Ls Land Issue 29 Summer Time 1 1

Laurel Hill Cemetery returns with its annual summertime movie pop up featuring The Sandlot. Movie-goers are encouraged to pack a picnic and spread out for an evening under the stars. Movie tickets are $20 for general admission, and advance reservations are encouraged.

When dusk falls at Wentz Run Park in Blue Bell, the fun is just beginning. As part of its free summer entertainment schedule, the park hosts BYO-chair movie nights at the gazebo. Visitors are encouraged to arrive with enough time to find a good seat, and to bring their snacks of choice.

Ls Land Issue 29 Summer Time 1 1

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August is a popular time to visit Alaska and marks the end of the high travel season. Increased moisture improves the vibrancy of an already verdant landscape. Midway through August, colder temperatures encourage brilliant fall foliage, especially in the interior and Denali National Park. Wildlife remains in abundance and all Alaska small ship cruises and Alaska tours are operating on a regular basis. As the month winds down, so do the number of travelers to Alaska, with a shift in weather that signals fall has arrived.

We are thrilled you get to experience Alaska this summer. Our comprehensive Alaska trip planning materials are written by our experts with decades of combined experience and provided to our clients at the time of booking. The best thing to do is contact your cruise operator directly and request their packing resources. Have an incredible cruise and please talk to our experts when planning your next small ship cruise vacation.

Your two-hour voyage aboard Boothbay Harbor's largest schooner gives you time to relax and see the Maine coastline. Lighthouses, fishing lobstermen, wildlife, and remote islands accessible only by boat.

Short-term exposure to fine particles in the air can aggravate lung disease, trigger asthma attacks and acute bronchitis, and may also increase the risk of respiratory infections. Scientists have also linked short-term exposures to heart attacks and abnormal heartbeats. Over time, breathing fine particles in the air increases the chances of developing chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, or lung cancer. In high concentrations, wood smoke can permanently damage lung tissue.

Polar bears depend on the sea ice, which forms above the open waters where their seal prey lives. They will spend time on land when sea ice is not available (and most pregnant polar bear females make their dens on shore near the coast). Polar bears are excellent swimmers, and they travel long distances between shore and the sea ice if necessary. However, if a storm kicks up during these increasingly long swims (caused by the warming ocean), they can drown. These long swims and storms are also often difficult for cubs. During periods of ice breakup, polar bears frequently swim between floating ice islands.

In the beginning of the winter, a pregnant female will dig a den in a snow bank and begin the process of gestation. Depending on the area, pregnant females may enter dens anytime between early October and December. The time of exit from dens occurs between late February and April. Most females dig their dens in a snow bank on land, but some also den on the floating sea ice. In Hudson Bay, females may dig a den in the ground instead, but they use areas where the snow will build up and provide insulation. In the middle of winter in some of the coldest places on Earth, female polar bears give birth to cubs. Litter size is most commonly two cubs, but sometimes litters can be one, three, or, very rarely, four cubs.

The chief threat to the polar bear is the loss of its sea ice habitat due to climate change. As suggested by its specific scientific name (Ursus maritimus), the polar bear is actually a marine mammal that spends far more time at sea than it does on land. It's on the Arctic ice that the polar bear makes its living, which is why climate change is such a serious threat to its well-being. Polar bears are being impacted by climate change in several ways.

Population sizes are decreasing: In southern portions of their range around Hudson Bay, Canada, there is no sea ice during the summer, and the polar bears must live on land until the bay freezes in the fall, when they can again hunt on the ice. While on land during the summer, these bears eat little or nothing. In just 20 years, the ice-free period in Hudson Bay has increased by an average of 20 days, cutting short polar bears' seal hunting season by nearly three weeks. The ice is freezing later in the fall, but it is the earlier spring ice melt that is especially difficult for the bears. They have a narrower time frame in which to hunt during the critical season when seal pups are born, and average bear weight has dropped by 15 percent. The bears have fewer cubs, and of the cubs they do have, the frequency of survival to adulthood is decreasing. In addition, the interval between successful litters is growing. As a result, the Hudson Bay population is down more than 20 percent. The patterns seen in Hudson Bay are beginning to occur now in more northern populations and is especially well documented on the north coast of Alaska, but appears to be the case worldwide.

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