In Montana, climate change means drought in some places, record breaking floods in others, and wildfire seasons that burn hotter and last longer, according to a new federal climate report released last week.
The Fifth National Climate Assessment shows climate change is already affecting the mental and physical health of people living in the Northern Great Plains, which includes Montana.
“The impacts of air pollution, climate change, extreme weather events, all of that on people’s mental health, that was under-recognized in the past,” Dr. Rob Byron said.
Byron is a physician in Montana and one of the authors of the assessment. Montana has the highest proportion of premature deaths caused by wildfire smoke in the country.
The congressionally-mandated report is released every five years, but unlike its predecessors, this report focuses more on how climate change is affecting people’s health.
The assessment shows that for this region, more residents have livelihoods that depend on natural resources, making them vulnerable to climate-related weather changes.
“It’s one thing if we are in a smoke cloud and have a flare up of an asthma attack. It’s less understandable when the ranchers are suffering because this drought has been going on and then you get an extreme precipitation event and it runs off because the ground is so baked,” Byron said.
The report shows extreme weather events are happening more often and marginalized groups suffer even more of the effects.
Although the U.S. is not on track to meet current goals to reduce further warming, the assessment outlines measures that can be taken to get closer to those goals. Byron said he finds hope in climate solutions and that more people are aware of the climate crisis now than ever before.
“We need to talk about it. And I don't mean people involved in it. I mean everybody. That's how we normalize this and say there’s a problem. What can we do about it? Well there’s a lot we can do about it,” Byron said.
This report also includes, for the first time, an interactive online atlas anyone can use to understand how climate change is affecting where they live.
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Montana homeowners have two more weeks to apply for property tax rebates. The rebate tops out at $400; Gov. Greg Gianforte is creating a task force to focus on boosting energy development in Montana. A new report focuses on how climate change is impacting our health. -
State utility regulators have rejected part of a petition to consider climate change in their decision-making; State regulators deny petition to for higher selenium standard in Lake Koocanusa; A Missoula homeless shelter closed last week as pandemic funding ends.
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The Trump administration wants to repeal greenhouse gas regulations that limit emissions for cars and a variety of other sources. State law prevents Montana from having air pollution standards stricter than the federal government. -
Temperatures can vary widely across a city, even in the same neighborhood. As the climate heats up, volunteers in Missoula are mapping hot spots in their community. -
As the song says, “don’t go chasing waterfalls” — unless you’re a research team looking for an elusive bird that only nests in the “splash zone.” MTPR’s Ellis Juhlin recently joined one such group on a scouting trip.
