A City Prepares for a Warm Long-Term Forecast [NYT].

Climate scientists have told city planners that based on current trends, Chicago will feel more like Baton Rouge than a Northern metropolis before the end of this century.  So, Chicago is getting ready for a wetter, steamier future. Public alleyways are being repaved with materials that are permeable to water. The white oak, the state tree of Illinois, has been banned from city planting lists, and swamp oaks and sweet gum trees from the South have been given new priority.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/science/earth/23adaptation.html?pagewanted=all