Conservation and Climate Resilience

WEBVTT
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This is Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast.
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We amplify voices, explore solutions to the climate
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crisis, and confront climate injustice for all
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living beings. Here at C2A, we are committed
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to providing a variety of perspectives for addressing
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the climate crisis in every episode. Stay tuned
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for the end of the episode where we provide simple
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ways you can take action yourself. First, we'd
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like to acknowledge that our recording studio
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is on the traditional territory of the Luceño
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-Payacuichum people. CSUSM and its surrounding
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areas are still home to six federally recognized
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bands of the La Jolla, Paula, Palma, Pechanga,
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Rincon, and Ceboba Luceño -Payacuichum people.
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This land is also a shared space among the Cupeño,
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Kumeyaay, and Epay peoples. For today's episode,
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we are thrilled to introduce a very special guest,
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CSUSM's own Dr. Elizabeth Ritter. Dr. Ritter
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has done a lot of fieldwork, especially in the
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Mediterranean Basin. She also teaches classes
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on campus from intro to geography to parks and
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protected areas. Dr. Ritter, welcome to the show.
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Could you start by telling our listeners a little
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bit about your background, your research, and
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how you became interested in your field of study?
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Yeah, so I did not come to studying what I do
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directly. I, as an undergraduate, was majoring
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in biology, and I was wildlife biology and conservation
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biology focused. So I had the opportunity through
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my courses to spend a lot of time outdoors, to
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learn a lot about landscapes, the vegetation,
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the animals, and we had a lot of very practical
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hands -on sort of learning. And then I went to
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work for a while. So I worked in environmental
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consulting that I ended up hating. Sorry, everyone.
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It just wasn't for me, but my colleagues were
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really, they loved their jobs. So it wasn't for
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me. And I decided that I needed to find a new
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job or go back to grad school, figure out my
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life a little bit. And when I was digging around
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through grad school programs, I mean, I was still
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very interested in ecology sort of things, but
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I didn't really want to go into a master's degree
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in ecology. So what drew me to geography is that
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they were doing all these really interesting
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things and using really cool technologies to
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study landscape change, to look at how, you know,
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the questions. Sorry that you have to hear from
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me all the time. Like, why is this thing here?
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Like, what are the conditions that led to this
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sort of thing? um looking for patterns and trying
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to understand like the evolution of the landscape
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or the things on it um better so that's how I
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got into geography specifically and I still really
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thought um I was a bit naive when I went to to
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grad school um I still thought I was going to
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work with small mammals like that was still my
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thing um but it I mean it's very hard to do of
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course because there's lots of permitting there's
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all which makes total sense. So I was a little
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lost for a while, even after starting grad school.
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But my academic advisor, she and colleagues had
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been working in the Mediterranean for a long
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time. And so she just suggested like, you're
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already doing some of this like GIS stuff, some
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of this stuff with remote sensing. What if you
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just came and looked at our site in Cyprus? Maybe
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something will like... spark for you. And so
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I applied for a whole bunch of scholarships and
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I got told a lot, but thankfully I got told yes
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enough that I could pay for my airfare and transportation.
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And then while we were on site, since it was
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archaeology field school, like they housed us
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and did all that kind of thing. So while I was
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there, like just seeing what they were working
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on and looking at this landscape and trying to
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envision it when the people of the past were
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there. It did. I was like, how can I use the
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skills that I have, the knowledge I have already
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about vegetation and about GIS and remote sensing
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to try to piece parts of this back together?
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Right. Because it's always an incomplete bit
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of knowledge. And how can I contribute to the
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I don't know how we understand the world of the
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past in that way. And so it was it was a bit
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of a secured, secured, circular route. Awesome.
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That's really interesting. And I know that there's
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a lot of really cool like technology that's used
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in GIS. I know when I was in your class, we did
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Esri and that, you know, it's a love for me personally.
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It's a love hate relationship, but I know it's
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a really, really cool way to track like geographical
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geographical locations and stuff like that. I
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don't think you're alone in that. Most people
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have kind of a love hate relationship. There's
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funny memes out there about it. Yeah. Cause it's
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like one, one like piece of like almost, it's
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almost like coding, like one thing wrong and
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just the whole thing like explodes. It feels
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like, but it's really cool once it comes together.
