This week I fled the heat dome in the Midwest for northern Minnesota, making me a climate refugee of sorts. My article on our visit to the Florida Keys was popular, so I thought I would continue to write about our travels.
Today on Juneteenth, on the shore of a lake on the Canadian border, it is 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the Midwest and East Coast are in the 90’s. Hot weather is nothing unusual for midwestern summers, and some will say that it’s just a normal heat wave. It makes me think about the correlation with the predictions of climate scientists for the Midwest: hotter summers, less rain, more frequent severe heat events with higher heat indices. This is normal now.
We have made several trips to the northern Midwest in the last few years, Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and Minnesota. It’s a beautiful land, all water and rocks and trees. Fishing, hunting, four-wheeling, and snowmobiling are favorite pastimes. Northern Minnesota is home to Voyageurs National Park and Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). Both are national treasures of wilderness for recreation and renewal, together about 1.3 million acres of protected land.
Voyageurs National Park is a wonder. Its southern boundary is on Kabetogama Lake, and the northern border is in Rainy Lake, which sits across the US-Canada border. In between is a large expanse of wilderness with many islands and a large peninsula with dozens of small lakes. The campsites in this park are dispersed and accessible only by boat. Geographically, the park sits on a southern extension of the Canadian Shield and is mostly covered in boreal forest. The forest is dense and lush, full of spruce, pines, aspen and birch. The water is rusty from the natural iron deposits and is full of fish including the treasured walleye. Loons, ducks and many species of woodland birds and animals are plentiful. So are mosquitoes.
I stayed in a Minnesota State Park campground on the shore of Kabetogama Lake. My fellow campers were an eclectic lot. There was the group of seventy-something retirees with several large RVs, staying up late around their campfire. There were a couple of prepper-looking woodsmen with extensive camp setups and dogs, clearly staying a while. There were plenty of fishermen, 50-ish beefy white men with big Lund fishing boats on trailers, large RVs and Ford F-150’s. I watched them blasting around the lake trying to find some fish to catch. There was a father and son whom I met at the beach coming back from a canoe paddle. The young man was glad to see his lunch box. I saw them again in the evening walking back to their campsite, both with bug nets over their heads, the boy trying to walk like his tall father. My immediate neighbors were a couple in their 20’s with a tent, who broke camp at 5:30 am and left in 10 minutes. They never spoke a word or looked in my direction. On the other side was a delightful family of five with a mid-size motor home pulling a fairly large ski boat. The kids included a boy about 8, a girl about 6, a toddler who never stopped talking while she was awake, and an expecting mom. I saw them with their boat at the dock, blonde children in PFD’s waiting patiently for Dad to return from parking the RV. They were gone until late that evening. I notice that our wilderness lands attract people from every walk of life, although I have to say that I did not see a single person of color.
This region is far from untouched: most of the original old-growth forest has been gone for over 100 years, but there is a patchwork of healthy second growth woodlands. Timber extraction is still a big business here and clear-cuts are evident. Vacation homes are everywhere, especially on the lakes. Mining has 150-year history in the region and has left many polluted lakes and streams. The Mesabi Range north of Duluth is an enormous, active strip mine for iron. Driving through it made me think of Martian terraforming.
The real estate market exploded in the North Woods of Wisconsin and Minnesota after the pandemic, as it did in many other places. The consensus is that people wanted a getaway during the pandemic, which started the rush. Then came the speculators, hedge funds, REITs and AirBNBers. I wonder, though, how much of the demand is being driven by climate change. The Wall Streeters are certainly paying attention to the climate risk forecasts. As the South heats up, people are already moving north. These northern locations have a lot going for them: natural beauty, low cost of living, cool summers, plenty of fresh water. In twenty years, that is going to look irresistible. We are in a phase of the climate crisis when it is still possible to deny its root causes and impacts, as the Florida government is attempting to do. At some point, most people will get over that and acquiesce to the realities. We are not quite there yet. Once we get there, we may see a mad rush to the North.
When most people think of the North Country, they think of the winters: subzero temperatures, arctic winds, snow measured in feet, long winter nights, months of cold. But how long will that last? Nordic skiing is big up there. Last year, major ski races in Minnesota and Wisconsin had to be cancelled for lack of snow. The mild winter was upsetting to people who look forward to winter adventures. One of the effects of global heating is milder winters in this region. Northerners won’t like it, but southerners will think it’s great. Milder winters will add to the desirability of northern locations for many climate refugees.
Change is coming everywhere because of global warming, and the North Country is no exception. It is a beautiful, wild place, and many people there cherish its purity. Our hope is that the natural beauty of this place will be preserved as the climate continues to change.
I've been wondering whether the inadequate responses to global warming are related to a sociological phenomenon for which I don't know the name. A woman was raped (and killed?) in New York City some years ago and many people later admitted to hearing her screams, but no one called the police because they thought someone else would do that.
I've heard the argument made on radio that if we hamper the US economy to deal with global warming, China will take advantage of that to jump ahead of us!
As the 2000 years of the Church has shown us, changing people's hearts and minds can require Divine intervention! ;-)