Читать книгу Shaped by Snow. Defending the Future of Winter онлайн

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The cycle of life in the mountains is timed with the snowpack. When a snowpack melts early, it exposes the soil to the elements. This allows vegetation to start growing sooner, but it also means that the new growth becomes susceptible to frosts, which can keep occurring in the mountains through June. Early snowmelt also means that alpine soil dries out quicker during the summer months, which affects pollinators, insects, and animals reliant on plants for sustenance, and secondary consumers who rely on those insects and animals for food. When high alpine meadows experience stress from warming temperatures and drier environments, more tolerant plants establish themselves during those vulnerable times, disrupting mountain ecosystems.

The snowpack in the mountains provides up to 75 percent of the freshwater in the West. We might not be able to see large-scale carbon emissions in the atmosphere, but we can certainly feel the effects of it here in Utah. Desert ecosystems, mountain ecosystems, and agricultural land, all reliant on snowfall, are under threat from climate change. As are our forests, which are becoming more susceptible to wildfires from less moisture. And with forest fires comes air pollution, smoke, and hazy skies. Bad for hiking, terrible for our health, destructive to our land. Deteriorating snowpack from climate change is one of the biggest threats to life in the West.