以上为大烟山(Great Smoky Mountains)景色，来自美国国家公园管理局网站 http://www.nps.gov/grsm/photosmultimedia/Mountain-Scenes.htm

杰夫·伦尼克

冰川国家公园(Glacier National Park)因冰川而得名。然而，美国地质调查局(U.S. Geological Survey)的研究表明，现在这里冰川面积仅为100多年前的三分之一。大沼泽国家公园(Everglades)的淡水草原正受到来自附近佛罗里达湾的咸水的浸渗。气候变化是国家公园面临的现实，有关方面正在开始采取综合措施，并减少碳排放。

杰夫·伦尼克(Jeff Rennicke)是威斯康星州北森环保学校(Conserve School)教师。本文最初刊登在《国家公园》(National Parks)杂志2007年秋季刊上。该刊物由致力于保护和完善美国公园的非营利机构——国家公园保护协会(National Parks Conservation Association)出版。

从大烟山(Great Smoky Mountains)烟雾加重到水鸟繁殖所需的草甸洼塘生态环境的丧失，国家公园系统中没有一处不被气候变化的热指所染。国家公园保护协会洁净空气项目主任温茨勒(Mark Wenzler)说："这是我们历来所面临的最大挑战，它威胁着我们称之为国家公园的各个地方的生态结构。" 用温茨勒的话说，这个现实带来了"真正的行动紧迫感"。

紧迫感导致的行动之一是有益气候公园(Climate Friendly Parks)计划的诞生。这是美国环境保护署(Environmental Protection Agency)和国家公园管理局(National Park Service)的一项合作。有益气候公园计划起始于2003年，致力于三项目标：对公园管理人员进行有关气候变化问题的培训；帮助公园评估、监督并减少自身带来的环境影响；向游人介绍气候变化对公园可能造成的影响，并向他们指出参与解决这一问题的种种途径。各公园被责成举办有益气候公园计划讲习班，制定行动计划，不断监督和评估向有益气候公园方向发展的进度。迄今为止，包括特拉华水峡(Delaware Water Gap)、大沼泽、冰川湾(Glacier Bay)、优胜美地谷(Yosemite)、锡安(Zion)等在内的10个公园举办了讲习班，还有更多的公园正在作出努力。这项计划的协调员之一诺顿(Shawn Norton)表示，有益气候公园计划代表着国家公园的新目标。他在应邀对一个完美的有益气候公园的特征给与描述时，这样说：

"完美的有益气候公园的最首要特点是碳中和，即不向大气作任何碳排放。" 游人在进入公园时，除了被发给公园入门证和游览路线图以外，还会得到如何使自己的行为有利环境的信息。公园里不再看到排放污染物质的私人汽车为等待为数不多的停车位而大排长龙的情景；取而代之的是使用替代能源的班车服务，以迅速、安静、无污染的方式把游人送到他们想去的公园里的任何地方。游客服务中心采用自然和绿化建筑风格——包括用当地植物构成"绿色屋顶"，与附近环境几乎完全融为一体。游客服务中心本身也是洁净能源设施，充分利用太阳能、风能、地热、发光二极管技术和自然采光。游人在快餐店买的食品都是当地自产的天然食品。纪念品商店出售的是用玻璃和铝等再生材料制作的工艺品。洗手间采用节水马桶及自动关闭的节水龙头，使用无毒素清洁剂。公园的巡逻车不排放任何污染物质。偏僻地点的建筑装有光电板，满足自身能源需要。公园中为游人设置了相关的说明标志牌，宣传在游览中和回家后可以减少个人对环境影响的种种做法。"

这一设想并非属于未来空想。诺顿说："我们距离大体实现这一目标并不太遥远。我们可以大幅度减少能源消耗。我们可以大幅度减少排放。我们可以利用当今的技术大量减少用水。如果我们步伐迈得大些，就有可能在10年内使每个公园达到目标。我们才刚刚开始，但每天都有更多的公园在加快步伐。"

位于犹他州的锡安国家公园便是一例。2000年，锡安国家公园启用了一条专车线，以30辆丙烷动力车代替了每天5000辆游客私人汽车，进而消除了每年排放到公园上空的近14000吨温室气体。新的“绿色”环保游客中心利用太阳能满足了30%的电力需要，以自然采光解决了80%的照明需要。中心还建有在夏天节能制冷的大型冷却塔和一个静态太阳能取暖系统——即由土砖石等吸热材料建造的可为低温天气聚热的朝阳保温墙(”Trombe wall”)。这座新设施将能源消耗减少近75%，使每年温室气体排放减少30多万磅，被视为国家公园建筑的典范。

国家公园还作出了其它一些不易被直接察觉的改进，例如∶采用环保建筑材料和无毒清洁用品，公园中的回收努力也大大加强。锡安国家公园主管惠特沃思(Jock Whitworth)说："有益气候公园行动计划使我们得以在解决环境管理和气候变化问题的过程中，明确环境管理中的重点。如今我们更加认识到气候变化对国家自然和文化资源的影响，从而可以确定可行的解决方案。"

