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Science Friday

Degrees of Change: Tourism. Aug 30, 2019, Part 1

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Friday, Natural Sciences

4.46.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2019

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Each year, outdoor enthusiasts in the country spend nearly $900 billion dollars on hiking, fishing and other types of outdoor recreation. The different types of business that take part in that tourism economy span a wide range—from big all inclusive ski resorts to mom and pop shops that sell tours of their local hiking spots.  But with shrinking snowpacks, more extreme weather, and the unpredictable changes from season to season, these businesses must wrestle with a challenge: climate change. Winter tourism operations are adding on summer water sports to stay afloat, while the number of ski resorts have dwindled almost in half since the 1950s. How will these local businesses adapt? In Capital Public Radio’s podcast TahoeLand, reporter Ezra David Romero investigates how the community of Lake Tahoe in California, which sees 30 million tourists each year, is responding to these changes. Romero talks with Ira about how a pair of residents are trying to establish the area as the “Outdoor Capital of the World” in order to expand outdoor activities that can take place between the big winter and summer tourism seasons. He discusses how local businesses, from casinos to sleigh ride operators, are re-envisioning how they will operate in the future. Daniel Scott, who studies the effects of climate change on tourism, joins the conversation to discuss how the ski resorts are implementing different attractions that can be used year round. And Mario Molina from Protect Our Winters talks about how his organizations trains professional athletes and businesses that depend on the outdoors to become advocates for sustainable practices and policies. Plus, all eyes are on the Atlantic this week as Hurricane Dorian makes its way towards Florida. While Puerto Rico was spared the brunt of the storm, the hurricane still comes at a time when both Florida and Puerto Rico are especially vulnerable to storms. Rebecca Leber, climate and environment reporter at Mother Jones, joins Ira to discuss why—and the contributions a changing climate has to storms such as Dorian. They’ll also talk about other climate stories from recent days, including statements from presidential candidates regarding their climate policy plans, the sailboat arrival of climate activist Greta Thunberg in New York, and a federal rule change that would loosen restrictions on methane gas emissions.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato.

0:02.0

Broadcasting today from the studios of WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut.

0:08.0

The climate is changing, and because we need to deal with it now, we open the next chapter of our series, Degrees of Change. The series

0:22.4

explores the challenges of a changing climate and how we as a planet and a people are adapting.

0:29.5

And we want to hear from you too. Tell us how your community is adapting. Go to ScienceFriday.com

0:35.9

slash degrees of change to get involved. This week, we're

0:40.5

talking about how the tourism and recreation businesses are having to adapt from ski resorts

0:47.0

to casinos. That's coming up shortly. But first up this week, we check in on the gatekeepers,

0:52.7

the decision makers, the controllers of the purse strings.

0:56.3

The election season continues on, with many of the Democratic candidates slated for a town hall on climate policy next week.

1:04.4

But still, no climate debate. My next guest is here to help me navigate that story and other climate policy news.

1:12.3

Rebecca Lieber is a climate and environment reporter for Mother Jones based out of Washington.

1:17.7

Welcome to Science Friday.

1:19.8

Thanks for having me on.

1:21.3

Rebecca, it has been a busy week on the campaign trail with several candidates bowing out of the race,

1:27.4

including Jay Inslee, who made

1:29.4

the climate his signature issue, didn't he? He did. He earned the nickname the climate candidate.

1:37.4

And so do you think that his campaign shifted, perhaps, the conversation on climate?

1:44.3

I think it did have an impact, though. It's a bit hard to quantify. A lot of people

1:49.6

pointed to his low poll numbers as reason why he didn't have an impact. But I think he did

1:55.6

force the conversation and focus it on climate change in ways that we haven't seen in past cycles,

2:01.7

just by having a very thorough climate policy.

...

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