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Cause then you feel really accomplished. I remember
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I was like, yes, I like actually. Yeah. And it
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can be, it's, it's a tool. It's not the only
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tool. to helping us like understand these things
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and at least start asking questions about them.
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Right. It can be a starting point. It doesn't
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have to be. The end all be all. Yeah, absolutely.
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You spoke a little bit about how you kind of
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started in the Mediterranean basin with your
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academic advisors. Can you talk a little bit
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more about it and the climate issues or like
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the geographical location and everything that
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surrounds it? Yeah. So we look at human environment
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interactions. Of the past, so about 4 ,500 years
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ago to 3 ,000 -ish years ago. So the eastern
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end of the Mediterranean, this is kind of the
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early Bronze Age. It's still the Copper Age if
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you're on the western end of the Mediterranean.
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But we're trying to understand through archaeological
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excavation the things that we can link. So things
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are left behind. And how can we relate those
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to the climate or environment of the time, essentially?
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and learn more about that um and then what systems
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do people put in place to address any environmental
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or climatic sort of changes right um my dissertation
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was quite a bit different it looked at modern
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things um so we did a whole bunch of just observational
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vegetation study essentially driving all over
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the island of cyprus um and just making notes.
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So very, very old school way of studying vegetation
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and then going through some historical, recent
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but historical sort of accounts of vegetation
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as well to fill out places we couldn't go or
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that had changed quite a bit. And what I was
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doing then was using these projections of future
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climate changes that there's several. groups
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that put them out. So there's one in England.
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There's a large group in Japan. The U .S. has
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their own groups that put out these global kind
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of climate models. And part of what they do is
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project to the future. So under different scenarios,
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what do we anticipate the future temperature
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precipitation might look like? So I was using
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their projections to see what the impacts on
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vegetation might be. And so we had, I don't even
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remember now, several dozen species that we were
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really wondering, will this allow this particular
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species to kind of expand its geographic range
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or will it cause it to shrink in some way? And
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if, what are those kind of like, what does that
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look like? What are those patterns again look
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like? And there are some things that are unique
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to cypress. So there's endemic species and other
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species of special concern that we didn't look
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at them specifically. They just happened to be
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in our observations. And, you know, how are they
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going to respond? Assuming that the model, you
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know, the future scenarios are correct or potential
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scenarios are likely. And so some of the things
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were really kind of. surprising because we also
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looked at some agricultural things because cypress
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is olives are very important um almonds are very
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important pomegranate fig culturally and economically
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right um pistachio there's a few others um they
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don't do pistachio production but like we do
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here in california there's several kinds of pistachio
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that have other kind of cultural uses or historical
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uses and so like For almonds, like almonds are
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happy. So as long as there's water, they can
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be provided water under future scenarios. They're
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like, we'll go wherever you want us, right? Some
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of the oak that are there are kind of like our
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scrub oak. They can, again, go lots of places
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and be perfectly happy under multiple kind of
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situations of climate. But some things that are
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already kind of restricted to high elevation,
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there's several pines, there's several oaks.
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that are unique, they, of course, very much shrink.
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And it's not that we were surprised so much about
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those things, because that's kind of what a bunch
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of other studies were saying about how vegetation
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is going to shift under climate. More so looking
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at it from the perspective of what information
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can I provide, should anybody ever look at my
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dissertation, that might help them maybe look
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at climate refugia. Or how do they want to maintain
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populations? So for them to implement policy,
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I wasn't in policy, or for them to implement
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different conservation strategies themselves
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that align with other kind of management goals.
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And so I don't know if anybody's flown with any
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of that, to be honest. I hope some of it has
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been a takeaway that they can work from. And
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then from there, my colleagues and I have continued
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to work together. So I still work with, which
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is a little bit unusual for a lot of people.
