OT?: Climate change will push population north making the midwest the most habitable part of the country. Think of the recruiting implications!

Submitted by Jonesy on September 15th, 2020 at 7:12 PM

https://projects.propublica.org/climate-migration/

 

Population has moved south over the years making the south a football recruiting hotbed. Well I've got good news! Climate change will cause much of the south to be unlivable and unfarmable while many living along the coast will find their homes below sea level and the midwest will become the most habitable section of the country. Take that SEC, soon* all the recruits will be in the B1Gs geography. Silver lining, guys!

 

Yes it is strange that I read this and thought of college football recruiting.

NittanyFan

September 15th, 2020 at 7:40 PM ^

Most habitable???

I think Michigan is more likely to get Northern Kentucky's climate than San Diego's climate. 

Northern Kentucky: I lived there, I'd argue it's a WORSE climate than Michigan's climate.  More humidity, less refreshing summer cool fronts, and just as many gray dank days in the cold season.

Plus, it still gets snow but not enough snow that anyone remembers season-to-season how to drive in it.  Oh my God the drivers there ..........

WindyCityBlue

September 15th, 2020 at 8:16 PM ^

In a related topic.  My mother, who was born and raised in the midwest, said that while the general population in the midwest is dropping, people will have to come back to the midwest in a generation or two.  Her quote, "the midwest has an over abundance of quite possibly the most precious resource in the galaxy (and probably universe): fresh water."  You can't sustain life without it and as other parts of the country try harder to extract as much of it from the ground or sea water, the midwest will be sitting pretty.

Fresh water.  The best recruiting tool.

wildbackdunesman

September 15th, 2020 at 8:28 PM ^

No lie.  On vacation I met a guy from Arizona that was complaining about the Great Lakes states not allowing the arid southwest to build a water pipeline so he can water his grass with Lake Michigan water.

I asked him why he expected to have nice grass when he lives in a desert, considering that lake levels can impact fish reproduction. 

wildbackdunesman

September 15th, 2020 at 8:22 PM ^

I do my part everyday.  I pollute so much to make Michigan a future recruiting hot spot.  Go Blue!

In all seriousness I saw an article a few years ago predicting Michigan would be the most to benefit of any state by the year 2100 based on natural disasters, climate change, deadly insects, etc.

Njia

September 16th, 2020 at 7:10 AM ^

I don't think that was his point. Forestry (like everything else managed by government in this country) is a mess. Management is a patchwork of national, regional, state, and municipal law and policy; resources are funded in the same way; and response to fires natural and manmade also follow that model (sound familiar?).

When I worked for a tech company in the mid-2000s, we did some consulting with FEMA to improve coordination of resource allocation and response as a result of lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina. While the U.S. Forestry Service and other state and regional agencies do a better job than others, and there is more coordination, they are not immune to politics and the whims of governors, legislatures, and the lunacy of DC. 

We found real and entrenched competing interests. Add in deep mistrust on all sides, and disasters like this year's fires and their spread were inevitable.

Buckeye_Impaler8124

September 15th, 2020 at 8:41 PM ^

I’ve always said that yes, there are certain other places that maybe I’d choose to live, but I’ll take a shitty winter over hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, droughts and volcanoes any day.

WestQuad

September 15th, 2020 at 9:48 PM ^

In 2007 a meteorologist friend said that in 2030 Buffalo, where I live, would have the climate of 2007 Norther Virginia.  At the time I figured it was a long ways off.  Doesn’t seem that far away now.  Since then I’ve been calling Buffalo the Miami of the North.

Sopwith

September 15th, 2020 at 10:13 PM ^

Don't be too quick to buy property in the midwest. I have it on authority of the POTUS himself that the climate is going to be cooling. Only suckers and losers would go long on the midwest b/c of global warming.