climate - WKTV Journal

By Sarah Atwood
Capital News Service

LANSING – As warmer-than-average growing seasons caused by climate change become more common, they bring new invasive species to Michigan.

Tar spot is a fungus that attacks corn and causes production losses. Credit: Michigan State University

“Insects that like warm weather are finding that Michigan is becoming more and more life-sustaining than ever before,” said Bruno Basso, a professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

And that requires new ways to fight them.

“These invasive species to Michigan are resistant to pesticides that farmers previously relied upon,” Basso said. “So farmers are looking for new ways to improve the ecology of their crops and improve their resistance.”

Identifying the threats

Two new threats are “tar spots,” in corn, and spotted wing drosophila, said Laura Campbell, a senior conservation and regulatory relations specialist at the Michigan Farm Bureau.

Tar spots are raised black dots on the ears of corn caused by a fungus called “phyllachora maydis,” Campbell said. An outbreak in a corn field causes production losses and economic disaster for the farmers.

Spotted wing drosophila is an insect that attacks soft fruits, a big problem for Michigan’s cherry orchards, Campbell said.

The female insects lay eggs inside the fruit, causing brown, sunken spots. As the larva eats the fruit it becomes rotten and non-consumable.

Using technology in the fight

Farmers attack new insects with technology, Basso said. Drones can pinpoint where an insect or weed is on their farms. Then they spray the specific area before it worsens.

Another example of emerging technology is the advancement of Enviroweather, a Michigan State -based weather service that can help farmers anticipate threats to their crops, Campbell said. The site tracks invasion trends, warning farmers ahead of time if pests are headed their way.

“Preventative pesticide spraying is best, because it will deter the invasive insects and weeds from being able to attack the crops,” Campbell said. “This greatly reduces the amount of pesticides needed, which is good for the farmer and the surrounding land and water.”

Scientists are also making advances in the kinds of products used on farms, Basso said. Biodegradable plastic mulch is replacing synthetic mulch that does not decompose. More plant-based pesticides and herbicides are becoming available.

A local perspective from Ada

Heather Anderson, the owner of Green Wagon Farm, in Ada, uses all-natural products to combat insects and weeds on her certified organic farm.

Spotted wing drosophila is an insect that lays its eggs on the inside of fruit, like this raspberry, causing it to rot. Credit: University of Minnesota Extension

“We are constantly vigilant for new threats to our crops,” Anderson said. “We don’t do preventative spraying, instead we scout the farm ourselves, and pick weeds by hand.”

At 18 acres, Green Wagon Farm is much smaller than the average U.S. farm size of 211 acres, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Removing weeds by hand becomes more difficult on large farms.

“It’d be nice if all farms could be fully biodegradable and have no waste, but sometimes synthetic products are unavoidable,” Basso said.

This is not to say that farmers aren’t looking for more sustainable methods.

“Pesticides are incredibly expensive, and it would be more cost-effective to spray one small area than to have to spray an entire field,” Campbell said. “There’s a notion that farmers want to spray pesticides everywhere, and don’t care about the impacts on the land and water. But the land and water is their livelihood.”

Keeping the lines of communication open

A challenge is the communication between farmers and scientists, Campbell said.

Scientists lack the hands-on experience of being a farmer, and this makes it difficult for farmers to trust that their advice is best.

Money is also a big factor, according to Basso.

“Farmers have historically been more conservative when it comes to implementing new practices,” Basso said. “They have a financial risk, because if they change a way of doing something and it doesn’t work out, they lose that money that they would’ve made before.”

But as the weather gets warmer, farmers understand that their practices have to change or they will not be able to survive, Campbell said.

“Farmers want to do the right thing,” Campbell said. “I’ve never met a farmer who said they don’t care when it comes to the environment.”

ABOUT SARAH ATWOOD

Sarah is a junior at Michigan State University double majoring in Social Relations & Policy and Journalism. She is interested in writing about how politics affects local communities and making information accessible for everyone. In her free time, she likes boxing, yoga, and spending time with friends, family, and her dog.

Climate change could be the next impact on public health. (pxhere.com)

By Elaine Mallon
Capital News Service

More than three-quarters — 77% — of local health department officials surveyed across Michigan agree that climate change will impact their jurisdiction in the next 20 years, according to a recent study in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences.

The study examined local health departments’ readiness and perception of climate change on public health.

