Ohkay, so maybe that title was a LITTLE bit of a lie since I didn’t exactly remember them and I just… wrote notes down on my phone… but like, whatever. No one has to know about that.
Heya earthlings and the rest of you! ‘Tis Naomi, back with yet another post on climate change (*cue surprised gasps*). This time, I felt like telling you all about my vacation to the southwest national parks and figured I could tie that into climate change ’cause national parks help save our planet AND they’re affected by climate change. So boom! Anywho, I found info about climate change in 3 of the national parks I visited (there was probably info on it in other parks too, but it’s fine) and then I did some more research. And uh, that’s the post!
I should probably stop describing it and let you read the actual post, so I’ll stop writing too-long-introes. Enjoy!
About the parK: Intro Video | Website
How Zion is Affected by Climate Change:
So I didn’t go into this vacation thinking about doing a post on the hot southwest national parks because like, they’re all focused on… rock formations. And like, since when did rock have anything to do with climate change? And since when was ROCK affected by, like, anything? When I think about national parks affected by our changing climate, I think about Glacier. Because glaciers melt. But guess what? Zion isn’t actually just rock (I know, CRAZY, right?).
The ranger-led hike that we went on was focused on water. Why? Because Zion is desert-y, and water’s precious there. Because the rivers shaped the giant rock formations in Zion. Because water sustains life (wow, water is necessary for life? Nobody knows THAT).
Ohkay, ohkay, yeah. I’m getting to the point. It takes me a while, ohkay? Well anywho. So water IS actually affected by climate change. And that means that, if you’ve been following through this very long section, you realize that Zion is affected by climate change.
How? Well, the river has been down for 10 years because there’s less snow and less water. There used to be boating in Zion, and there isn’t anymore. And then there’s plant life.
Forests are dying, and in some cases, nothing has yet grown up to replace them. The climate is changing here. It really is.
The question isn’t if {change will happen in Zion} anymore. It’s how.
Ranger Dolton, Ranger at Zion National Park
About the park: Website
How Mesa Verde Works to Prevent Climate Change:
Mesa Verde is affected by climate change, but here we stayed in the actual park, and I wanted to talk about what the national park did to have eco-friendly rooms.
So you see, plastic is bad for climate change because it’s often single-use (which means more production, which means more pollution) and it’s usually made of fossil fuels. And you know how when you stay in a hotel room, you get those little single-use bottles of shampoo and things? And well, they’re really bad for the environment.
So what did Mesa Verde have? They had containers in the wall that we could get soap and shampoo and conditioner out of so they didn’t have to use that plastic (*glares at Past Naomi who decided not to take a picture of the containers that Present Naomi can’t describe). It was amazing!
How Mesa Verde is Affected By Climate Change:
Mesa Verde is actually not a desert like pretty much all the other parks I visited on my trip, and so guess what? It has TREES (Well, the deserts have trees too. Along the rivers. But Mesa Verde has more trees. Like, forests. Ever heard of those?). And well, climate change and trees are sort of enemies. If that makes sense.
Like trees fight climate change by sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. But then again, too much carbon is bad for trees. And climate change causes OTHER problems for trees too.
Like wildfires. The hot weather and drier climate make them more intense and more frequent. We passed a LOT of areas in Mesa Verde where you could see the damage that wildfires from as many as like 20 years ago caused.
And the other thing that the very helpful visitor center sign told me was that bark beetle infestations also happen because of climate change (Warm winters mean more bark beetles). This harms forests too. GIVE TREES A BREAK, CLIMATE CHANGE. *glares at nothing because she doesn’t know how to glare at climate change*
About the park: Website
How Grand Canyon is Affected by Climate Change:
Guess what? There are animals in the national parks. And they’re affected by climate change (wow, I know, right?). Water scarcity threatens the California Condor, a bird who already barely escaped extinction. Desert Bighorn Sheep habitats have gone from 80 to 30. It’s not good.
And one other thing that may not be the worst thing, but that still is important to think about. Visibility. On one of our (short, level, Naomi-has-COVID-and-is-wearing-a-mask-and-it’s-really-hot) hikes took us by a sign that told us about how pollution is affecting visibility in the park. It gave the very specific example of Mt. Trumbull, a mountain 60 miles away that, on a clear day, you can see very well. But on a day that the air is filled with pollutants? You can’t see it at all.
“Bark Beetles: A Natural and Dramatic Forest Disturbance | Rocky Mountain Research Station.” Www.fs.usda.gov, Nov. 2015, http://www.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/projects/bark-beetles-natural-and-dramatic-forest-disturbance.
“Climate Change | Grand Canyon National Park Lodges.” Grand Canyon, 21 Apr. 2015, http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/who-we-are/sustainability/climate-change/. Accessed 8 July 2022.
Major, Kerri. “Plastic Waste and Climate Change – What’s the Connection?” WWF.org.au, 30 June 2021, http://www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/plastic-waste-and-climate-change-whats-the-connection.
Ranger Dolton. The Watchman Ranger-Led Hike. In-Person.
And that’s that! This was a bit of a very long post, but uh, whatever. Bye for now!
The Society To Stop Climate Change 