The Roanoker January/February 2024 - 43

was written in order to easily be understood
with less text and more graphics, she says. " It
is a functional plan, " one that is " clearly understood.
It could have been heavy on jargon and
the scientific language. " The plan looks at " how
climate change will affect your family. "
Ultimately, the Climate Action Plan outlines
how " we have the opportunity to fix this, "
says Weitzenfeld. " It is already in progress. We
took 13 years to replace the horse and buggy
with the car. [This new change] will have a
ripple effect throughout society.
" Climate change will affect systems, and
society is systems. COVID closed everything
and led to changes in our systems. We are looking
at major disruptions in energy systems,
transportation and agriculture... a major world
shift in 10 to 15 years. " Huge disruptions are
ahead, she says, and " we need to start adjusting.
If we don't embrace this, it could get worse. "
Weitzenfeld believes a huge priority at this
moment is to de-carbonize the way we live.
Roanoke, for example, has a goal of reducing
carbon emissions 50 percent by 2030. That
would combine with " creating personal plans
to decarbonize, " to go with renewable energy
and to use technology already available to affect
the climate in a positive way. " It is possible, "
she says, without hesitation. Ideally, she anticipates
bringing " together the largest employers,
assessing our starting point " and " seeing how
we can effect change together. "
" We need to understand how [change] will
affect families, especially moms and the children, "
Weitzenfeld says. " We will have climate
mitigation here in the United States, but are
cities ready for it? Are we planning properly?
Any new building will be still in use at the turn
of the century. Are they being planned with
renewable energy and reduced emissions? The
challenge is how. "
Kevin Myatt, who has become the region's
weather guru through his weather column in
Roanoke's daily newspaper for more than 20
years and now for Cardinal News, believes the
" biggest change will be that summer nights
are a lot warmer. " He sees humidity being a
temperature driver because the effect of warmer
oceans " will move inland. "
We are already seeing examples of severe
weather, giant storms like the four inches of
rain that fell this past fall in two hours during
the Virginia Tech-Perdue football game
in Blacksburg. " It was the third highest total
rainfall ever. The second was two years ago, "
says Myatt.
High humidity tends to stick the temperatures
in the 90s, he says. " This year, we talked
about the hottest summer, but weather patterns
kept us out of it. We had an extended
spring because of the heat dome west of us. It
moved around and brought cooler air in from
Canada. "
There is, frankly, " no slowing or stopping the
warming, " says Myatt, but on the other hand,
" winter is always erratic here. Mild winters
with light snow are frequent. "
Looking ahead 50 years, he says, " A lot can
happen. The carbon output determines where
we will be. It's a long time to be predicting. But
any climatologist will say there's no reason to
think it will not be warmer. Winter will still
be here, but it will be shorter and warmer. The
South is coming North. "
Says Ramseyer, " Some people are dismissive
of climate change, and it comes down to anxiety
about what this means for the future, them
personally. How will I have to change my life?
Some changes may be more nuanced than they
assume. Need to see proof that it won't change
how daily life works. I hope we realize that it
is not as disruptive as anticipated. "
" We won't be a place that is not affected " by
climate change, says Weitzenfeld. I
TALKING ABOUT
THE WEATHER
Bob Schmucker, Optical Cable and
songwriter: " I moved from Chicago to
Roanoke for several reasons, but being
tired of Chicago winters was definitely
on the list. When I left Chicago for an
interview with FiberCom, Chicago
was getting ready for a blizzard.
When I got to Roanoke, it was 70-plus
degrees, and everything was green
and blooming. When I returned to
Chicago, my car was buried under a
foot of snow. "
Amy Rebecca Shea, educator: " We had
a warm spring and late cold snap. Lots
of lilacs are blooming now too. I have
an apple tree in bloom (in October) on
my road. Not what we would think of
as normal at all. "
Crickett Nordhaus, retired: " I moved
from the Roanoke Valley to Fancy
Gap at 2,900 feet a year ago because
it's always 10 degrees colder than the
valley, and less chance of flooding.
(Nordhaus also lived on a boat with
her husband for a time.)
Chris Martin, Realtor: Clients moving
to Roanoke " not necessarily because
of the heat. One currently is leaving
the beach because she's tired of her
house flooding during hurricanes. "
Our built environment will worsen the
effects of climate change in urban and suburban
areas because these areas are already
hotter due to urban heat island (UHI) effect.
Urban heat islands are developed areas that
are hotter than the surrounding areas.
The size, features, layout and building materials
that develop our cities typically include
dark asphalt roads, parking lots and even dark
rooftops. These all absorb the sun's heat during
the day and release it at night. There is also
a lack of vegetation and tree canopy that cool
areas via water vapor, shade and albedo, or
reflecting sunlight.
Waste heat generated from buildings and
vehicles contribute to UHI, too. Additionally,
UHI causes an increase in energy use, which
in turn, increases energy costs, ozone and
other air pollution from additional electricity
generation and emissions. (Get a look at the report
found at roanokeva.gov under " City of Roanoke Climate
Action Plan 2023. " )
Katy Cookston, Realtor: " Most clients
we've helped are moving here
to get four seasons, and escape
naturally occurring weather storms
like earthquakes, tornadoes and
hurricanes. It's not normally to escape
heat. "
Radford University Professor Bill
Kovarik wants to know: " Climate
refugees are coming eventually. What
is this region doing to plan for them? "
TheRoanoker.com
January/february 2024 43
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The Roanoker January/February 2024

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