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Environmental Update
http://itineraries.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/08/12107210-environmental-woes-imperil-americas-national-parks?lite
"Disappearing glaciers, decreasing air quality and foundation species pushed to the brink of survival. America’s national parks are facing environmental threats that range from tiny invasive species to the planet-spanning impacts of climate change. In some cases, the situation is dire; in others, progress is being made. In aggregate, the issues point to how important — and how fragile — these special places are.
“Each unit in the system has its own unique challenges,” said Al Nash, spokesman for Yellowstone National Park, “but they all reflect a component of who we are and where we’re going. They’re about our shared experience as Americans.”
Great Basin National Park
Located in the parched region of eastern Nevada, this remote park is noted for its underground caves, desert-defying plants and animals and some of the darkest night-skies in the country. All are at risk from a proposal to pump 50,000 acre-feet (16.3 billion gallons) of water per year from the adjacent Snake Valley and send it via pipeline to Las Vegas. And the risks go beyond dried-up riparian areas, curtailed cave formation and increased dust and light pollution, says Superintendent Andy Ferguson. “If that water is pumped out of Snake Valley, the towns that provide places for people to stay, buy groceries, etc., will also suffer,” he told msnbc.com. “And if we don’t have a viable agricultural community in the area, we won’t have much of a park either.”
Bryce Canyon National Park
There’s coal in them thar hills, which, it turns out, lie just 10 miles from Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. With a 440-acre mine on private land currently in operation, park officials and environmental groups are concerned about a proposal to expand the operation to 3,500 acres, two-thirds of which would be on public lands. The expansion would entail lighting for night operations and convoys of trucks to transport the coal to the nearest railhead. “Bryce is hailed for its night-sky programs and the lights and dust would obviously affect visibility,” said Kurt Repanshek, editor in chief of National Parks Traveler. Other concerns include the impact of blasting operations on the park’s “soundscape” and the prospect of more than 300 daily truck trips (153 roundtrips) on Highway 89, the main route between Bryce and Zion.
Glacier National Park
While climate change is impacting parks across the country, few are in the climatic crosshairs as directly as Glacier, which could lose the last of its eponymous icefields in as little as 18 years. That’s according to Dan Fagre, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who notes that the area that would become the park (in 1910) was home to 150 glaciers in 1850. Today, just 26 remain and even those remnants could disappear by 2030. The issue goes beyond glacier-less vistas and obsolete signage. (Slush National Park, anyone?) “It’s not just the melting of the ice,” said Michael Jamison, a local program manager for National Parks Conservation Association . “There’s this whole cascade of effects that impacts everything from soil chemistry to trout streams to municipal water supplies. The whole system is driven by ice.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/06/07/MN1T1OT26G.DTL
"Disappearing glaciers, decreasing air quality and foundation species pushed to the brink of survival. America’s national parks are facing environmental threats that range from tiny invasive species to the planet-spanning impacts of climate change. In some cases, the situation is dire; in others, progress is being made. In aggregate, the issues point to how important — and how fragile — these special places are.
“Each unit in the system has its own unique challenges,” said Al Nash, spokesman for Yellowstone National Park, “but they all reflect a component of who we are and where we’re going. They’re about our shared experience as Americans.”
Great Basin National Park
Located in the parched region of eastern Nevada, this remote park is noted for its underground caves, desert-defying plants and animals and some of the darkest night-skies in the country. All are at risk from a proposal to pump 50,000 acre-feet (16.3 billion gallons) of water per year from the adjacent Snake Valley and send it via pipeline to Las Vegas. And the risks go beyond dried-up riparian areas, curtailed cave formation and increased dust and light pollution, says Superintendent Andy Ferguson. “If that water is pumped out of Snake Valley, the towns that provide places for people to stay, buy groceries, etc., will also suffer,” he told msnbc.com. “And if we don’t have a viable agricultural community in the area, we won’t have much of a park either.”
