Tag: changed

National Parks Hit by Climate

  • Glacier National Park in Montana. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)

A new report warns that US National
Parks will be affected by global warming.
Tanya Ott reports rising sea
levels and changing habitat will mean
major changes:

Transcript

A new report warns that US National
Parks will be affected by global warming.
Tanya Ott reports rising sea
levels and changing habitat will mean
major changes:

Forget melting ice-caps. Stephen Saunders wants you to picture your favorite
vacation spot closer to home.

“Climate disruption caused by humans is the greatest threat to all of our national parks.”

Saunders is president of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. Their new
report identifies 25 national parks, lakeshores, seashores and monuments
most at risk from warming temperatures, rising sea levels and retreating
snow.

So what does that mean? Among other things, wildlife is going to
have to move to other areas. The report recommends the Park Service work
with private landowners to create special wildlife corridors for migration.

Right now, the US Senate is considering clean energy and climate
legislation. The House passed its climate bill in June.

For The Environment Report, I”m Tanya Ott.

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Safer Wiggly Worms

People who go fishing might be attracted to a new environmentally friendly lure. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

People who go fishing might be attracted to a new environmentally friendly lure. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Soft plastic lures such as wiggly worms are often made more flexible by adding chemical compounds called phthalates. These chemicals have been linked to adverse health effects… and when the lures are torn off a hook, the compounds pollute waters.


Tim Osswald is a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin. He’s helped a manufacturer come up with a process that uses tiny plastic fibers inside the lures. Osswald says the microfibers make the lures stronger.


“Using this technology they would no longer end up at the bottom of the lake. Or at least at a much, much smaller rate.”


Oswald says the lures no longer stretch like a piece of rubber but still turn and wiggle and have that ‘worm-like feel.’ He says the reinforced lure might cost a little more in the stores. But he says they’re likely to last longer.


For the Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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