In an opinion piece that appeared on Saturday, Sept. 22, in Utica's Observer-Dispatch titled "Warmer world could mean shorter winters for region," Professor of Biology Ernest Williams explained what the economic effects of global warming might mean for central New York. Some of the possible changes Williams foresees are shorter winters offering fewer days for winter sports, the possibility of more ice storms, a gradual disappearance of sugar maple trees causing our normally bright fall foliage to become drab and a longer growing season with more pests and weeds and a decline in some species.
He concluded his piece with the following warning, "The changes I've described are happening more rapidly than anyone would have anticipated just five years ago. It's a sobering intellectual exercise to put all these trends together and imagine what it will be like to live in Central New York several decades in the future or what the Adirondacks will be like. It's not just that our winters and forests will be different; the webs of interactions in nature will be altered, and some of the coming changes will surprise us. But I can leave you with one piece of advice: keep your mud boots handy."