Bryce Canyon National Park
There’s coal in them thar hills, which, it turns out, lie just 10 miles from Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. With a 440-acre mine on private land currently in operation, park officials and environmental groups are concerned about a proposal to expand the operation to 3,500 acres, two-thirds of which would be on public lands. The expansion would entail lighting for night operations and convoys of trucks to transport the coal to the nearest railhead. “Bryce is hailed for its night-sky programs and the lights and dust would obviously affect visibility,” said Kurt Repanshek, editor in chief of National Parks Traveler. Other concerns include the impact of blasting operations on the park’s “soundscape” and the prospect of more than 300 daily truck trips (153 roundtrips) on Highway 89, the main route between Bryce and Zion.
Glacier National Park
While climate change is impacting parks across the country, few are in the climatic crosshairs as directly as Glacier, which could lose the last of its eponymous icefields in as little as 18 years. That’s according to Dan Fagre, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who notes that the area that would become the park (in 1910) was home to 150 glaciers in 1850. Today, just 26 remain and even those remnants could disappear by 2030. The issue goes beyond glacier-less vistas and obsolete signage. (Slush National Park, anyone?) “It’s not just the melting of the ice,” said Michael Jamison, a local program manager for National Parks Conservation Association . “There’s this whole cascade of effects that impacts everything from soil chemistry to trout streams to municipal water supplies. The whole system is driven by ice.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/06/07/MN1T1OT26G.DTL
"The most recent of those was the sporadic end of the last ice age that began 14,000 years ago and shifted rapidly from warm to cold and then back to warm again over a few thousand years."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but mankind hadn't really developed into an 'industrial' society, some 14,000 years ago, when the last climate-shift occurred.
So by that rational, wouldn't you say since it happened of it's own accord 14,000 years ago, that it COULD happen now, for reasons other than global industrialization?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but mankind hadn't really developed into an 'industrial' society, some 14,000 years ago, when the last climate-shift occurred.
So by that rational, wouldn't you say since it happened of it's own accord 14,000 years ago, that it COULD happen now, for reasons other than global industrialization?
It's very smooth how Gobal Warming denial has shifted to 'it's just a cyclic thing' (ignore it for 10,000-15,000 years and it'll go away) with all the temp records and the strength of tornados increasing.
If I were a conspiracy theorist
:-)
I'd almost think it was anticipated and planned for.
From the second "tipping point" link:
"They likened the potential impact of the forces to previous major changes - both gradual and abrupt - in the planet's history that triggered mass extinctions and expansions, and produced completely new worldwide environments.
The most recent of those was the sporadic end of the last ice age that began 14,000 years ago and shifted rapidly from warm to cold and then back to warm again over a few thousand years. That period saw the extinction of half the world's large animal life, and then the spread of an expanding human population to every continent on the planet.
*Difficult to reverse*
A similar "critical transition" is occurring now, Barnosky's scientists maintain, and they warn that once it starts, it will be "extremely difficult or even impossible for the system to return to its previous state."
If I were a conspiracy theorist
:-)
I'd almost think it was anticipated and planned for.
From the second "tipping point" link:
"They likened the potential impact of the forces to previous major changes - both gradual and abrupt - in the planet's history that triggered mass extinctions and expansions, and produced completely new worldwide environments.
The most recent of those was the sporadic end of the last ice age that began 14,000 years ago and shifted rapidly from warm to cold and then back to warm again over a few thousand years. That period saw the extinction of half the world's large animal life, and then the spread of an expanding human population to every continent on the planet.
*Difficult to reverse*
A similar "critical transition" is occurring now, Barnosky's scientists maintain, and they warn that once it starts, it will be "extremely difficult or even impossible for the system to return to its previous state."
Global temperature increases...
Global temperature decreases...
Looks like the planet is going through one of it's warming cycles.
Kind of the way the environment has worked for about 4.54 billion years now.
Global temperature decreases...
Looks like the planet is going through one of it's warming cycles.
Kind of the way the environment has worked for about 4.54 billion years now.
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