Editorial Board
Laura Misjak
Kate Polesnak
Lindsey Poisson
James Harrison
Keiara Tenant
Justin Harris
National parks preservation must happen now
“Pave paradise and put up a parking lot” seems less like a catchy song lyric and more like a bleak reality.
A report from the National Parks Conservation Association warns that Congress must spend about $100 million in land purchases during the 2009 fiscal year to help preserve the beauty of about 55 national parks. The report also states about $1.9 billion should be spent, using the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, to purchase a total of about 1.8 million acres by the Park Service’s centennial in 2016.
The group is referring to the mix of publicly and privately owned property within many parks’ boundaries — from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. Some of these privately owned parcels might fall into the hands of companies and developers if the price is right and the government is slow to act.
What could result is the extinction of great historical monuments and a great American tradition.
The national parks many of us visited as children during family vacations might not be there for our own. Even if many parks still exist but are mottled with some development, it would ruin the experience.
Imagine, if you can, a severely compromised park system. Enjoy the majestic view of condos near the Civil War battlefields in Gettysburg, Pa. Be sure to take in the hulking convention center amid the other beautiful sites at Zion National Park in Utah.
Hungry? Thirsty? Not to worry. There could be a McDonald’s and Starbucks near you at Yosemite National Park in California.
It doesn’t have the same effect.
If natural wonders and land aren’t preserved now, then they will likely be developed and lost forever. In a society that’s all too familiar with the environmental gospel of Academy Award-winner Al Gore in his “An Inconvenient Truth” documentary, we all know what dire consequences are sure to ensue. “Going green” isn’t just about recycling and driving less — preservation is a big part.
Depending on what administration is in office obviously determines how much funding is allocated to national parks and the environment as well.
Park Service funding was at its highest in 1999 — during former President Bill Clinton’s administration — but hit an all-time low in 2006 — during President Bush’s administration — the National Parks Conservation Association report shows. With Bush still in office, any available funding will most likely be spent on the military rather than parks.
But there’s hope. Years from now, maybe national parks will get the funding needed to preserve land. By that time, however, it could mean “rebuilding” ecosystems and manufacturing natural features that once existed. Guess how much it will cost then.
Published on Thursday, April 10, 2008
Comments
Bill Lumberg
04/11/08 @ 10:28am
Could have been a good article about saving our national forests and parks, but then you had to bring in Al Gore and his lie riddled movie. Saving forests and national parks is a great and noble cause, please do not bring in the falsehood of “manmade climate change”, it just detracts from what is really important.
Bob
04/11/08 @ 2:31pm
Hey Bill: If you think that human activity is not the main cause of global warming/climate change, offer something to support your extreme minority opinion.
Bill Lumberg
04/11/08 @ 3:02pm
Hey Bob, if you think that “consensus” is the same thing as scientific fact, then you need to retake every science class you have ever had. At one time “consensus” said the world was flat, did that make it true? “Consensus” said the sun revolved around the earth, I guess it must have until the majority of people thought otherwise then just like magic the sun stopped revolving around the earth and the earth started revolving around the sun. If we can just convince the majority of people that humans can fly by flapping their arms fast enough we will solve the energy “crisis” because just like magic it will be scientific fact that humans can fly and then we can all just fly to where ever we are going.
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Bob
04/11/08 @ 4:56pm
Your whole “world is flat” argument is old, overrused, and irrelevant. Fortunately, we have the a little something called the Industrial Revolution to thank for enabling us to develop modern equipment that assists us in gathering actual evidence.
The first article lists 11 items that a British court agreed were not factual, although none of which come close to disproving or counterclaiming the general theme of the documentary, which claims that global warming is mainly caused by human activity.
The second article sounded good, except for the fact that all it says is that “Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide (CO2)”. The author offers absolutely no evidence to support his counterclaim. Oh, but he has a PhD, so I suppose that’s his evidence.
The third article simply claims that “the greenhouse lobby have under-estimated the role of solar variability in climate change” and that “changes in the sun are at least partially responsible”. Furthermore, it minimizes and nearly discredits the claim the article makes by stating “[the sun] effect is not enough to account for the observed warming trend”, and “...some climate experts who argue that the influence of changes in the Sun on rising temperatures has already been studied, and discounted, as a major cause of global warming.” Not to mention the fact that this article was published over 7 years ago.
