UMD Hosts Climate Change Conference

DULUTH, Minn. — Climate change was the topic of a conference at UMD on Monday.

Everyone from environmental activists to students came together to discuss how the change will affect our area. They also discussed other issues that come from climate change and what the community can do.

Jonna Korpi from Duluth is the director of sustainability office at UMD. Korpi says she hopes to bring everyone together to raise more awareness of climate change.

“Climate change is going to be different here in Duluth. The impacts are going to be different. So, it’s not going to be some of the more extremes we hear globally but we are going to have climate impacts and we have experienced some of them already. We’ve had that flash flooding event just a couple of weeks ago. Flooding is common thing but we’re also going to have hotter summers, less cold winters. So, we’re going to have some really interesting impacts that people aren’t necessarily thinking about,” said Korpi.

Korpi says the effects are going to happen more often than we think and it it’s important we talk about how the climate is changing and how we can prepare as a community. Heather Navarro lives in Missouri and heads the Midwest Climate Collaborative. She hopes to meet and network with local leaders and students interested in what to expect.

“Duluth is a great place, one to study climate resiliency solution because the community here experiences all extremes of temperatures and so, if you can find a solution in Duluth that can be shared with many other communities,” said Navarro.

Navarro says climate change is more connected to our everyday lives than we think.