Protecting Outdoor Recreation Requires Climate Action

Climate change is altering summers in Ohio and across the nation in ways both disastrously large and insidiously small, according to a new National Wildlife Federation report. Safeguarding Summer details how rising temperatures are giving a boost to everything from heat waves to ticks to toxic algae outbreaks and recommends policies for averting the worst effects of climate change.

Ohio is already seeing the impacts of climate change. According to the CDC, from 2004 to 2016, Ohio had 1,358 reported cases of tickborne diseases and 1,359 cases of mosquito-borne diseases.

In addition, the US Environmental Protection Agency projects the Great Lakes are likely to warm another 3-7 degrees in the next 70 years, which could lead to the growth of additional algal blooms and degraded water quality. In 2014, the city of Toledo was without drinkable water for three days as the result of a harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie.

Read more at nwf.org/summer

The report highlights the following examples of threats to summer activities:

• Fueling Extreme Weather: Along with monster storms fueled by warmer air and water, heat waves and humidity are on the rise, forcing elderly and low-income Americans to choose between suffering through sweltering heat and higher electric bills.
• Beaches Degraded: Not only are beaches at risk of erosion from climate-fueled sea level rise and stronger storms, they’re increasingly being closed by toxic algae outbreaks that get a boost from warmer water. In 2017, 169 algae outbreaks were reported in 40 states, according to the Environmental Working Group.
• Pest Boom: Warmer temperatures and fewer freezes are a boon to disease-carrying pests. Illnesses from mosquitoes, ticks and fleas have tripled in just the last 13 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lyme disease is already being called the “first epidemic of climate change,” and the CDC estimates 329,000 Americans get it each year.
• Hindered Recreation: Not only do worsened summer heat waves and pests make it harder to enjoy the outdoors, but climate impacts are changing Major League Baseball. This year, Major League Baseball broke its April record for weather-related delays and cancellations. Home runs fly out of parks more easily in hotter, more humid air, and the global warming-boosted emerald ash borer is threatening the trees used to make bats.

“Families in Ohio love to spend time together on Lake Erie and other beaches across the state, but are encountering more green slime from harmful algal blooms. Hikers, campers and birders love Ohio’s state forests and other recreation lands, but there is an exploding increase in ticks – and threats that come with them, such as Lyme disease,” said Frank Szollosi, Great Lakes Outreach Campaign Manager for NWF.

“Increasing heat, humidity and heavy rainfall are beginning to play havoc for baseball – from Little League to the big league. Low and fixed income Ohioans have heavier energy bills to cope with longer periods of hot weather days. What do all these changes to summertime experiences have in common? Manifesting impacts of climate change. Now is the time for Ohio elected officials – especially Senator Rob Portman – to stand up for the economic opportunities that also drive down climate pollution: protect fuel economy standards and Ohio’s auto sector, protect Ohio’s businesses and citizens from electricity rate spikes to finance the Trump coal bailout, and oppose the ‘Dirty Power Plan’ that will not only increase air pollution but also accelerate the climate change impacts that threaten so much of Ohio’s iconic summertime experiences,” said Szollosi.

"This spring I encountered numerous black-legged (deer) ticks while outdoors,” said Doug Inkley, former NWF Senior Science Adviser (retired). “The doctor put me on antibiotics when a classic bull's-eye rash, characteristic of Lyme infection, appeared. This is nothing like when I was a kid running around in the woods of central Vermont. We didn't even think about ticks because there weren't any here! Now, they seem to be everywhere and I take appropriate precautions whenever I go outside."

America’s outdoor recreation economy is an $887 billion business annually, supporting 7.6 million jobs. In 2016, 103 million U.S. residents enjoyed wildlife-related recreation, with 35.8 million fishing, 11.5 million hunting, and 86 million participated in at least one wildlife-watching activity.

In Ohio, the outdoor recreation economy generates more than 215,000 direct jobs and $1.5 billion in state and local tax revenue.

To curb the worst harms of climate change, the report calls for actions such as:

• Reducing carbon emissions from the power sector — the second-largest source of climate pollution in the U.S.
• Continuing to enforce and enhance rules to limit methane pollution from oil and gas infrastructure
• Reducing carbon emissions from the transportation sector through policies that curb emissions and incentivize cleaner cars and electric vehicles
• Encouraging Congress to pass legislation to put a price on carbon pollution
• Enhancing natural systems and wildlife corridors to provide wildlife with valuable ecosystems that would also reduce risks from flooding and sea-level rise.

Visit the National Wildlife Federation Media Center at NWF.org/News.