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Warming warning
Parks serve as global warming barometer
Date published: 8/15/2007
UNDERSTANDING the toll glo- bal warming could take on the places we know and cherish is a good way to help put its potential impact in perspective.
Consider the historic Jamestown settlement, which is celebrating its 400th anniversary with substantial fanfare this summer. One of the problems that plagued its settlers from the beginning was its low-lying location, in a marshy area susceptible to flooding.
But the settlers of 1607 had no notion of just how bad the flooding could become if the New World's future leaders failed to acknowledge and combat the causes of climate change. If the world continues to warm, melting polar ice and raising sea levels at the present rate, the Jamestown settlement will be under water when its 500th anniversary rolls around. Nearby archaeological sites that were once inland are now on the shoreline. A Civil War Confederate fort site that used to be along the James River is now eroding into the river.
These are some of the assessments contained in a new report from the National Parks Conservation Association called "Unnatural Disaster." The report suggests that our national parks, whose pristine beauty has long welcomed Americans in search of recreation and relaxation, are now alerting us to the threat of climate change.
The report warns that glaciers in the national parks of Alaska as well as in North Cascades and Mount Rainier national parks will continue to disappear; Joshua trees will no longer exist at Joshua Tree National Park; and the rising sea will drown Everglades National Park.
The elevated temperatures of favorite fishing streams in Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks could eliminate up to 90 percent of suitable habitat for trout by the end of the century. National forests will decline as warmer temperatures worsen air quality while improving conditions for tree pests.
If they could talk, the parks would be asking us: "Are you willing to sacrifice us to environmentally damaging conditions that, for the time being, are within your power to prevent?"
Date published: 8/15/2007
Most recent reader comments:
Bunk
(posted by
winwood
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
Are you stll a believer that the sun revolves around the earth !!! Though no one can be 100% sure of the causes of global warming, the great preponderance of scientists believe that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases. I find it laughable that global warming has turned into the a political issue. That individuals like yourself would rather believe know-nothing politicians, than the unbiased scientific community. How can you be so certain that global warming is not caused by greenhouse gases?
sigh
(posted by
senor
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
I can't speak about the report. But Duck's second sentence is false. Duck's third sentence is false and implies a disdain of science. Duck's last sentence shows a lack of understanding of weather vs. climate, and a lack of knowledge of what these fields comprise. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
Bunk
(posted by
AtackDuck
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
The report "Unnatural Disaster" has been discredited and exposed as the garbage science it is. The climate changes all of the time, we happen to be in a warming period. A few years ago, the same "scientists" were screaming about an imminent ice age. They can't predict weather 5 years in advance, but they know what will happen 100 years down the road? HA!
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