Tourist stops change dramatically as the climate shifts

Matt Villano | USA TODAY Green Living

From Alaska to Miami, the phenomenon of climate change — the catch-all phrase that describes subtle but significant changes to Earth's atmosphere — is wreaking havoc on some of the most beautiful destinations in the country. Perhaps the most concerning news: There has been no recent evidence that the trend will slow or stop any time soon.

Melting Glaciers

In Alaska, where cruise ship passengers flock by the hundreds of thousands every year for a glimpse of nature at its best, most glaciers still exist, but they're receding more rapidly than ever before. The Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau is a prime example. When the on-site visitor center was built in 1962, it was mere feet from the face of the glacier. Today, more than 50 years later, the glacier sits a mile from the center, on the other side of a lake.

The spectacular Glacier National Park in Montana is another example of how climate change is transforming tourist spots. Here, the park's iconic glaciers have been melting consistently for the last decade. Park rangers estimate that by 2030, the glaciers will be gone altogether.

Shrinking Lakes

All Andrew Glasgow wanted to do was share the wonder of Mount Shasta and Shasta Lake with his wife and two young sons.

He had visited the mountain before, many times. He remembered the awe-inspiring grandeur of the snow-covered triangle reflected in the turquoise waters of the lake below. His family simply had to see it. So, for Thanksgiving last year, he booked a trip. But when they arrived, the scene was totally wrong. There was virtually no snow on the mountain itself. And the lake — if you wanted to call it that — was nothing more than a glorified puddle. "It was startling, to say the least," says Glasgow, a marketing executive from Oakland.

Warming temperatures and drought conditions in California likely were two of the factors contributing to what the Glasgows spotted that day. Other lakes have been affected by climate change as well. Rising temperatures in Lake Tahoe are suspected to have caused a drop in the number of bottom-feeding creatures in the lake — the very same creatures that eat algae and therefore give the lake its world-renowned clarity.

Rising Seas

Current predictions from the National Climate Assessment, a report on climate change from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, suggest ocean levels could rise by 2 feet in the next 30 to 40 years, meaning shorelines would move inland approximately 1,000 feet to 4,000 feet. Put differently, by 2050, parts of low-lying coastal regions, such as Miami, New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., could be underwater, and some scientists fear these predictions may actually be optimistic, at best.

Some in the travel industry see the dire predictions and changing scenery as a way to educate travelers about the changes underway. Louisiana Lost Land Environmental Tours, a kayak operator in New Orleans, is one of them, offering four-hour guided trips behind flood walls and levies. "We're losing the equivalent of one football field worth of land every 40 minutes here," says co-owner Marie Gould. "Sometimes the best way to understand the impact of all of this is to get out and see it for yourself."