Climate Change: Mississippi River Suffers Chronic Ailments - Bloomberg
Climate Change: Mississippi River Suffers Chronic Ailments - Bloomberg
Old Man River Suffers Chronic Climate Ailments
The Mississippi is a vital US economic engine that is sputtering and needs much more attention and care.
Prolonged drought reduced the Mississippi’s flow to less than half of normal levels this year.Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
It’s hard to think of the vast and powerful Mississippi River as anything other than mighty. But decades of misuse and a heating planet are saddling this giant with chronic, debilitating illnesses that threaten the lives and livelihood of millions of Americans.
The river, which drains 41% of the continental US, the lifeblood of America’s vast agricultural engine, is in deep trouble. The Mississippi routinely ranks high on lists of the country’s most endangered rivers. This year, for the second consecutive year, prolonged drought reduced its flow to less than half of normal levels.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.