The third article is just about the founder of The Weather Channel calling global warming the “greatest scam in history”, but yet again, offers no evidence.
So, all in all, you’ve got a few credible people offering next to no evidence. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the global scientific community strongly disagrees, and yes, they offer a plethora of evidence.
Here’s an article for you, published just ten days ago, and it includes “New scientific data has derailed skeptics’ alternative theories”: “http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/03/31/intro/index.html”
Bob
04/11/08 @ 5:25pm
Bill:
P.S. – You’re not going to win an argument by implying that I “think that “consensus” is the same thing as scientific fact”. I never even alluded to this. It is both common knowledge and undeniable that consensus and scientific fact are both independent and clearly different.
Bill Lumberg
04/12/08 @ 10:10am
Great article, “we stand on the brink of a historic consensus” that is solid scientific fact right there baby.
Peter Gibbons
04/12/08 @ 11:26am
“Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias” why yes, that sounds like the motto of a reputable news source.
poops mcgee
04/13/08 @ 1:38am
I just poooped my pants thinking about how my butthole is globally warming
BIll Rules
04/13/08 @ 1:52am
Yep…global warming is real…that’s why we had the most snowfall in Mich of any year on record…that’s why the world’s temps actually were COLDER than average last year…that’s why we had so many hurricanes last..oh wait, we barely had any. But this too was all caused by GLOBAL WARMING. If it’s colder than usual, GLOBAL WARMING...if it’s hot in August…GLOBAL WARMING....had a bad Thunderstorm? GLOBAL WARMING. And pointing to verified increased SOLAR activity to maybe account for much of the supposed warming is crazy…everyone KNOWS that all heat comes from the ground and volcanoes and the evil gases modern society produces….that’s why it’s so cold in the winter(when there aren’t any volcanoes erupting and CO2 levels drop) and so hot in summer when volcanic activity is through the roof. Temperature in the winter or summer has nothing to do with the sun or how much of it’s energy reaches the earth so saying that INCREASED solar activity would warm the earth is crazy!
And pointing to the fact that in the 70s these same groups of eco-scientists were warning us all of a coming manmade Iceage is crazy too…that never happened. Everyone with half a brain knows that the Earth’s average temperature has never increased or decreased over it’s 4.5 Billion year history even a few degrees….it’s always been the same and always will be..it never changes. Just like the continents have always been where they are today, there were never any more or less animal or plant life than there is now, heck things are the same for all time here on earth…everyone with an educated and open mind knows that!
Honesty, for all you Al Gore following eco-nutjobs out there….why don’t you focus on something that EVERYONE can get behind about the environment? How about real issues like not dumping polluting chemicals into our lakes and rivers, how about the overfishing of the oceans, how about planting more trees and preserving more wild places.
Oh wait, that’s right…all those things are boring…they don’t make for exciting movies to scare the heck out of people. You can’t very well rile up the ignorant youtube generation by screaming headlines such as “Overfishing of Tuna will send fish prices higher” or “100 acres of wildlife habitat bulldozed over to build new Mall”.
common sense
04/13/08 @ 2:38pm
Are you serious? You’re actually trying to tell me environmental groups don’t whine when wildlife habitats are bulldozed for new malls?
Benjy Compson
04/13/08 @ 4:29pm
“Just like the continents have always been where they are today”
exactly
Concerned Citizen
04/14/08 @ 1:55pm
Here we go again. Yes, let’s attack a blog because it comes from NewsBusters. Hey, Peter, I dunno if you noticed, but the blog is quoting ANOTHER source. And that source is a British court. The mechanism of global warming was not directly at issue. What WAS at issue was the fundamental untruthfullness of Al Gore’s movie, which contained AT LEAST 11 falsehoods, most of which are in the “scare the sh*t out of the viewer” category:
1. Global Warming caused Katrina! There will be more Katrinas because of GW! NOT PROVEN. Not only can’t you prove a single event was caused by GW, but the whole hypothesis that increased warming is the cause of increased hurricanes in the Atlantic basin is obvious bunk because: 1) There are no increases in tropical storms in other basins as one would expect in a trend caused by global temperature changes; and 2) Atlantic hurricanes have a well-documented cycle which we are currently at the zenith of. And we’ve had storms similar in strength to Katrina (even stronger) throughout our history of observations.