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I still work with my academic advisor and we
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have a really nice interdisciplinary team. And
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so she's a paleobotanist. So studying the vegetation
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of the past. I work with a zooarchaeologist who
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studies animal bones. Of the past, an archaeologist
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and a geologist or geomorphologist. So she studies
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landscapes. So I didn't work. We've kind of cobbled
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together this really kind of dynamic group. But
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we all bring kind of a unique perspective to
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what we're trying to sort out about how humans
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and the environment work together. yeah or in
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opposition right yeah definitely there's definitely
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a together and opposition we definitely see that
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very commonly now unfortunately one thing that
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kind of stood out when you were speaking about
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your work is how you track like species and their
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patterns of where they're going to go and that
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kind of makes me think of like what i'm studying
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right now is mosquitoes and like infectious diseases
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and how they're with climate change the weather
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patterns are changing do you see things like
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that with the species in the mediterranean basin
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do you see them like kind of shifting like for
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example in cyprus do you see them like shifting
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to a new area and if so how could that like affect
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i guess the surrounding species because of course
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an ecosystem is a very interconnected web so
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do you see that like happening and like what
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do you predict might happen if it does i mean
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i don't unfortunately i haven't followed um how
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they're tracking that in cyprus we haven't like
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repeated the vegetation observations or anything
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like that to know like what's it look like right
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x number of years later um to see if any of that's
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panned out yet but we know globally there are
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examples of this where vegetation is moving up
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slope it's moving further north um even the in
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the united states the usda has revised its plant
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zones to reflect where for gardening purposes
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and vegetable growing purposes um optimal or
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climate conditions under which to grow different
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things. So it's a well -known condition, but
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it's very species dependent. So some things have
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kind of a wider range of characteristics that
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permit them to basically thrive under a bigger
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variety of climatic conditions. Like cockroaches.
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Like cockroaches. And other things are far more
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restrictive. And so it's hard to... What we know
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from the past is that there are novel ecosystems,
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assemblages of species, essentially, that existed
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that no longer exist today because the climate
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shifted in particular ways. We either have relatives
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or closely related things left or we have, you
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know, new kind of conglomerations of maybe things
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that used to not associate with one another.
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Right. And so we expect to see novel kind of
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ecosystems and these alliances form in the future.
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With plants, it's a little hard because a lot
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of them don't respond quickly, especially when
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we're talking about trees and long lived organisms.
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Right. Their generations extend kind of beyond
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the current pace of climate change. So things
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that can reproduce quickly and or relocate quickly,
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you know, we may see them kind of like adjust
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first. We were talking in class this week already
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about how we've been observing phenology changes.
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So the patterns of like when things leaf out,
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migration patterns. And some things that we've
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been like, oh, like this migratory bird. Sorry,
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I don't have an example right off the top of
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my head. It's okay. We would anticipate that
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it would start to migrate sooner because spring
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is coming sooner, but they haven't. Right. We
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are starting to see like misalignments of when
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things like maybe bloom or there's phytoplankton,
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like when they first start to really like reproduce.
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and timing of the organisms that eat them. There
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are cyclical things that we know that happen,
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right, or random events, but they're shifting.
00:15:26.470 --> 00:15:30.370
The random events and the cyclical things are
00:15:30.370 --> 00:15:32.809
becoming the more regular instead of it being
00:15:32.809 --> 00:15:38.830
kind of a rare occurrence. And so, yeah, pollinators
00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:42.389
are off migrating when the things they pollinate
00:15:42.389 --> 00:15:45.659
are blooming. So we do have some examples of
00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:49.779
those things. You'll have to fact check me, but
00:15:49.779 --> 00:15:52.620
I think one of them is with saguaro cacti blooms
00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:56.399
and there's a moth that pollinates them and they're
00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:58.840
a little bit out of sync. Currently coming out
00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:01.500
of sync. Yeah. And that's hard too for like plants
00:16:01.500 --> 00:16:04.100
to flourish because they, you know, rely so heavily
00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:06.159
on pollinators and the pollinator like cycle.
