Climate Change in New Jersey

I grew up in central New Jersey right outside of Princeton. Ever since I was young I always hoped for snow days. When I was young I loved going out and making ramps to go sledding off of and as I got older I would go skitch skiing off the back of a car. Once I was in high school I began to notice we would rarely get more than a few inches a few times a year and would really never get any days off. Winter went from a beautiful season where everything was covered in snow to a dreary and depressing time where more often than not the temperature was just above freezing and all we got was rain. I began to hate winters, the lack of snow and heavy rain very obviously showed off all the dead plants and barren landscapes that winter brings. I knew that climate change was the cause for this and over the years I watched as we got fewer and fewer snow days. 

Although the change in my winters was the most noticeable impact climate change has had on the area I grew up in, I know the coastline an hour away has dealt with additional effects. Due to the polar ice cap melting the sea level has risen and just like Florida, New Jersey is shrinking. Slowly the shoreline inches further and further inland and if it persists, the sea level could rise up to 4 feet in the next century.

Over the span of this course, I really enjoyed learning about the many invasive species and how they were introduced to the Midwest. I personally loved learning about the aquatic invasives the most, I knew some of the terrestrial invasives already so it was cool to learn about the same phenomenon underwater. 

A concept that I will remember and found very interesting was habitat fragmentation. I had never learned anything related to the topic and although I was originally a little confused by it, I found it cool to learn about the ideal habitat and how its fragmentation can have large biodiversity implications.