Does Climate Change Threaten Ohio?
Brent Sohngen, AED Economics, Ohio State University (Sohngen.1 at osu.edu) It is interesting to listen to the increasingly shrill voices on climate change. On the one hand, I agree with the conclusion offered by many that society should take the threat to our climate seriously, and that we should all engage in modest policy. On the other hand, many groups are making such alarmist statements, it is hard for me to take them seriously. Consider the recent report by Environment Ohio titled “What’s at Stake: How Global Warming Threatens the Buckeye State.” The report can be obtained at http://www.environmentohio.org/. This report claims that global warming imminently threatens Ohio’s forests and agriculture in particular, and this should motivate Ohioans to support climate legislation. The report links some statistics on current industry with a bunch of assertions about ecological changes. The report does not actually assess the potential economic impacts. Having spent my entire career deve