2. CO2 is causing temperatures to rise! Historical ice core samples prove this! Again, NOT PROVEN. What we can discern is that there is a correlation between warming and CO2, but the ice core record shows that CO2 increases occur AFTER the warming, not vice versa. So how can an event (rise in CO2) that happened after another event (rise in temperatures) be the cause of the later event?
3. The lakes are disappearing due to GW! Ice caps everywhere are melting because of GW! Again, NOT PROVEN. In fact, the largest resevoir of ice in the world – the Antarctic – has been shown to either thickening or not changing. Could this be the reason there is no rise in sea levels? http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/bas_research/our_research/topics/climate_change.php
Again, read the information presented. This happened in a court of law, not a court of public opinion. And in a court of law, it was demonstrated that many of the most outrageous claims of GW are patently false. This doesn’t mean that we are not having an impact on environment, but let’s focus on the things that truly impact our daily lives, not some boogyman that may or may not have any impact 100 years from now.
Bill Lumberg
04/14/08 @ 2:01pm
Hey Peter, the web site was quoting the British courts, you can find that information elsewhere if it makes you feel better.
And I am going to need you to work this Saturday, m’kay?
Samir
04/14/08 @ 2:45pm
You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities…
Samir
04/14/08 @ 2:45pm
No, not again. I… why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam? I swear to God, one of these days, I just kick this piece of shit out the window.
OfficeSpace Quotes
04/14/08 @ 2:48pm
Joanna: So, where do you work, Peter?
Peter Gibbons: Initech.
Joanna: In… yeah, what do you do there?
Peter Gibbons: I sit in a cubicle and I update bank software for the 2000 switch.
Joanna: What’s that?
Peter Gibbons: Well see, they wrote all this bank software, and, uh, to save space, they used two digits for the date instead of four. So, like, 98 instead of 1998? Uh, so I go through these thousands of lines of code and, uh… it doesn’t really matter. I uh, I don’t like my job, and, uh, I don’t think I’m gonna go anymore.
Joanna: You’re just not gonna go?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Joanna: Won’t you get fired?
Peter Gibbons: I don’t know, but I really don’t like it, and, uh, I’m not gonna go.
Joanna: So you’re gonna quit?
Peter Gibbons: Nuh-uh. Not really. Uh… I’m just gonna stop going.
Joanna: When did you decide all that?
Peter Gibbons: About an hour ago.
Joanna: Oh, really? About an hour ago… so you’re gonna get another job?
Peter Gibbons: I don’t think I’d like another job.
Joanna: Well, what are you going to do about money and bills and…
Peter Gibbons: You know, I’ve never really liked paying bills. I don’t think I’m gonna do that, either.
——————————
Samir: No one in this country can ever pronounce my name right. It’s not that hard: Samir Na-gheen-an-a-jar. Nagheenanajar.
Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn’t Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know there’s nothing wrong with that name.
Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it… until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Samir: Hmm… well why don’t you just go by Mike instead of Michael?
Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks.
———————————
Bob Slydell: You see, what we’re actually trying to do here is, we’re trying to get a feel for how people spend their day at work… so, if you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Bob Slydell: Great.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door – that way Lumbergh can’t see me, heh heh – and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
AL Gore Lover
04/15/08 @ 12:32am
I’m no scientician…..heck, I’m just some low level manager working at a company called Junigger Industries….
But I DO know this…Global warming is real…it’s gonna lead to the oceans rising and swamping cities like NY, Miami, and LA…there will be droughts and famine in Africa….all this will lead to less darkiess and hispaniels in this world and I am SHOCKED..SHOCKED that anyone would think that’s a good…hey wait….wait…actually, I’m all for global warming…I“m gonna go out and buy me a big SUV now!