Public Engagement & Impact
U-M professor Maria Carmen Lemos, associate dean for research at the School for Environment and Sustainability, was among the experts tapped by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters for an Earth Day summit on the costs of climate change to taxpayers.
Lemos is co-director of the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences & Assessments (GLISA) and co-authored the Midwest Chapter of the Fourth National Climate Assessment in 2018. Her research focuses on how people, communities, and governments adapt to climate change.
The event, held in East Lansing and broadcast live on the Facebook page of the Senate Committee for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, addressed the cleanup and recovery costs to taxpayers of extreme weather events.
“We know from the best and most up-to-date science that climate change is here and is going to affect human, social, and ecological systems negatively,” she said in her statement. “The impacts of climate change are now—and will continue to be—deep and widespread in Michigan.”
She noted that a 2017 EPA report estimates damage to roads in the Midwest will rise from $3.3 billion a year in 2050 to $6 billion a year in 2090. Extreme precipitation events are already starting to overwhelm sewage systems and causing infrastructure and property damage.
Extreme heat in urban areas affect the most vulnerable, including the elderly and those without air conditioning. In the Midwest, extreme heat is projected to result in losses in economic revenue of up to $9.8 billion per year in 2050 and rising to $33 billion per year in 2090, she said.
That’s why, Lemos says, it’s important to concentrate on preparedness now.
“A very important message here is that investing in preparedness and adaptation is urgently needed to avoid spending more later,” she said. “For example, the National Institute of Building Science estimates that retrofitting utilities and transportation infrastructure avoids between $4 and $11 of damage for every $1 invested in preparedness, depending on the hazard.”
Lemos highlighted the work GLISA is doing with 12 cities around the Great Lakes to help them improve their use of climate information for stormwater planning. GLISA is also working with a nonprofit to better understand what kinds of information cities need to adapt.
She said programs like GLISA help address complex issues that impact society and that the costs of prevention today will save billions later.
Lemos was joined on the panel by:
- Rear Admiral David W. Titley, U.S. Navy (ret.), professor of practice in meteorology, Penn State; and director of the Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk
- Paul C. Ajegba, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation
- Dr. Lorraine Cameron, senior environmental epidemiologist, Michigan Climate and Health Adaptation Program, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
- Jim MacInnes, CEO of Crystal Mountain Resort and Spa
