Scientists want Iowans to press candidates on climate

Nearly 200 Iowa scientists and academics want presidential hopefuls coming through Iowa, stumping for support from voters, to answer some critical questions about climate change and its growing impact on residents, businesses and farmers.

"Iowans are experiencing real impacts from climate change, including heavier rains, increased flooding and negative effects on human health. It is time to hear directly from presidential candidates their ideas for addressing this critical issue," said Chris Anderson, assistant director of the Iowa State University climate science program at Iowa State University.

The group, 188 researchers and scientists at 39 Iowa colleges and universities, want Iowans to ask presidential candidates: "How will they address the negative impacts that Iowa farmers and communities have and will continue to experience," it said.

"Climate change is already having significant effects on Iowans economically, socially and psychologically, and these impacts are expected to intensify," said the group Monday. An international group of scientists say humans have been adding heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere that contribute to climate change.

Often, though, climate change takes a back seat to economic and social issues for voters, in part because the issues seems distant from them.

"It's more than polar bears and melting ice caps," said David Courard-Hauri, director of the environmental science and policy program at Drake University. "We want people to think about the impacts in Iowa."

Those changes include extreme periods of floods and drought, sometimes combined, he said. "The climate is not the same as what we've seen in the past. ... Climate in Iowa has changed and it's likely that it will become even more extreme over time," Courard-Hauri said.

The group said as climate warms, evaporation increases. "During dry periods with little rain, increased evaporation makes dry soils even drier, while during wet periods it adds even more moisture to the atmosphere. In these ways, climate change may strengthen both droughts and floods. The recent sequence of extreme rainfall years — flood events in 2008, 2010 and 2014 interrupted by the drought of 2012 — illustrates the Iowa impacts from enhanced evaporation. The emergence of years with both drought and flood, as in 2011 and 2013, is concerning."

The changes are also expected to lead to negative health effects for Iowans, including stresses on the heart and lungs, allergens that are more abundant and have a longer season, and the spread of diseases carried by organisms like mosquitoes and ticks, the group said.

Courard-Hauri said it's important that voters know know that there are actions, such as adding solar and wind energy, that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "There are solutions on the table that are economically feasible," he said.