In honor of spring break, in this week’s blog I will showcase some of the most beautiful travel destination spots that are in the most peril due to climate change.

GLACIER MONTANA

Glacier National park is one of the most beautiful regions of Montana. There is camping, backpacking, horseback riding, boating, biking, and tons of hiking. But currently, streams and waterfalls are getting dried up due to loss of glacial runoff. This is a telltale sign of climate change.

KIRIBATI

Kiribati is a beautiful island located in the tropical Pacific. It may become the first drowning victim due to global warming. The ocean around the islands have been rising around five millimetres a year since 1991. There are already signs of climate change in Kiribati, such as coastal flooding, higher tides, coastal flooding, less rainfall, and bleaching of coral reefs. Most of the country is no more than five meters above sea level, with some regions less than 2 meters above.

GREAT BARRIER REEF

The oceans are a valuable tool in the Earth’s system of regulating climate change. They have absorbed more than one third of the CO2 emitted since the industrial revolution. However, this is causing a mass bleaching of the reefs, in the regions around Australia, Maldives, Seychelles, and others. Scientists predict that the Great Barrier Reef may collapse within just two decades due to the high concentration of CO2 in the water. This is not only one of the most beautiful natural phenomena in the world, it is also an extremely important ecosystem.

GREENLAND

Recently, the Greenland ice sheet has retreated 9 miles due to global warming. It is currently losing about 31 cubic miles of ice per year. Potential sea level rise could amount to 14 inches over the 21st century just from this ice sheet.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Warmer temperatures in Yellowstone National Park have allowed the invasive pine beetles to thrive, killing off many species of whitebark pine trees in this region. The whitebark pine is nearly gone in the Yellowstone area. This is bad news for grizzly bears, who rely on the pine nuts from these trees as an important food source.

HIMALAYAS

In the Roof of the World, there has been some controversy regarding the melting of the Himalayan Glaciers. Scientists predicted wrongly that they would disappear completely by 2035; this has turned out to be false. But they are still visibly melting, and fast. The number of glacial lake outbursts has risen, and is now a yearly occurrence. This is due to the melting of glaciers, which also causes flooding, erosion, and mudslides.

I hope everyone had an amazing break or is currently having one. But hopefully you will keep in mind the fact that our irresponsible actions impact the environment as it directly relates to us; it will change and degrade the most beautiful places in the world that we enjoy the most. So please go travel to these places, enjoy and appreciate them; but only if you come away  with a deeper understanding of why it is so important to save them.