MILWAUKEE– Over 300 American and Canadian municipality leaders are meeting in Milwaukee this week to discuss the future of not only sustainability in the Great Lakes, but trade and industry growth as well.
It’s all part of a multi-day conference hosted by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. President and CEO of the initiative, Jonathan Altenberg says the meeting has been happening every year since it was organized by both the Mayors of Chicago and Toronto back in 2003.
This year’s conference theme was the future of fresh water and Altenberg says all communities in the U.S. and Canada must prepare for lasting challenges the climate crisis brings to North America.
“Well, I always look at it this way: Over the next 30 to 50 years, the west is going to be-has already- been burning. The south is boiling, the East is flooding. Studies show that Duluth, Minnesota is going to be the ideal place to live. I always say to the mayor from Duluth, that, when he’s there in January and February, things are going to change.” said Altenberg.”You can’t expect companies like Intel, to continue to manufacture in places like Phoenix when it’s gonna be over 120 degrees Fahrenheit and you can’t operate with that water. 21% of the surface water of Earth is in the Great Lakes region and that has to be protected. We need to make sure that we bring the right companies here and that people are responsible with this resource.”
Milwaukee city mayor Cavalier Johnson says overall, the Great Lakes region is an economic powerhouse.
“By itself, the region is the world’s third largest economy, producing $6 Trillion dollars of economic input every single year. Our region accounts for a significant portion of the bi-lateral trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada. I think in Wisconsin alone, there’s $8 Billion dollars in trade with Wisconsin goods going over the border into Canada and over $6 Billion Canadian goods are being sold into the state of Wisconsin. So, it is critically important,” said Johnson. “We need to be stewards of our water. We’ve got to work to make sure we’re supporting efforts to keep our waterways clean. We have to work to make sure that people still have access to that water, which is why we’ve been expanding our river walk system to get people more acclimated to our water system. We have to work to make sure that we’re building housing so that more people can be able to come here as water becomes more scarce of a resource in other parts of the country and I believe folks will migrate to more places like Milwaukee. More businesses will migrate to cities like Milwaukee as well.”
As trade deficits impact both countries, mayors at the initiative conference are speaking of ways to help sway both federal governments from enacting in a trade war that will ultimately hurt consumers.
Mayor of St. Catharines in Onatario, Mat Siscoe says it comes down to local leaders to really understanding local residents and pushing that message down to government officials on both Parliament and Capitol Hills.
“From our perspectives, as mayors we talk to our residents everyday. We’re the closest to the people that live in our communities. We hear their concerns, we see how the cost of living keeps rising and how difficult it is for them to keep up,” said Siscoe. “We need to be engaging on the tariff issue specifically because it’s damaging our communities, it’s damaging the quality of life of our residents, and in a democracy, we have to carry that message to make sure our state, provincial, and federal leaders understand it.”
As more people move to the Great Lakes region, sustaining and conserving water will become a more pressing issue.
Altenburg compares the increasing need for water to the movie, ‘Mad Max’ and says the Cities Initiative is not taking any chances with something as consequential as a water war.
“In 30 to 50 years, we’ll be under a crisis. The Ural Sea disappeared, okay? An entire, basically inland sea disappeared. We lost an entire lake. The eighth largest lake in the United States disappeared in California over 100 years ago. This is not unprecedented. We need to be aware of what the risks are to our world and to our communities,” said Altenburg. “If we’re not ready for it, there’s going to be a problem. This organization is pulled together. We have an economic transformation plan that we’re going to be launching this fall that’s going to make sure that we are prepared for the inevitable. What’s going to happen because of climate change- and it doesn’t matter whether what you think- has happened. It’s happening. Temperatures are higher than they have ever been. Year on year on year. Storms have been more repetitive. We are seeing that impact, and if we’re not prepared, we’re not going to be in a good shape.”
The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative conference runs until Friday.
