If you’ve ever taken a camping trip, hiked up a forested mountain trail or simply gone bird watching in an American national park, I have bad news: climate change is increasingly putting our nation’s wilderness in danger. And with July 2016 officially declared the hottest month on the planet since recordkeeping began, matters are only poised to get worse.
Rising global temperatures and changing weather patterns are already having wide-reaching effects on these wild places. Nowhere is this more apparent than in areas that used to be thick with ice and snow.
If you’ve ever taken a camping trip, hiked up a forested mountain trail or simply gone bird watching in an American national park, I have bad news: climate change is increasingly putting our nation’s wilderness in danger. And with July 2016 officially declared the hottest month on the planet since recordkeeping began, matters are only poised to get worse.
Rising global temperatures and changing weather patterns are already having wide-reaching effects on these wild places. Nowhere is this more apparent than in areas that used to be thick with ice and snow.
Glacier National Park in Montana is just one disturbing example. Since the early 1900s, the number of 90 degree or higher days in the park has tripled, resulting in staggering damage to the landscape. The area was once home to 150 glaciers, but today only 25 of them remain. By 2030, scientists estimate they’ll be gone completely.
Continue reading at ENN affiliate, Care2.
Photo: Alaska - Denali National Park and Preserve
Photo by Kent Miller / National Park Service
