Climate change and variability is not a recent development, paleoclimate research suggests that the earth’s climate is dynamic and ever-changing. The goal scientific investigation into climate change and variability should be the understanding of natural and human aspects of climate change and variability. The affects of human activity should be quantified so that the response to climate change and variability is productive and proactive. By understanding the nature of climatic change and variability we can react with responsible and proactive solutions to socioeconomic problems anticipated by a better understanding of climate change and variability.

Climate change and variability will not have the same affect on the socioeconomic structure of the Northern Great plains as it will have in other regions of the world. While it is not certain to what degree of affect climate change and variability will have, we can speculate on the areas of potential affect and begin to collect the necessary data to model likely scenarios.