Vacation Here Before Climate Change Sets In

Canoe Lake Tahoe
Appreciate its famous blue hues before it turns murky green. In 1968, the lake's waters were clear to more than 100 feet deep. In 2007, they were clear only to 70 feet, according to the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, at UC-Davis, which has been tracking the change.

As simply as I can explain it, carbon dioxide emissions are crimping oxygen levels in the deepest parts of the lake. This in turn is gradually making it harder for the fish and algae that are crucial to the lake's ecosystem to thrive. No algae, no crystal-blues.

The change has been slowing in the past seven years or so. But UC-Davis scientists are still concerned that the lake could take a turn for the worse in the next 10 to 15 years.

Soak in the Mediterranean sun
The World Wildlife Fund began warning in 2005 that global warming could make Mediterranean countries like Spain, Turkey, Greece and Italy too toasty for even the most ardent sun worshipers in the years to come.

As world temperatures rise, long and frequent heat waves along with droughts and forest fires could discourage people from flocking to what has been the most popular tourism destination on the planet, the group said.

The WWF was looking ahead several years. But anyone who recalls last summer's heat wave -- it was linked to several hundred deaths, plus tourists being evacuated from some areas and stranded in others -- and the heat wave of 2006, will appreciate that this sizzling future might be close at hand.