Seeing the World or Staying Home?
As the Earth's climate keeps changing due to human activities, many find themselves asking if they should stay home and try to decrease the rate at which global warming/climate change is occurring or if they should go out and see the world while they still can. However, there is no simple answer. Since many of the popular tourist destinations are considered "wildland-urban interface" (areas where housing and urban areas reaches wilderness) there are various challenges/issues with traveling there. One of the biggest issues posed by wildland-urban interface is an increase in wildfires. People who live or are visiting an urban area that is in contact with wilderness and are having bonfires/campfires pose a risk of starting a wildfire. In addition to the increase in temperature which causes drier conditions, the increase in campfires in wildland-urban interface causes a significant increase in wildfires, especially in places like California which are already prone to seasonal wildfires.
Another challenge that is presented by wildland-urban interface is a decrease in species abundance, but a simultaneous increase in the abundance of species that thrive in urban areas. An increase in the abundance of species that thrive in urban areas means that more wildlife will be present in urban and suburban areas which could cause issues for residents (such as attacks, over-grazing, predation, etc). A decrease in species abundance would occur when the urban area starts to overtake the wildlife portion which results in less animals being present in the wilderness ecosystem.
In order to solve the problem of the wildfires, creating a management system that prevents campfires and bonfires during particularly dry days/seasons. It is also important to make sure that if a campfire is happening, that it isn't happening near trees/dry brush and bushes that could easily catch on fire. This would mean that the campfires would need to occur more in the urban area rather than near the border where the urban and wilderness meet.
In regards to either staying home or seeing the world, I think it is important to do a combination of both. While it is important to take care of the Earth and do everything we can to reduce global warming/climate change, it is also important to see the world and gain a greater global perspective. While it isn't good to continuously travel, especially by plane, traveling does enrich one's perspective and can be culturally and socially beneficial. Although it's important to reduce your carbon footprint, large corporations and companies have the biggest net carbon output and contribute the most greenhouse gas emission to global warming and climate change. So while it's important to make sure you carpool when you can, don't be afraid to travel the world and gain valuable life experiences (while leaving as little of a trace as possible).
Sources:
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/research/50-years-of-housing-growth-in-the-wui-in-california/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/travel/traveling-climate-change.html
Hi Alexis, I agree with your stance on traveling. It does feel like a double-edged sword where somehow the two options of traveling and not traveling don't feel like completely adequate solutions since traveling comes with environmental consequences and not traveling comes with consequences of its own. I think another helpful semi-solution to this problem is to promote getting out and exploring your own areas. I have been going to local nature conservancies like Pheasant Branch and Cherokee Marsh and there really are some amazing spots in the area! Promoting 'local travel' might alleviate some of the urge/need to travel super long distances.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the importance of doing both as my answer to the question leaned the same way in the grey area of the discussion matter. I think traveling the world does pose the issue of global warming and climate change, but to see the effects this has and will have takes more than just research and pictures for some people apparently. People have to see for themselves what will be destroyed and what has already been impacted by humans' selfishness in regards to their ways impacting the climate and the world in irreversible negative ways. I think the problem is two-fold because in order to convert people into changing their ways, people must see and travel the world, but in turn that continues to stimulate the problem at hand.
ReplyDeleteI can really relate to your comments on campfire impacts causing wildfires, as I camped a lot growing up in California. I will say that most of the times, campfires are limited to pre-existing fire pits, which does limit wildfire breakouts from campfires specifically. I found your point about wildlife entering urban areas causing nuisances for humans interesting. What impacts do you think urbanized wildlife would have on human disease/human health? How do you think these health impacts could be managed, assuming the urban-wildlife interaction continues to persist in the future?
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