Moving the Goal Posts
Guest Column By Paul Pritchard, President of the National
Parks and Conservation Association and Founding Chairman of
the Climate Institute
Change is not new to the national parks, but reminders of its
power and prevalence are often surprising.
In dramatic testimony to the forces at work in our parks, an
enormous granite slab fell thousands of feet from Washburn Point
to the floor of the Yosemite Valley in early July of this year.
As soon as it touched down, the granite exploded into a fine powder.
The rockfall caused an air blast that leveled 50 acres of the
Yosemite National Park's forest, took the life of a park visitor
and injured more than a dozen others. For days following the rockfall,
the pulverized granite filled the air and, at times, blocked the
sun.
Yosemite's unpredictable rockfall reminded me that even the interminable
silence of stone is no match for gravity. Unfortunately, the forces
that drive global climate change appear to be just as powerful,
and may have far greater consequences for the parks. We do, however,
play a much greater role in global climate change than we do in
matters of gravity.
For many years, I have witnessed the power of fire, disease,
mismanagement, overuse, abuse, and short-sighted politicians to
harm the parks. But the damage climate change may do, even compared
to the most misguided Congress, is simply frightening. As Nancy
Wilson reports in this issue, the very features that define many
of our parks may be erased as human-caused climate change increases.
What would Glacier National Park become if its glaciers melted
away during hotter and drier summers? What will become of the
barrier islands protected within Gulf Islands National Seashore
and Assateague Island National Seashore as sea level rises and
tropical storms grow stronger and more frequent? And what of Virgin
Islands National Park's coral reefs, which would suffer from coral
bleaching as seas warm?
All of these national treasures are at risk as anthropogenic
emissions of greenhouse gases drive global climate into uncharted
territory. Even the best park rangers and the most dedicated citizens
will be ill-equipped to protect parks as sea levels rise, glaciers
retreat, temperatures increase, and rainfall patterns shift faster
than ever before.
I invite you to study the body of evidence, to consider its meaning
for national parks, protected areas, and the diversity of life
that they harbor. The fate of our national parks is an omen for
our cities, for people who live and work in low-elevation areas
near the sea, and for our entire society. I encourage you to ask
yourself how you can become involved in affecting change and protecting
our future.
It is my hope that this issue of Climate Alert and the continued
work of the Climate Institute will help our society and those
of the developing world find ways to reduce our mindless impacts
on the climate and on our greenhouse emissions. Global warming
is set to move the goalposts, to change the rules of the conservation
game, according to leading scientists.
While we would never succeed in a battle against gravity and
the changes it causes, we can and we should work to limit the
effects of human-caused climate change. So it is with a good measure
of both consternation and hope that I introduce this special issue
of Climate Alert.
