The BBC is visiting eight areas of the world to find how people are preparing for climate change. Paul Adams reports from the American city of Chicago.

The threatened blizzard seems to have slid off in some other direction, and the snow is melting under grey, drizzling skies.
I know the local, day-to-day weather is completely beside the point, but it surely makes it hard for many to contemplate the reality of a planet warming towards dangerous levels. Just think about it: you’re at native Chicagoan, possibly struggling as a consequence of the global economic downturn - something that’s very tangible. It’s snowing. You’ve just heard that a friend of a friend lost a brother in Afghanistan. From far away come voices warning of dire global climatic scenarios, using highly technical terminology to describe something that, as far as you, here, now can actually see, isn’t happening. Continue reading »