Yellowstone National Park’s unique and pristine environment each year attracts millions of tourists who are responsible for generating nearly 2.3 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new study/file by Rebecca Latson
Tourism in Yellowstone National Park, which draws millions of visitors annually seeking spectacular scenery, geothermal wonders and a pristine environment, is responsible for generating nearly 2.3 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year, a new study says.
This is a staggering output of greenhouse gas, a major contributor to climate change, which the study authors hope will spur the tourism industry to grow.”strategies to reduce emissions and accelerate the achievement of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction targets.”
Authors Emily J. Wilkins of the US Geological Survey, Jordan Smith of Utah State University’s Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Institute, and Danny T. Dagan of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Clemson University, focused on Yellowstone because of its global fame.
What they found was that the annual production of CO2, the majority is created by visitors going to and from the park [roughly 90 percent]. Inside the park, transit is responsible for about 5 percent of the total, with lodging accounting for 4 percent and other park activities generating about 1 percent of the total, said the study, published on PLOS Climate last week.
Air travel by visitors heading to Yellowstone National Park is the biggest generator of CO2 emissions, according to study/PLOS Climate
“Nature-based tourism provides numerous personal and social benefits to tourists; it also plays an essential role in the economies of many municipalities, counties, states and even countries. This is certainly true in the western United States, where many state governments actively promote outdoor recreation and tourism in national parks and other public lands to out-of-state and out-of-state markets,” the authors wrote.Focusing primarily on the social and economic benefits of tourism, however, obscures the many environmental costs of tourism. Chief among these effects is CO2 emissions to which tourism contributes 8 percent globally.”
Learning calculated that “[V]visitors who fly [to reach Yellowstone] makes up only about 35 percent of all visitors, but produces 72 percent of the emissions associated with transit to and from the park.”
Inside the park, recreational vehicles generate the highest CO2 emissions per person, they found, at 70.07 kilograms [154.5 popunds]”while tour buses have the lowest CO2 emissions per visitor (15.46 kg) [34 pounds]. Only 6 percent of visitors travel by RV within the park, but these visitors produce 17.2 percent of all transit-related emissions within the park.”
Tourism in Yellowstone National Park generates more than 2.2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually/PLOS Climate
The problem is only expected to worsen in the coming years, the authors add.
“By 2035, tourism-related emissions are expected to increase by 161 percent over 2005 levels, largely due to projected growth in air travel and longer transit distances,” they write.Although the overall efficiency of transit has increased over time (i.e. increasing vehicle km/l), CO2 emissions per tourist are still rising in many places because tourists are traveling longer distances. Due to the growing demand for tourism and increased CO2 emissions per tourist, it is critical to adopt strategies to help slow the growth of tourism-related emissions.
Reducing that greenhouse gas production will require a multi-pronged approach, they said, including reducing the transit required to reach Yellowstone. “[T]this includes a greater share of local or regional visitors, fewer air visitors and increased vehicle fuel efficiency,” the authors wrote.
Yellowstone’s size—2.2 million acres—does help reduce the park’s CO2 emissions, which are generated by traffic as well as accommodations, museums, visitor centers, and other facilities operated by the National Park Service and concessionaires. the study states.
“Across the United States, the total value of vegetative carbon sequestration on National Park Service lands is $707 million per year (assuming a social cost of carbon of $40.45 per metric ton of carbon), but there is a projected decline in future sequestration due to climate change and the increasing prevalence of forest fires,” the study states. “Previous research found that NP Yellowstone has the second highest carbon sequestration of NPS units and is a net carbon sink of -1.5 megatons of CO2 annually. However, even with significant increases in terrestrial sequestration (i.e. land-use change), terrestrial carbon sequestration alone cannot offset current global emissions. Therefore, understanding and reducing total CO2 emissions remain critical.”
The study, the authors note, aims to stimulate a wider discussion around the role of tourism in the generation of greenhouse gases and how the results can be reduced.
“The work aims to renew the discussion on both the fundamental role that tourism plays in shaping the climate and the many ways in which the effects of tourism can be mitigated through strategic interventions, such as marketing strategies that change the composition of visitors, or regulations that improve vehicle fuel efficiency,” they said.
