New Analysis Shows America’s Heartland Hardest Hit by Climate Change with States Heating up 10+ Degrees F

Cutting-edge web tool compiles latest climate data to let users see impacts at local and global levels

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLORIDA — August 27, 2009 — A new tool that for the first time allows people to easily see how climate change will directly impact their states shows America’s heartland will suffer the greatest jump in temperatures over the next century – with some states potentially heating up more than 10 degrees F, according to an analysis by The Nature Conservancy.

The state-by-state, country-by-country temperature projections are part of a new tool called Climate Wizard that allows people to use an interactive map to explore past and projected climate change data on their computers. With Climate Wizard, users can zoom in on any location to quickly see how temperatures and precipitation may change by month, season or year under different emission scenarios.

“You can see how temperature and rainfall in your state is projected to change given different levels of released carbon emissions, providing a clear visual on how important it is to cut emissions,” said Doria Gordon, The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Conservation Science in Florida. Gordon is using the Climate Wizard in her work to predict how plants from around the world will behave in Florida. “I can look at the home temperatures of these aquatic plants to see if the climate ranges overlap with Florida and use that as one predictor of whether they might become invasive and cause problems in our habitats,” she said.

The new scientific analysis through Climate Wizard looked at likely temperature changes across the United States over the next 100 years and found that Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa would heat up the most if emissions continue to rise unchecked, followed by South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois.

“To many, climate change doesn’t seem real until it affects them in their backyards,” said Jonathan Hoekstra, Director of Climate Change for The Nature Conservancy. “This study shows that from the food we put on the table to the animals that make our country unique, none of us is immune if temperatures continue to rise as projected.”

While Florida ranks low in projected average temperature increase, it is extremely susceptible to sea level rise, not reflected in Climate Wizard. The Nature Conservancy is working statewide with many partners to keep Florida’s native ecosystems healthy and help plants and animals survive climate changes. Work under way in Florida by The Nature Conservancy to ensure our natural systems adapt to upcoming stresses includes:

• Rebuilding coral and oyster reefs.
• Restoring wetlands, sea grass beds and native forests.
• Reconnecting streams for fish passage.
• Eliminating invasive species.
• Increasing controlled burning
• Acquiring inland tracts to allow for plant and animal movement.
• Quantifying carbon sequestration potential for Florida’s habitats.
• Working with state and federal officials to pass climate legislation.

The Climate Wizard was developed by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington and the University of Southern Mississippi and maps historic and projected climate data from some of the top regional and global climate data and modeling centers.

The Web site, www.climatewizard.org, contains links to information about the product, its use, and the models used to create it.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 18 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 117 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.