00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:10.759
But kind of to switch gears here, you talked
00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:13.100
a little bit about like continental U .S. issues
00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:15.899
with like the USDA. And I know you've taught
00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:17.879
a class on national parks and protected areas
00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:21.019
because I took it with you. And lately there's
00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:22.799
been a lot of political debate around funding
00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.220
for national parks. What do cuts like that mean
00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:27.899
for conservation, climate resilience, or even
00:16:27.899 --> 00:16:31.480
like with the plants, like how will the species
00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:38.649
respond, anything like that? staffing cuts that
00:16:38.649 --> 00:16:44.470
we've seen this year um directly influence we
00:16:44.470 --> 00:16:48.009
we usually tend to think about things like um
00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:50.909
will there be anybody at the visitor center can
00:16:50.909 --> 00:16:53.929
they still lead tours the trash and pick up the
00:16:53.929 --> 00:16:56.110
trail maintenance right the construction crews
00:16:56.110 --> 00:17:00.710
uh fire suppression um yeah so we we usually
00:17:00.710 --> 00:17:02.429
think of those things first which are very very
00:17:02.429 --> 00:17:05.269
important but along with those people who were
00:17:06.299 --> 00:17:11.640
fired or laid off we've lost um you know some
00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:14.180
of the veg management people we've lost the scientists
00:17:14.180 --> 00:17:17.680
we've lost the funding to do the monitoring that's
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.400
required under different um rules and regulations
00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:25.680
so some of it is is like we may not know about
00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.160
some things for a while um if the data collection
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:30.960
has kind of stopped or nobody's even there to
00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:37.630
analyze the data kind of thing The one thing
00:17:37.630 --> 00:17:40.369
that I was recently reading about, I think it
00:17:40.369 --> 00:17:46.130
was in the Tahoe Basin. They had massive staff
00:17:46.130 --> 00:17:50.410
cuts. The Tahoe Forest, so it's not a national
00:17:50.410 --> 00:17:53.470
park, but it's under the USDA, the Forest Service.
00:17:55.309 --> 00:18:02.740
They lost people who were working on... Oh, there
00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:04.819
was some kind of algal bloom and they had been
00:18:04.819 --> 00:18:09.000
working with deploying these mats that basically
00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.740
block the sunlight. And they're having really
00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:14.680
good results. But now there's nobody to do those
00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:19.099
things. Oh, no. That's so sad. It is a little
00:18:19.099 --> 00:18:23.200
sad. You know, they can't hire students coming
00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:25.119
fresh out of college right now or having a harder
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.539
time hiring students for temporary or internship
00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:38.119
or summer positions. Yeah. So that makes it,
00:18:38.140 --> 00:18:45.240
I don't know the right words. It basically affects
00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.160
the management into the future as well because
00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:50.460
we have people who are missing out on those training
00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:52.779
opportunities and those experiential opportunities
00:18:52.779 --> 00:18:58.819
that are really formative in helping launch those.
00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.380
kind of management conservation sorts of careers
00:19:04.380 --> 00:19:07.660
yeah so i didn't say anything about climate but
00:19:07.660 --> 00:19:11.920
um it's okay it's okay i mean we already know
00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:15.339
that there's impacts to our our parks um we know
00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:17.460
that visitors are adjusting like their visiting
00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:21.640
hours because it's hotter or whatever reasons
00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:26.279
um so the usda again they they put out a report
00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:29.319
not too long ago i didn't write down the date
00:19:31.579 --> 00:19:34.680
But they're changing the timing of their trips.
00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:36.420
They're changing the activities they participate
00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:39.359
in. They're changing how they even experience
00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:42.980
these open spaces, parks, the forests, all these
00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:47.960
kinds of things. So we're seeing that more people
00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:50.740
are starting to also come when the parks expect
00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:53.420
to be kind of quiet. So they're shifting into
00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:57.799
the off season or the shoulder seasons when parks
00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:02.099
aren't staffed as well. Yeah. Interesting. So
00:20:02.099 --> 00:20:07.279
lengthening kind of the park seasons. There's
00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:11.559
more heat related illness issues, which increase
00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:14.880
cost of parks for. Of course, we have to provide
00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:19.259
medical services rightfully. When we have extreme
00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:22.599
or more regular, no longer extreme events like
00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:25.319
flooding, drought. Again, it shuts down parks.