我们的国家公园正在发生变化，这一点是显而易见的。然而，这一变化的具体形态如何以及公园管理人员、游人和公园本身将如何适应这一新的现实，却仍不得而知。阿波斯尔群岛国家湖滨公园(Apostle Islands National Lakeshore)主管克鲁米内克(Bob Krumenaker)说："我们国家公园管理局从事的是一种永久性事业。无论气候发生什么变化，我们的公园都仍会存在。面对全球气候变化，我们公园的作用可能更为重要，因为那些将是地球上保存下来的一些最原始的、未经人迹践踏的、生态最完好的地方。"

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A Climate of Change

A Climate of Change

By Jeff Rennicke

Glaciers that are the namesake of Glacier National Park are one third the size they were more than 100 years ago, according to research from the U.S. Geological Survey. The freshwater prairie of the Everglades is threatened by the encroachment of salt water from nearby Florida Bay. Climate change is a reality for the National Park System, and comprehensive steps to reduce carbon emissions are beginning.

Jeff Rennicke is a teacher at Conserve School in Wisconsin’s North Woods.

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of National Parks, a publication of the National Parks Conservation Association, a private nonprofit organization devoted to protection and enhancement of U.S. parks.

From increased smog in the Great Smoky Mountains to the loss of prairie pothole habitat for waterfowl breeding, no corner of the National Park System is out of reach of the hot fingers of climate change. “This is the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced,” says Mark Wenzler, clean air program director for the National Parks Conservation Association, “one that threatens to change the very fabric of the places we call national parks.” The reality of that challenge has created what Wenzler calls “a real sense of urgency to act.”

One result of that urgency has been the creation of the Climate Friendly Parks (CFP) program, a cooperative effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Park Service. Begun in 2003, CFP has a triad of goals: training park staff on the issue of climate change; helping parks to evaluate, monitor, and lessen their own environmental footprint; and showing visitors how climate change may affect the parks and illustrating ways they can get involved in the solution. Parks are asked to hold CFP workshops, develop action plans, and continually monitor and evaluate their progress on the path to becoming Climate Friendly Parks. To date, 10 national parks, including Delaware Water Gap, Everglades, Glacier Bay, Yosemite, and Zion, have held workshops, and more are in the works. It is a new vision for our parks, says Shawn Norton, one of the program’s coordinators. And when asked to describe the perfect Climate Friendly Park, he speaks with a visionary’s zeal.

“A perfect Climate Friendly Park is first and foremost carbon neutral, adding no emissions to the atmosphere,” Norton says. As you enter the park you are given information about sustainable practices along with a trail map and park pass. Instead of a snarl of too many private, polluting cars jostling for too few parking spots, you board an alternative energy shuttle system that takes you quickly, quietly, and cleanly anywhere you want to go in the park. The visitor center, which blends almost invisibly into the background because of its natural architecture and landscaping -- including a “green roof” of native plants -- is a clean energy facility that takes advantage of solar, wind, or geothermal energy, LED technology, and natural lighting. The food you purchase at the snack bar is organic and locally grown. The artwork for sale in the gift shop is made from recycled materials such as glass and aluminum. The restrooms are fitted with low-volume toilets and automatic faucet shutoffs for water savings, and they are kept clean with nontoxic cleaning products. Ranger vehicles patrolling the park emit no harmful pollutants. Remote buildings are fitted with photovoltaic panels to meet their own energy needs. And interpretive signs explain it all to park visitors, offering tips on decreasing their own ecological footprint while in the park and back at home.

This vision isn’t simply a futuristic daydream, either. “We’re not that far from making much of this a reality,” says Norton. “We can cut our energy use substantially. We can cut our emissions substantially. We can lower our water consumption substantially using today’s technologies, and, if we got aggressive about it, we could do it in just about every park within 10 years. We are just getting started, but more parks are stepping up every day.”

One such park is Zion in Utah. In 2000, a park shuttle system replaced 5,000 private vehicles per day with 30 propane-powered buses, eliminating almost 14,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions that otherwise would have filled the park’s skies over the course of a year. A new “green” visitor center taps into solar power for 30 percent of its energy, takes advantage of natural light for 80 percent of its lighting needs, and features large cooling towers that provide low-energy air conditioning in the summer and a passive solar heating system with a Trombe wall (a sun-facing wall made from heat-absorbing materials such as adobe or stone) for heat retention for cooler days. Considered a model for national park construction, the new facility reduces energy use by nearly 75 percent and eliminates more than 300,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

Less visible are increases in the use of environmentally friendly building materials and nontoxic cleaning supplies, and a drastic rise in recycling efforts within the park. “The Climate Friendly Parks initiative allowed us to address environmental management and climate change while identifying priority areas for our environmental management system,” says Zion superintendent Jock Whitworth. “Now we have a better idea of the impacts of climate change on the park’s natural and cultural resources, and we can identify possible solutions.”

Change is coming to our national parks, that much is clear. Exactly what that change will look like and how park staffs, park visitors, and the parks themselves will adapt to this new reality is not as clear. But as Apostle Island superintendent Bob Krumenaker points out, “We in the National Park Service are in the perpetuity business. Whatever changes are coming in the climate, our parks will still be here. In the face of global climate change, our parks may take on even greater importance as some of the most pristine, untouched, and ecologically significant places left on the planet.”

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.