Climate change in Tennessee

The effects of global warming have been widely debated; however, there is evidence that suggests a slight increase in the core temperature of most states.

In the state of Tennessee, one of the key effects of global warming seems to be the radical changes to the geological composition as well as wildlife health of the Ohio-Tennessee Basin.

In the coming decades, the changing climate is likely to reduce crop yields, threaten some aquatic ecosystems, and increase some risks to human health.

Floods may be more frequent, and droughts may be longer, which would increase the difficulty of meeting the competing demands for water in the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers".

[4] Another order establishes the Interagency Alternative Fuels Working Group with the goal of making Tennessee a leader in the biofuels industry.

[5] The Working Group came up with an Alternative Fuels Strategic Plan which lays out goals for increasing biofuel and feedstock production and displacing petroleum use.

Public Chapter 489 (2007) requires all agencies and state educational institutions to create plans by January 1, 2008, to reduce or displace petroleum use in government fleet vehicles by 20%.

[7] Five months later, the state would experience a deadlier major flood event, which caused 20 deaths and at least $100 million worth of damage.

The agencies try to keep channels at least eleven feet deep, because lower river levels can force barges to carry smaller loads, which increases transportation costs.

This release meant that lake levels were lowered tens of feet, which caused problems for recreational swimming and boating.

Although more droughts would reduce productivity, longer growing seasons and increased carbon dioxide concentrations could more than offset those losses.

These results suggest that biomass recovery following climate change is linked to dominant tree diversity in the southeastern forest of the US.