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:28.980
It affects the infrastructure. changes the visitation
00:20:28.980 --> 00:20:33.579
patterns um i talk about visitation because those
00:20:33.579 --> 00:20:35.420
are the numbers that are easy to measure like
00:20:35.420 --> 00:20:37.740
at a park entrance they're counting you right
00:20:37.740 --> 00:20:39.359
you have to pay a fee you have to like check
00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:42.960
in somehow um the national forests and like the
00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:45.079
um other public lands in the u .s like the bureau
00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:48.539
of land management most of them are kind of like
00:20:48.539 --> 00:20:51.240
they don't have like a fee gate so it's harder
00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:53.200
to estimate their numbers and the impacts on
00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:56.849
the visitation but the tahoe forest for We know,
00:20:56.930 --> 00:20:58.730
even though they don't collect fees in the same
00:20:58.730 --> 00:21:05.190
way. With these cuts, they are small. Like this
00:21:05.190 --> 00:21:07.730
is a small region. They have more visitation
00:21:07.730 --> 00:21:10.630
than Yosemite. Wow. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. And so
00:21:10.630 --> 00:21:14.509
their staffing cuts affects like all their ways
00:21:14.509 --> 00:21:18.190
that they can help visitors when these events
00:21:18.190 --> 00:21:20.670
may be happening or not happening or respond
00:21:20.670 --> 00:21:23.509
to fire, respond to bark beetle outbreaks, respond
00:21:23.509 --> 00:21:27.359
to all this sort of stuff. Yeah. So it has long
00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.579
term kind of impacts to the ecosystems. Right.
00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:32.900
And that's what's crazy is that the funding doesn't
00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:35.339
even a lot of people think, oh, it's just kind
00:21:35.339 --> 00:21:37.619
of this like surface. But you kind of spoke on
00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:40.779
how it not only impacts like, of course, jobs
00:21:40.779 --> 00:21:43.140
and job security, but it impacts our research
00:21:43.140 --> 00:21:46.819
on parks, impacts our research on with the species,
00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:49.319
with plant and animal. It impacts human health
00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:51.440
almost in a way because they're, you know, people
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.259
are going at different times. And if they're
00:21:53.259 --> 00:21:55.740
not staffed with medical professional. or the
00:21:55.740 --> 00:21:57.339
amount of medical professionals that they may
00:21:57.339 --> 00:21:59.500
need, then that can be an impact on human health.
00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:02.279
And so that's crazy that just what people think
00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:05.420
are just like some cuts here and there is actually,
00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.539
it almost seems detrimental to the park's like
00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:13.140
health and well -being. Yeah. And the proposed
00:22:13.140 --> 00:22:16.039
budget that currently has the government kind
00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:21.240
of shut down. Right. Yeah. One part of it is
00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:27.500
so. The parks represent very little of our national
00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:32.339
sort of budget. Just because I wanted to be accurate
00:22:32.339 --> 00:22:34.759
here, less than one -fifteenth of one percent.
00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.660
Oh, my gosh. Our entire federal budget goes to
00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:42.559
the National Park Service specifically. But there
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:46.200
is approximately $15 of economic activity generated
00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:49.160
for every single dollar we invest in them. Oh,
00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:51.220
my God. So the return on the dollar is huge.
00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:55.940
Yeah. Huge investment. They were already experiencing
00:22:55.940 --> 00:22:58.640
kind of staffing issues. They've had hiring freezes
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:00.680
over the years. So they've been understaffed
00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:06.819
kind of for a while and underfunded. So since
00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:10.420
2010, they've had a 20 percent reduction in staffing
00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:14.480
and then 24 percent on top of that just in January.
00:23:14.519 --> 00:23:17.680
Oh, my God. But the proposals on the table right
00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:20.240
now for the budget, like this is pretty severe.
00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.019
So even though it's tiny, it has a big effect
00:23:24.019 --> 00:23:29.059
on what the parks can and can't do. The administration's
00:23:29.059 --> 00:23:32.740
budget for 2026 is proposing cutting about $1
00:23:32.740 --> 00:23:36.779
billion. So $900 million in reduction to park
00:23:36.779 --> 00:23:41.200
operations, which is a 31 % cut. Kind of the
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:44.029
biggest one we've seen. Part of the proposal
00:23:44.029 --> 00:23:45.690
is saying we should transfer some of these parks
00:23:45.690 --> 00:23:48.250
back to states or two states in the first place.
00:23:48.289 --> 00:23:50.230
They've never had necessarily controlled them
00:23:50.230 --> 00:23:53.769
in the first place. Right. States also have limited
00:23:53.769 --> 00:23:57.829
budgets, staff and capability to take proper
00:23:57.829 --> 00:24:01.309
care of such. I'm not saying the government always
00:24:01.309 --> 00:24:04.069
take proper care of the land, but the states
00:24:04.069 --> 00:24:06.970
may have even more limited capacity to do so.
