Global Warming Impacts Wildlife: How Campuses Can Help
As temperatures increase due to global warming wildlife and wildlife habitat are impacted. A recent study by The Wildlife Society shows North American wildlife species are beginning to shift their ranges northward and upward in elevation in response to temperature rise. An article "Warming Turns Bears into Cannibals" published on CNN.com on June 12 suggests that since polar bears are facing longer seasons with less ice its becoming harder and harder to prey on their typical diet of seals and are beginning to attack each other for food.
There are many direct and indirect actions that colleges and universities can take to slow global warming and protect wildlife on campus. 2005 NWF Campus Ecology Fellow, Matthew Gilbert, from the University of Alaska Anchorage researched the effects of global warming as observed by Gwich’in Athabascan elders and hunters in the Alaska Interior region, Campus Ecology team member University of Central Florida established a controlled-burn plan to restore native species, including the Gopher Tortoise, and students at the University of Oregon voted for an alternative energy source on campus and are willing to pay extra for it.
Photo Credit: Digital Vision – WWW.NWF.ORG