going for a PhD.

Bruce: This is a terrible joke. You’re over the supervillainy, right, Jay?

Jason: Look, my application to GothamU’s PhD program was accepted!

Bruce: No child! Of mine! Will get! A PhD!!!

Jason: I’m hoping to be a literature professor at GothamU, if I survive long enough.

Bruce: *screams incoherently*

Dick: I think you broke him.

[discoursets]

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

sick of this anti-aging obsession. let's go in the opposite direction. i want more characters who are hardened & grizzled & have a face lined with the harrowing tribulations of time--and then halfway through the narrative u find out they're 27

[prokopetz]

The problem with Victor Frankenstein isn't that he's not as smart as he thinks he is. The problem with Victor Frankenstein is that he's exactly as smart as he thinks he is in one very specific area, and he just expects that to automatically translate to every other area of his life and is taken completely by surprise every single time it doesn't.

[thesecrethistori-an]

New setup for a new academic challenge! (I'm starting a PhD)

[lazylittledragon]

i said that gale and cyra have disaster romcom energy and now it's all i can think about

[isabelleadjani]

THE UNINVITED dir. Lewis Allen, 1944

[ouroborosorder]

[learnelle]

missing my tranquil walk home from the art school