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Hot In My Backyard
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/epi...
This podcast addresses that while the public opinion regarding climate change has changed over the years, there is still a large portion of the public that doubts the reality of climate change. It refers to the change in weather due to climate change as the 'new norm'.
Climate change is having varying impacts upon the breeding patterns of native animals. For example, in Colorado, squirrels are reproducing in greater numbers and spreading across more land than before. In addition, higher temperatures mean spring is coming earlier than before, altering the entire agricultural growing season and pollination, and making flowers bloom weeks before normal. The hotter than usual temperatures mean that May, Colorado's snowiest month, has had the lowest snowfall (snow equals water supply) in recorded history. With a lack of water supply, the crops are slowly dying. Hayfields are used to grow hay, which feeds cattle. With insufficient snowfall, hayfields are dying and subsequently there is insufficient amounts of hay for cattle to survive. Cattle is also threatened by bears. Bears do not usually hunt cattle, but due to the lack of food (acorns) in the woods, they are forced to. There is a lack of acorns due to the frozen oak leaves; the oak laves are frozen due to the early spring. Evidently, climate change is a vicious circle that both directly and indirectly most facets of the ecosystem, through changing weather patterns and temperatures and causing particularly hot spells and droughts.