An undergrad at the University of Michigan, Julie Carter, led the research for her honors thesis project. Carter said the discrepancy between health officials’ view on the impact of climate change and how they prioritize climate change was the most interesting take away from the study.

Only 35% of the officials said that climate change was a priority in their department, even though over three quarters said it will be a problem in the future.

The state Department of Health and Human Services has identified five adverse health effects of climate change. They are heat illness, respiratory diseases due to change in air quality, waterborne diseases, vector- borne diseases, and injury and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Patricia Koman is a research investigator in environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the study.

According to Koman, health departments can’t direct policies centered around climate change without the support of community leaders. She said it’s crucial for people like elected officials and business leaders to also be knowledgeable about health effects related to climate change.

“If these groups have little or no knowledge, or if the local public health department doesn’t know what’s going on with these leaders, that means that they’re not having the necessary conversations about climate change,” Koman said.

“It means that they aren’t doing everything they can to prepare. As we saw in the (Covid-19) pandemic, when we’re not prepared, people suffer.”

Each negative health effect was recognized as a current issue for local departments.

However, 56% of those surveyed said vector-borne illness is a problem. Health and Human Services reports that as winters become milder and summers become hotter, mosquitoes and ticks will survive in larger numbers, leading to greater risk of Lyme and West Nile diseases.

The Michigan Environmental Public Health Tracking reports that 334 ticks were collected in 1999. The population has fluctuated each year, but a record number of 1,412 ticks were collected in 2019. In 2020, the number fell to 650.

In line with the rise in ticks is the rise in Lyme disease cases. The department found 66 Lyme disease cases in 2011. Eight years later, 370 cases were recorded.

Kalamazoo County reported the most cases: 53.

The survey, conducted in 2019 but not published until earlier this year, went to officials from all 45 local health departments in the state. There were 35 responses from both urban and rural areas, representing 60% of the agencies.

Koman said the attitudes of health department officials on climate-related health issues may have changed since 2019.

“The public health implications of climate change are becoming more and more apparent,” Koman said.

According to Koman, recent flooding in the Detroit area, which prompted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency, and the severe drought at one point across over a third of the state indicate that not only are these effects happening now, but they’re expected to increase.

Since 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Climate and Health Program has worked with states in implementing policies and procedures oriented around climate change. The nationwide program receives $10 million in funding, but the Biden administration budget blueprint allocates an increase to $110 million.

At the state level, the climate health program has received $200,000 each year for the past 10 years, according to Aaron Ferguson of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

“At least from our program’s perspective, that doesn’t leave a lot to provide direct funding for local health departments,” Ferguson said.

The state agency focuses on training local health department leaders by integrating environmental health impacts in assessments of a community’s needs, and also helps track climate data.

Both Carter and Koman said that one reason local departments may not prioritize climate health effects is because they are underfunded. However, Ferguson said it doesn’t necessarily require extra work to integrate climate health planning into what officials are already doing.

“We just have to reshape with climate effects in mind,” Ferguson said. “Climate change is a risk multiplier, so the things that are already impacting communities, climate change has the potential to make it worse.”

As the manager of the state agency’s climate and tracking unit, he said that while each community may differ in the severity of climate health effects, increased precipitation is the most pressing issue at hand for everyone.

“Mid-Michigan overall has gotten wetter,” he said. “Precipitation is heavier. And just a couple of weekends ago, we saw that the 100-year or 500-year rain and flood events are occurring much more frequently than that. We’ve probably seen four or five of these types of events in the seven years since I’ve been with the department.”

In addition to putting a strain on farmers, increased precipitation has led to flooding in peoples’ basements and potential exposures to sewage and other contaminants.

After a 2014 flood event, Macomb County did a health impact assessment and found an increase in negative mental health effects from the disaster — particularly in low-income and minority areas of the county.

“Mental health in these sorts of recurring events is a big issue, especially when you’re already in the middle of coming out of a pandemic,” Ferguson said.

Along with proponents integrating climate change into the conversation of public health, he said that it must transcend all facets of public life.

“There’s a lot of room for infrastructure design for the climate that we have now,” Ferguson said. “It goes back to bringing the health perspective to infrastructure planners. We need to help them understand that there’s a real health impact, and a lot of it is from climate change, but a lot of it’s because our communities aren’t prepared for that kind of stuff.”