Winter Adaptation Measures for the Chicago Climate Action Plan Development of an Indicator Suite and Winter Adaptation Measures for the Chicago Climate Action Plan Martin Jaffe, Outreach Coordinator, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, University of Illinois at Chicago, Great Cities Institute Chicago, Illinois Mary Elizabeth Woloszyn, Extension Climatologist, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, Midwestern Regional Climate Center Champaign, Illinois This project was funded by the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences + Assessments Center through a 2011 Great Lakes Climate Assessment Grant. Recommended Citation: Jaffe, M., M.E. Woloszyn, 2013. Development of an Indicator Suite and Winter Adaptation Measures for the Chicago Climate Action Plan. In: 2011 Project Reports. D. Brown, D. Bidwell, and L. Briley, eds. Available from the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA) Center. For further questions, please contact [email protected]. www.glisa.msu.edu WINTER ADAPTATION MEASURES FOR THE CHICAGO CLIMATE ACTION PLAN Contents Problem Addressed ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Approach Taken ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Stakeholder/Decision-Maker Interaction ........................................................................................................................................................ 3 Sources of Information ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Outcomes/Outputs .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Lessons Learned ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 www.glisa.umich.edu Last updated: 6/9/2015 2 WINTER ADAPTATION MEASURES FOR THE CHICAGO CLIMATE ACTION PLAN Problem Addressed pp. 992-993). Since the City has long been a regional leader in planning for climate mitigation and adaptation, other The draft Midwest regional report (S.C. Pryor and D. Scavia. Great Lakes communities facing similar climate change 2013) in the forthcoming Third National Climate impacts can learn from Chicago’s policies, programs and Assessment suggests that the major climate change impacts outreach efforts. in urban areas within the Great Lakes region include the increased risks of flooding and erosion, more summer heat waves (which pose public health risks for vulnerable Approach Taken populations from both heat stroke and air pollution) and more droughts (with their impacts on natural resources, The approach taken involves a literature review of winter water resources and crops). Warmer average annual climate change projections and impacts for the Great Lakes temperatures and a greater frequency of more severe region and the Chicago metro area, assessed by the storms will also raise health, safety and ecological concerns Midwestern Regional Climate Center (MRCC) and GLISA and because of the consequent shifts in the ranges of disease the development of recommendations for changes in the vectors, plant hardiness zones and habitats, alterations in City’s climate adaptation strategies to address winter invasive species, and increased risks of flooding and climate projections. Information on the City’s current pollution from urban stormwater runoff. But, by addressing strategies was elicited from interviews with City only these major summer season impacts of climate change, department staff and the staff of sister agencies (i.e., the the national climate assessments largely ignore the societal Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Schools) who and environmental impacts of warmer and possibly shorter participate in monthly meetings convened by the Mayor’s winters. Office to promote the initiatives of the 2015 Sustainable Chicago Action Agenda and the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Identifying the potential winter impacts of climate change To promote the transferability of the research findings and that can affect the Chicago metro region is important since recommendations, emphasis was placed on identifying there has been relatively little attention paid in the climate those measures and adaptation responses that were adaptation literature to either winter season climate relevant not only to the City of Chicago but also to other changes or their impacts. For example, the Second National municipalities in the northern Great Lakes region. Climate Assessment (USGCCRP 2009) forecasts milder winters, earlier loss of ice cover on waterways and waterbodies, and loss of winter recreational opportunities Stakeholder/Decision-Maker as possible winter climate change impacts for the Midwest region. The Great Lakes Supplement to NOAA’s coastal Interaction climate adaptation guidebook (Cruce and Yurkovich 2011) The scope of this research project was initially negotiated also notes that “[S]ince 1951, there has been an upward with the City’s Department of Environment, which was trend in [lake-effect] snowfall along the southern and responsible for the development and administration of the eastern shores of the Great Lakes,” and identifies an Chicago Climate Action Plan. In 2011, after the election of increased number of nonfatal traffic accidents as one impact its new mayor, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago eliminated its of this trend. However, most of these winter impacts have Department of Environment (DoE) in an administrative only limited relevancy to Chicago since there are few ski reorganization, reallocating many of DoE’s staff to other resorts in the metro area, the lakefront is largely armored municipal agencies. A Chief Sustainability Officer (reducing its storm and erosion susceptibility), and most of position was also created in the Mayor’s Office, which Chicago’s major traffic and transit corridors (except for assumed management of the Chicago Climate Action Plan Lake Shore Drive) are located inland, outside of the lake- and also instituted a new, shorter-range environmental effect zone.The goal of this research project is to better initiative called the 2015 Sustainable Chicago Action assess the possible impacts of warmer winters on the City of Agenda (City of Chicago 2012). The 2015 Sustainable Chicago’s facilities and operations, especially those that are Chicago Action Agenda focuses on economic development already addressed in the Chicago Climate Action Plan and job creation, energy efficiency and clean energy, (2008) and the Sustainable Chicago 2015 Action Agenda transportation options, water and wastewater, parks, open (2012), and to recommend possible changes to existing space and healthy food, waste and recycling and climate strategies to better address these impacts. These City of change. Chicago initiatives were chosen because of Chicago’s status as an early adopter of climate change planning in the Great The Action Agenda’s climate change category contains three Lakes region. In fact, Chicago’s climate programs are the goals, two of which address the reduction of carbon only ones cited within the Great Lakes region in the emissions and pollutants and the last of which expressly Adaptation chapter of the most recent draft National addresses climate change adaptation. Its key climate Climate Assessment (R Bierbaum, A Lee and J Smith 2013, adaptation actions include (p. 35): www.glisa.umich.edu Last updated: 6/9/2015 3 WINTER ADAPTATION MEASURES FOR THE CHICAGO CLIMATE ACTION PLAN • Prepare for the human impacts of climate change by lengthen by 20-30 days, according to climate change supporting people with information and services, modeling. such as cooling centers. • Prepare the natural environment for climate impacts Research by the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and and maintain biodiversity. Assessments Center (GLISA) at the University of Michigan • Prepare the infrastructure for climate change by (L. Briley 2013) and the Midwestern Regional Climate reducing the urban heat island effect, managing Center (MRCC) (M. Woloszyn 2013 and CMAP, Appendix A flooding from high intensity storm events, and 2013) supplemented this relatively brief assessment of strengthening resiliency to extreme weather. winter season climate changes affecting the Chicago metro area. The MRCC assessed winter precipitation changes, As with the Chicago Climate Action Plan, the city’s emphasis snowfall trends, snowfall intensity, snow density and on climate adaptation within its 2015 freeze-thaw events for this research project (with GLISA also contributing an analysis and forecast of freezing rain Sustainable Chicago Action Agenda remains focused largely events) – meteorological factors that are typically ignored in on mitigating summer impacts (e.g., providing cooling national and regional studies of projected future