00:24:09.369 --> 00:24:14.220
So. That doesn't sound like it's going to work
00:24:14.220 --> 00:24:21.339
out so great. They are also saying, in addition
00:24:21.339 --> 00:24:24.559
to that, $73 million in construction funding.
00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:28.519
So that's like maintenance projects. Right. As
00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:33.180
well as like future sort of needs. $77 million
00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:36.740
cut to recreation and preservation and $197 million
00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:40.259
to historic preservation. Oh, my gosh. That's
00:24:40.259 --> 00:24:46.289
crazy. The house is like slightly better, mildly
00:24:46.289 --> 00:24:50.529
better. Only $176 million they're looking to
00:24:50.529 --> 00:24:54.569
cut. So 6 % of the overall budget. But they're
00:24:54.569 --> 00:24:57.150
also saying $37 million cut to construction.
00:24:58.490 --> 00:25:02.470
Getting rid of the EPA budget by 23%, which again
00:25:02.470 --> 00:25:04.430
is critical to the science programs that go on
00:25:04.430 --> 00:25:07.289
in the parks. Right. The research, clean water,
00:25:07.450 --> 00:25:12.500
clean air, clean all these things. So that's
00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:17.140
not great. And less protection for national monuments,
00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:19.799
which are designated under all this is designated
00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:25.099
under the Antiquities Act. So if we have less
00:25:25.099 --> 00:25:27.740
protection for those areas, that again puts them
00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:31.839
back on the slate for being open to development,
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:35.119
different kinds of development. Right. The Senate
00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:41.990
has a more balanced approach. They're at least
00:25:41.990 --> 00:25:43.769
not saying we should cut things, but they're
00:25:43.769 --> 00:25:46.150
not giving the parks any more money. It's a flat.
00:25:46.549 --> 00:25:50.369
It's just a flat. Yep. So they can at least do
00:25:50.369 --> 00:25:54.730
what they're currently doing. But they have some
00:25:54.730 --> 00:26:00.190
really important sort of add -ons, I guess. So
00:26:00.190 --> 00:26:03.009
requirements. They want the administration to
00:26:03.009 --> 00:26:06.970
hire and retain staff to perform its mission.
00:26:09.309 --> 00:26:10.869
They want the administration to give Congress
00:26:10.869 --> 00:26:14.529
notice of any reorganization efforts that could
00:26:14.529 --> 00:26:18.950
cause a reduction in park staffing. They want
00:26:18.950 --> 00:26:22.569
to basically block any attempt to deauthorize,
00:26:22.609 --> 00:26:25.230
sell off or transfer units out of the park system.
00:26:25.890 --> 00:26:29.910
They want to get rid of efforts to divert money
00:26:29.910 --> 00:26:33.009
from land and water conservation fund. And they
00:26:33.009 --> 00:26:35.690
want to require notification to Congress of any
00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:37.990
future efforts to cancel park service leases.
00:26:39.490 --> 00:26:42.990
And finally, they're saying that they need to
00:26:42.990 --> 00:26:46.809
double down on and force the timely delivery
00:26:46.809 --> 00:26:49.390
of grant funds for tribal and other community
00:26:49.390 --> 00:26:52.170
driven efforts that help protect and interpret
00:26:52.170 --> 00:26:56.109
these historic resources. So there's kind of
00:26:56.109 --> 00:27:02.069
three proposals out there right now. Right. None
00:27:02.069 --> 00:27:04.190
of it's moving anywhere right now. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:04.269 --> 00:27:06.910
Everything's just kind of at like it's at a standstill
00:27:06.910 --> 00:27:10.119
right now. It's. crazy where we're at. Well,
00:27:10.299 --> 00:27:12.319
Dr. Ritter, thank you so much for taking the
00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:14.859
time to speak and educate us today. Now that
00:27:14.859 --> 00:27:16.680
we're nearing the end of our podcast, we'd like
00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:18.940
to introduce you to our tradition of offering
00:27:18.940 --> 00:27:21.000
our listeners a chance to implement something
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:24.279
into their own lives that helps combat climate
00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:27.299
change in some small way. In other words, it's
00:27:27.299 --> 00:27:29.539
our Climate to Action podcast call to action.
