Event Title
Climate and Land Use Change: Implications for Southeastern Massachusetts
Location
Moakley Auditorium
Start Time
17-5-2007 10:30 AM
End Time
17-5-2007 11:15 AM
Description
Southeastern Massachusetts is experiencing dramatic rates of landscape change, primarily due to human activity. The combination of declining profits for cranberries, a rapidly increasing population, improved access through better transportation, and large tracts of undeveloped land significantly threatens the remaining open space of Southeastern Massachusetts. About 40% of the agricultural lands in the region have been lost since 1971. There has also been a 60+% increase in residential, industrial, and commercial properties since that time. Every indication is that these trends will continue. Replacing the natural environment with impervious surfaces through urban-suburban sprawl alters temperature and hydrologic balance on local scales that may produce more immediate and significant consequences for the quality of life than the “Global” trend. Smart planning could reduce the local impact of the "Global" Warming trend. This panel of experts will present evidence of and discuss the implications of climate change for Southeastern Massachusetts.
Climate and Land Use Change: Implications for Southeastern Massachusetts
Moakley Auditorium
Southeastern Massachusetts is experiencing dramatic rates of landscape change, primarily due to human activity. The combination of declining profits for cranberries, a rapidly increasing population, improved access through better transportation, and large tracts of undeveloped land significantly threatens the remaining open space of Southeastern Massachusetts. About 40% of the agricultural lands in the region have been lost since 1971. There has also been a 60+% increase in residential, industrial, and commercial properties since that time. Every indication is that these trends will continue. Replacing the natural environment with impervious surfaces through urban-suburban sprawl alters temperature and hydrologic balance on local scales that may produce more immediate and significant consequences for the quality of life than the “Global” trend. Smart planning could reduce the local impact of the "Global" Warming trend. This panel of experts will present evidence of and discuss the implications of climate change for Southeastern Massachusetts.
Comments
Moderator: John-Michael Bodi