'Much at stake': Report highlights economic impact of climate change in Montana - Bozeman Daily Chronicle
'Much at stake': Report highlights economic impact of climate change in Montana | Business | bozemandailychronicle.com
When Carli Johnson returned to Gardiner after spending the summer of 2022 away from rafting, she found that much of the Yellowstone River she had grown familiar with had changed. The iconic rapid called Sleeping Giant was gone, replaced by smaller rapids and wave trains downstream. Branches and debris previously littered on stream banks now jutted out of the river as obstacles.
Johnson, who guided for Flying Pig Raft Company, said she quickly learned last summer to avoid the river right north of town — where large cement blocks and other debris from the fallen house remained in the water.
Bridger Ski Foundation skier Erika Flowers makes a final push to the finish of the SuperTour 10-kilometer freestyle race at Bohart Ranch in 2007 in this Chronicle file photo.
DEIRDRE EITEL/CHRONICLE
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”