Ecologist: Expect significant warming in region

By the end of the century, climate change will have caused Indiana's weather to resemble that of Oklahoma and Chicago will feel more like Texas, according to an ecologist at the 2010 Calumet Summit at Purdue University Calumet on Wednesday.

Abigail Derby-Lewis, climate change ecologist for Chicago's Field Museum, was one of more than 230 researchers, educators, public officials and others at the conference to discuss the environmental future of the Calumet region -- a diverse landscape spanning the southern tip of Lake Michigan to Michigan City, Indiana.

Derby-Lewis told attendees to expect warmer temperatures -- some reaching 100 degrees -- and more extreme precipitation that will compound current environmental problems, such as pollution, runoff and habitat destruction.

"We refer to climate change as an amplifier, because it will make our current threats worse, as well as bring new threats to the scene," Derby-Lewis said.

Both Indiana and Illinois spend millions of dollars each year fighting invasive plant and animal species, and Derby-Lewis said climate change will only increase problems with the pests and affect native life.

"Some species that are not currently here may appear," she said. "And species that are less common ... may disappear altogether."

Local leaders said it was important to have a joint effort to help the region transition into a new climate.

"The Calumet Summit recognizes the many interrelationships which exist between northeast Illinois and Northwest Indiana and provides a forum for both strengthening them and identifying new opportunities for collaboration and cooperation," said John Swanson, executive director of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

National climate legislation has been delayed in the U.S. Senate. But the Calumet region is not waiting for Congress to take action, as the conference touted local environmental efforts, results and a biodiversity recovery plan.

"The bi-state focus of the Summit is exactly the kind of collaborative partnership required to make landscape-scale impacts on our regional economy and environment," said Suzanne Malec-McKenna, commissioner for Chicago's department of environment.