Climate Change Education in Zoos and Aquariums

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NAIB Volunteer

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15+ year member
Climate change is a big issue in today’s world. Zoos and aquariums throughout the nation are beginning, or have been, education zoo and aquarium visitors about climate change. A new partnership with the National Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the New England Aquarium, will further enhance the education programs at all three Institutions. The more people that these aquariums can educate about climate change, the greater chance of action can be done to combat the causes.

So ZooChat, what do you think about climate change? I'm sure since you all have interests in zoos and aquariums that you realize the importance of action against climate change. Do you feel that zoos and aquariums have a responsibility to educate the public on the implications of our actions?
 
What we have to remember is that this climate change is normal/natural. Technically, the Earth is currently in an ice age (since a certain percentage of Earth is covered in ice), all that is happening is that we are slowly coming out of this ice age. That is why the Earth is getting warmer and the ice caps are melting, not necessarily because of greenhouse gasses (though they probably do have an effect in maybe speeding it up).

This is the same thing that happened at the end of the last ice age. The Earth is getting warmer, but that is not to say it is some man-made disaster.
 
Within the last 2 or 3 years there has been a very definite trend in UK zoos to emphasise the efforts they are making towards sustainability (not quite the same things as climate change, but closely linked), both in general operating practices and in the design of new developments. Most of them have pages about the progress they have made in sustainable development on their websites.
This is not an accident, it has been written into the zoo licensing system, to make zoos set an example to other organisations and to the public. I think it is a very sensible idea to put zoos in the vanguard of this movement.

Alan
 
I'm sorry Javan Rhino, but you're not quite right there. This climate change is not normal/natural. What's happening at the moment is more then slowly coming out of an ice age. It's additional to that. Humans have sped up what would otherwise happen over tens of thousands of years.
 
I agree that we are speeding it up considerably, but I don't think all of the blame lies with us. After all, one of the problems is farming (clearing land/methane etc). What are we to do, ban farms? If so, where would we get the meat, dairy etc that we eat?

So, we are speeding up what is already happening, but we are not the sole cause of global warming (look at Earth's history and you will see that we are in constant flux between 'hot' and 'cold' periods on Earth. The ice caps have all melted before, and we got over that with no technology bar a couple of sticks and a mammoth-hide tent.
 
Thanks again Alan, some very good information.

I think no matter what/who is responsible for climate change, we have a responsibility to protect species from the harmfull affect through legislation. I feel we should move away from oil/coal/natural gas and other CO2 emitting energies and invest and support green energy. Using oil is an old technology and green energy should power our future simply because it is the right thing to do.
 
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