8 JULY 2018 • FOGHORN FOGHORNFOCUS: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES For MIFL operations, this presents expensive consequences on a number of dimensions. Summer revenue must subsidize extended winter opera- tions The cost to carry one car one way in December is $59 (revenue is $10). In January, it jumps to $88. That’s just one car. You’ve heard the dreary old saying, “We’re losing $5 on each transaction but we’ll make it up in volume.” We are looking at a business plan that’s under considerable new pressure. The new climate manifests itself far beyond a few winter months. Our climate changes are now flagrant in summer and fall as well. Between 1958 and 2012, observed “heavy precipitation” events have increased 37 percent in North Central United States. In New England, they have sky rocketed 71 percent. A “mere” 27 percent in the Southeast. Increase temperatures along with increase dew points and moisture are spawning intense storm events. Remember Superstorm Sandy or the more recent “bomb cyclones” that hit the East Coast? Throughout the Great Lakes operators are being hit with a growing number of weather related afflictions. High water and wind, always possibilities for anyone living and working on the Great Lakes, have now become probabilities. Operators are seeing increasing need to cancel scheduled tours, shoreline residents are seeing erosion to such an extent that, in Northern Wisconsin, some municipali- ties are contemplating new assessments that will necessarily decrease property taxes. On Lake Michigan’s Washington Island Ferry, mainland dock service has been disrupted by dock hydraulics suddenly lying under water. On Lake Ontario, Kingston Transportation Group has also had seen many cancelled trips and scores of lakeside dwellings swamped. This is not business as usual. Dealing with Weather-Events MIFL uses a web-based ticketing app. Weather-related shutdowns in Internet service are a plague to most anyone. But for MIFL, we have had to rely on cell data service to back-up WIFI failures triggered by a series of punishing storms. Back-up generators for office operations, the terminal, WIFI access points and ticket computers have had to be installed with an eye towards the new truth that they’ll be starting up with greater frequency. The benign and generally innocuous words we have come to use to describe all this is, “Adapting to Climate Change.” With a little for- giveness for a bit of hyperbole, I wouldn’t mind replacing “adapting” with “suffering.” Our new climate isn’t just changing the way we operate, but the way we live in this beautiful corner of America. The upward march of temperatures does not mean, “no ice.” The longer and longer operating seasons expose boats to tough windrowed ice, but obviously unable to bear the weight of cars and trucks. Longer operations increase main- tenance and capital costs with the addition of more frequent haul outs, payroll, damage to docks and break walls. These expenses present themselves at precisely the time when revenue is lowest. (“Don’t worry we will make it up in volume”). Great Lakes water levels have always been influenced by dynamic forces. But most residents of this region would be hard pressed to recall anything like the levels and weather that have afflicted Lake Superior. Last year, we began to hear, “combat crew fatigue.” By January 5, MIFL had experienced 1,018 days of continuous opera- tions. Without an annual shut down, it isn’t just major main- tenance that suffers. Everything from painting to annual crew family vacations are set aside. The way we budget for the future and define success needs to be changed right along with our “new” climate. Somehow, I can’t shake the image that MIFL is just one more canary in the coal mine. Damaging weather fueled by increased temperatures is already changing more than just the number of “500-Year” storms we’ve counted in the past 15. We are facing the need to redesign ways we do business. While others around us are incrementally finding ways to adapt, those ways are going to incrementally add costs that were not anticipated 10 years ago. I’ll conclude with a couple observations. One is grounded in what now seems to be a conservative view of temperature trends. The other comes from news heralded on June 12. Last year, the Ecological Society of America and The Union of Concerned Scientists extended into the future observed temperature trends seen in Wisconsin in recent decades. (see “Climate Change Moving WI to Arkansas”) The exhibit speaks eloquently for itself. Our community, our state, our world is in for a whopping big dose of change. A new study published in June in the respected scien- tific journal, Nature revealed a much bigger ice problem than what we are living with over the North Channel between Bayfield, WI and Madeline Island. In Antarctica, “the rate of ice melt has accelerated threefold in the last 5 years.” That rate will, in the next decade, contribute more than 25 cm to global sea level…and around 3.5 meters by 2070. The new climate is upon us. While I can’t imagine what I can do about it, I am committed to opening my eyes to every option we at MIFL can use to adapt and, ultimately, prosper. In the meantime, don’t forget to keep on eye on the canary in your coal mine. n About the Authors Robin Trinko Russell is a Past PVA President and the XX of Madeline Island Ferry Line. She presented at the 2018 PVA Green WATERS Conference in Savannah, GA on adapting to climate change. Michael Collins is a destination marketing expert who now lives on Madeline Island. He authored an article on marketing in the November 2017 issue of FOGHORN. Is climate change moving Wisconsin to Arkansas?