Climate Change Is Sowing Chaos Up and Down the Mississippi (VIDEO)

Rising temperatures threaten communities all along the river.

The Mississippi River. Source: Pixabay

This story was produced in collaboration with PBS News Hour.

By Josh Landis

Over the centuries the United States has deployed vast fortunes and an untold number of workers to divert, dam and contain the Mississippi River. The unruly waterway remains one of the greatest challenges facing the Army Corps of Engineers, which is tasked with ensuring the river remains navigable and with protecting surrounding communities from floods.

In the age of climate change, that job is getting harder.

Rainstorms upstream are growing bigger more fearsome, filling the Mississippi with extra water, leading to flooding downstream. Extreme weather — a hallmark of climate change — means the river and everyone who depends on it are increasingly vulnerable.

In 2019, Nexus Media News teamed up with PBS NewsHour Weekend to explore how climate change is shaping life and commerce up and down the Mississippi. From Minnesota to Iowa to Missouri to Louisiana, the series documents the growing challenges facing Americans along the more than two thousand miles of river.

The Mississippi River accounts for thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in trade in Louisiana. As climate change raises sea levels, advocates and experts are looking for ways to protect the people who depend on it. Source: Nexus Media/PBS News Hour

Researchers at Louisiana State University are working to restore Louisiana’s wetlands. To help achieve that goal, they built a 10,000-square-foot replica of the Mississippi Delta to study how humans are changing the region. Source: Nexus Media/PBS News Hour

Rising temperatures threaten winter sports, like dog sledding, in Minnesota. Source: Nexus Media/PBS News Hour

In 2019, the Mississippi River crested at the highest-ever level recorded in Davenport, Iowa, causing widespread damage to the downtown area, which reignited a debate about how the city should protect itself. Source: Nexus Media/PBS News Hour

Each year, the United States produces more than 100 million tons of coal ash, a toxic substance made when coal is burned to generate electricity. Much of that waste is kept in storage units around the country, where it can potentially leach into the groundwater and and into major waterways. Source: Nexus Media/PBS NewsHour

Josh Landis writes for Nexus Media, a nonprofit climate change news service.