00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:32.160
Dr. Ritter, throughout your work, you've emphasized
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:34.099
the importance of collaboration and justice.
00:27:34.779 --> 00:27:37.059
What is one thing our listeners can do to contribute
00:27:37.059 --> 00:27:40.759
to climate action in their own lives today? So
00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:43.960
I know I was asked for something fun, but because
00:27:43.960 --> 00:27:48.579
of where our current political environment is,
00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:53.740
I think it's really important that people continue
00:27:53.740 --> 00:28:03.700
to train yourselves to interpret data. To analyze
00:28:03.700 --> 00:28:09.460
and interpret data, to critically evaluate sources
00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:14.259
of information and even like critically evaluate
00:28:14.259 --> 00:28:16.839
the text that you read around data because we
00:28:16.839 --> 00:28:18.259
just look at it and we go, oh, numbers, that
00:28:18.259 --> 00:28:24.500
must be right. Right. So and the reason I emphasize
00:28:24.500 --> 00:28:30.980
this is your climate action is because it's really.
00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:34.839
sometimes easy for us to like look at a chart
00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:38.859
or a graph and again take it at face value um
00:28:38.859 --> 00:28:42.940
and not that they're using made up numbers or
00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:47.119
anything like this it's that data can be cherry
00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:49.440
picked and misrepresented and then the narrative
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:52.960
around them is very convincing yeah so being
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:56.339
able to critically evaluate that that narrative
00:28:56.339 --> 00:29:00.559
and come to your own conclusions Right. Use the
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.720
skills you're developing to come to your own
00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:04.740
conclusions about that and formulate your own
00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:07.619
opinions that are based, that are data driven.
00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:11.720
Right. That's my call to action. I love that.
00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:14.900
That's really interesting. So basically just
00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:17.640
look at data and being able to interpret it and
00:29:17.640 --> 00:29:20.259
analyze it in your own words and kind of being
00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:22.119
able to use that as your driving factor into
00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:24.640
going out. I really like that. It's really, really
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:27.380
good. Well, thank you so much for sharing your
00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:29.730
insights with us today. I feel that your insight
00:29:29.730 --> 00:29:32.009
on these pressing environmental topics have greatly
00:29:32.009 --> 00:29:34.910
expanded my views and hopefully our listeners'
00:29:35.009 --> 00:29:37.250
views as well and truly opened the minds and
00:29:37.250 --> 00:29:40.150
opened our eyes to a wide variety of topics from
00:29:40.150 --> 00:29:43.930
the Mediterranean basin and geographical locations
00:29:43.930 --> 00:29:46.529
to our national parks and what's happening on
00:29:46.529 --> 00:29:50.069
the political side of climate. It's been incredible
00:29:50.069 --> 00:29:51.970
hearing about the work you're doing, and we encourage
00:29:51.970 --> 00:29:54.009
everyone listening to check out the resources
00:29:54.009 --> 00:29:56.490
Dr. Ritter mentioned and take action in their
00:29:56.490 --> 00:29:59.230
own lives. Want to hear more from Climate to
00:29:59.230 --> 00:30:02.450
Action, a CSUSM student podcast? Be sure to check
00:30:02.450 --> 00:30:04.750
us out wherever you get your podcasts and follow
00:30:04.750 --> 00:30:07.730
us on our socials at Climate to Action. That's
00:30:07.730 --> 00:30:10.569
at Climate to Action on Instagram and at Climate,
00:30:10.670 --> 00:30:12.970
the number two action on TikTok. We'll be posting
00:30:12.970 --> 00:30:15.269
updates, behind the scenes content, and so much
00:30:15.269 --> 00:30:17.910
more. Remember, it's never too late to start
00:30:17.910 --> 00:30:20.190
making a difference in the climate crisis. Keep
00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:22.670
learning, keep acting, and keep pushing for change.
00:30:23.109 --> 00:30:25.710
Until next time, this is Climate to Action signing
00:30:25.710 --> 00:30:28.960
off. Climate to Action is recorded at Inspiration
00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:32.220
Studios on the CSUSM campus. Our podcast is funded
00:30:32.220 --> 00:30:34.880
in part by a generous donation from the Rosemary
00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:35.880
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