wildfires
The Spread Of Bark Beetles
Bark beetles are a global scourge of evergreen forests. Mountain pine beetles have destroyed pine trees across western North America. Spruce beetles decimated spruce trees from New Mexico into Colorado and beyond. Altogether, bark beetles have ravaged 85,000 square miles of forest in the western U.S, an area the size of Utah, since 2000. They have killed trees across an additional 65,000 square miles of British Columbian forests and have caused millions of dollars of damage to the lumber industry in states like Alabama and Mississippi.
Climate Change And Heat Waves
2016 was the hottest year on record and saw many extreme weather events. How much of what happened resulted from climate change has yet to be assessed. However, the analysis of 2015 – which was the hottest year on record up until last year – has been presented in a special publication by the American Meteorological Society.
Dying California Trees
California’s trees are dying. According to the U.S. Forest Service, more than five years of drought in California has left 102 million dead trees across 7.7 million acres of forest. In fact, 62 million trees have died this year alone – a 100% increase from 2015.
Endangered Bees
It’s no secret that pollinators around the world are under threat. According to a U.N. sponsored report released earlier this year, 40% of invertebrate pollinator species, such as bees and butterflies, are facing extinction. And since approximately 75% of the world’s food crops depend on pollination, the decline of these pollinators poses a major threat to food worldwide.
