Watching Climate Change

Would a cactus thrive in your backyard? An orchid? As climate change turns up the heat, landscapers and gardeners are rethinking their seedlings. Using current temperature data, the Arbor Day Foundation has created an interactive map revealing how plant hardiness zones have changed since the USDA last updated their map in 1990. The shift is significant --much of the Midwest, for example, has warmed by one full zone. Our gardens are hardly the only places in flux. To see time-lapse videos of ecosystems altered by urban development or global warming, check out Wired's collection of satellite images.

Wondering how to protect threatened plants and animals in a warming world? Check out the Sierra Club's Resilient Habitats program.

--Della Watson