OSU Climate Change Outreach Team Adds Local Context to a Changing Climate

Climate Change tends to pop into public conversation every few months or so, but for Ohio State University’s Climate Change Outreach Team, the topic has stayed relevant since the team’s inception in 2008. The group focuses on localizing climate change to Ohio and the Great Lakes region; by addressing the issue within a regional context, information becomes more relevant to planners, managers and citizens, making it more likely that they will act on new knowledge.

“When people hear about climate change, many don’t really know how it will affect different aspects at home—Ohio’s agriculture, plants and animals, Lake Erie,” explains Dr. Brent Sohngen, Professor in Ohio State’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental, & Development Economics. “With the incredible resources we have across the university, we realized we could help fill in those gaps.”