MSU Extension Climate Change

Climate and Health Adaptation Planning Guide for Michigan Communities

Developed by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Service's Michigan Climate and Health Program (MICHAP) with the MSU School of Planning, Design and Construction and MSU Extension, this guide was created to be accessible and flexible for the unique situations of communities across the state. 

Marquette Area Climate and Health Adaptation Guidebook

The Marquette Area Climate and Health Adaptation Guidebook is the result of work in coordination with the Michigan Climate and Health Adaptation Program (MICHAP) of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Guidebooks are the work of Michigan State University (MSU) School of Planning Design, and Construction and MSU Extension and do not necessarily represent the official views of MDHHS.

The guidebook is structured in three volumes. Each is intended to stand alone as a resource but also build upon each other to provide a detailed accounting of the process and results.

 Additional Educational Resources

Below are useful resources you can explore for your own personal use or integrate into your current programming. Explore:

• Climate Change and Agriculture fact sheet series
• Agriculture and Weather Variability in the Corn Belt fact sheet series
• Climate Change and Forestry Resources
• Additional Research-based Climate Resources
• Websites
• Presentations and Reports from MSU faculty and staff
• Videos

MSU Extension Climate and Agriculture 

• Corn-based Cropping Systems climate and agriculture resources - Farmers are interested in learning about how to make their cropping systems more resilient in response to the changes they are experiencing on the land, such as more frequent and extreme weather events, from downpours to drought. These resources were developed by scientists, graduate students and topic-based specialists across 19 disciplines, in 10 land-grant universities including Michigan State University, researching the environmental, economic and social impacts of long-term weather variability on corn-based cropping systems. The Climate and Corn-based Cropping Systems CAP was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) in March 2011. 
• Field Crop Agriculture and Climate Change
• Greenhouse Gas Basics (English)
• Greenhouse Gas Basics/Conceptos Basicos Sobre Gases de Invernadero (Spanish)
• Frequently Asked Questions About Climate Change (English)
• Frequently Asked Questions About Climate Change/Preguntas Frecuentes Sobre Cambio Climatico (Spanish)
• Climate Basics
• A Consumer’s Guide to Local Foodsystems and Greenhouse Gases

Agriculture and Weather Variability in the Corn Belt fact sheet series

• Michigan
• Northwest Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• Northeast Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• Northwest Upper Michigan
• Northeast Upper Michigan
• West Central Lower Michigan
• Central Lower Michigan
• East Central Lower Michigan
• Southwest Lower Michigan
• South Central Lower Michigan
• Southeast Lower Michigan

Climate Change and Forestry Resources

Forests are naturally dynamic ecosystems that constantly change. Humans exert multiple additional pressures on forests through management, introduction of exotic species, contributing to high deer populations, parcelization and fragmentation, benign neglect and the loss of forest industry, as well as climate change. These factors, and others, are interdependent and affect different forests in different ways. Changing climate patterns will undoubtedly contribute to shifts in forest composition, structure and function. However, climate change probably will not be among the major change factors for the next couple of decades. Forest ecosystems underlie much of the rural Michigan economy and support one of the largest state manufacturing sectors. A wide range of ecosystems services (e.g. water, habitat, soil development etc.) are heavily forest dependent. Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Professionals (ANREP) Climate Science Initiative

• MSU Extension's Michigan Wood Energy website
• Managing Forests for Carbon Mitigation
• Climate Change Response Network
• MSU Center for Global Change & Earth Observations
• MSU Graduate Certificate in Forest Carbon Science, Policy, and Management
• US Fish & Wildlife Service Climate Change Climate Academy
• Presentation:  The Economics of Forests as a Climate Mitigation Strategy
• Journal of Forestry special issue
• United States Forestry Service Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science
• National Council for Air & Stream Improvement
• Union of Concerned Scientists, two 2012 webinars and more
• USFS Climate Change Atlas 1. trees, 2. birds
• Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts
• Considering Forest and Grassland Carbon in Land Management
• Michigan's Forest Forever Teaching Guide

Additional Research-based Climate Resources:

• Changing Climate, Ohio State University (OSU) Climate Change Outreach Team
• Climate Central
• Climate Change at the National Academies
• Climate Change Education
• Climate Change Impacts and Adapting to Change, United States Environmental Protection Agency
• Climate Wizard (climate change projection data)
• Enviro-weather, Michigan State University (weather-based pest, natural resources and production management tools)
• Global Climate Change, Washington State University
• Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA)
• Michigan Climate Coalition
• Michigan Sea Grant, University of Michigan
• Midwestern Regional Climate Center  
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Pileus Project, Michigan State University (climate science for decision makers)
• The Climate Observer, Midwestern Regional Climate Center
• United States Global Change Research Program
• U.S. Cropland Greenhouse Gas Calculator, MSU Kellogg Biological Station

Presentations and reports from MSU faculty and staff

• Basic Concepts by state climatologist and MSU professor Dr. Jeffrey Andresen
• Climate Change Education Symposium, developed by MSU‘s Environmental Science Policy program
• Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region, PPT by Dan Brown, GLISA research associate
• Climate Change: Water Implications for Michigan Communities, Landsystems and Agriculture by distinguished Senior Research Specialist Dr. David Lusch
• Climate Variability and Change by Dr. Jeffrey Andresen
• Current Quality Concerns Related to Michigan Water Resources by Joan Rose, MSU‘s Homer Nowlin Endowed Chair of Water Research
• Farming in a Changing Environment by CV-CAT teammembers Dr. Julie Doll and Claire Layman
• Michigan’s Abundant Water Resources by Lois Wolfson of MSU‘s Institute of Water Research Aquatic Ecologist
• Role on Climate Change, MSU Extension
• Social Impacts of Water by Patricia Norris and Dave Lusch, Senior Research Specialist of MSU’s Department of Geography
• Too Much Water/Not Enough Water by MSU Assistant Professor of Water Resources Engineering Pouyan Nejadhashemi, Richard Weber and Kerry Robinson of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Dave Drullinger and Ralph Reznick from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
• Water and Agriculture by Patricia Norris, MSU’s Guyer-Seevers Chair in Natural Resources Conservation, and Frank Ruswick of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
• In 2010, the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI) received funding from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Coastal Management Program to assess vulnerability of 180 animal and plant species in the coastal zone using the Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) developed by NatureServe.3564_Climate_Vulnerability_Division_Report_4_24_13.pdf

Informational Videos

• Can You Take the Heat? by The Nature Conservancy and Cranberry Institute of Science
• Climate Change in the Great Lakes by The Nature Conservancy
• Great Lakes Water Level Changes: Addressing Risks and Impacts on Coastal Assets by The Nature Conservancy