I've been working at the Urban Nature Information Service (UNIS - a free hotline offered by McGill every year) this summer. Most days are ssssssssllllllllloooooooowww, but it's a good way to put what I've learned to task, and remember that there are llittle pockets of information and knowldge stored away int he crevices of my grey matter (without sounding too pretentious...). One of my bosses beleives that I am a translating whiz (from english to french and vice versa) so I've had a bunch of that dumped on me, but it's pretty cool to be getting paid to talk about animals all day. I've also been witnessing some crazy problems that people are having with their gardens and nature that I thought significant enough to splash out here.
K, now that I have the generic introduction out of the way, I'm writing with a message:
CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THE INSECTS GO CRAZY
We are going to be feeling it more and more, but here are a few stories in the meantime:
So, yeah, what's the big deal? Garden pests shouldn't make one think that the urgency is any less important, but it is. Gardens are one thing, but if you have been paying attention to the news, and to the G8 meetings, there is a food crisis right now. We can up the pesticides (and the cancer treatments...) to try to control these things, clear more swampland, clear more forests... and create more spectacular problems until we're so plasticized and processed and numbed until these pests are gone, or, we can join in and fight and change ourselves and our consumer choices. The coal plants have alot more to do with your backyard vegetable patch than you realize. A food crisis exacerbated by an increase in pests in any part of the world does hold significance that we should be paying attention to, and thinking about, and not being passive with.
Back to the pesticide thing for a minute. There is a trend, a good trend, towards organic farming and produce. The plants sown here tend to be hartier, closer to the real thing, and more resistant to certian kinds of pests, but there's a big but. BIG BUT: With the encroaching pests that previoulsy could not survive our winters, a real threat is posed to organic (and non organic) food is pretty nasty. The only food we'll have left to eat will be cheeze-whiz from Wal-Mart because it's all chemicals (and grey before they put in the food coloring), after a global nuclear crisis, only cockroches and cheeze-whiz will rmain to repopulate the earth.
So, it's now officially time to run around screaming like out hair and asses were on fire. This is big, bad, ugly and serious. Start talking about it, and start doing something about it. Here are some things so easy that an impaired monkey with one eyeball could do it:
Shop locally:
Look at the lables to see where your food is coming from. Water from Fiji is kindof unecessary, we have water here, in Canada. Buy a water filter and SHAZAM, you're saving on massively produced plastic products that are shipped half way around the world, using tons of fuel just so we can have a pretty bottle that you're just gonna throw out eventually anyway. Whoop-de doo.
Think twice about driving:
The bus is lame only cuz car drivers are spoiled little brats who think they're too good to sit on a seat that some stranger just got off of, so they try to frame the issue to make themselves look more sophisticated than the rest of us. It's a hell of alot cheaper to take the bus, the train, the communal kayak, etc. Walking and biking is good for you and gets you there anyway while allowing you to have a moment to yourself. And hey, if you just have to go around the block, get of your ass and use the legs that we evolved to make us more efficient than other animals, be proud of them and make them work! (little side note, I don't mean to berate those who have a disability or pain who are dependant on a vehicle, just everyone else.)
So, let's recap. Climate change=crazy insect overpopulations+imported Fiji water+driving your car just down the block... badness! Personal mitigations that will go a loooooooong way=check your food lables+walk, bike, train, bus+talking about it... alot better!
K, now that I have the generic introduction out of the way, I'm writing with a message:
CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THE INSECTS GO CRAZY
We are going to be feeling it more and more, but here are a few stories in the meantime:
- The Pine Spittlebug has no controls in this part of the world (Quebec, Canada) because it's always been considrered a minor pest. We had one woman come into the office this week bringing some with her for us to identify and give advice on what to do about it. The evergreen trees (such a pine, hemlock, spruce) are dying from having high numbers of this bug, and there's nothing we can do about it for now. Last winter's freeze didn't go deep or long enough which lets pests like these to persist. Trees can't just pick up their roots and travel north where temperatures are cooler to avoid these bugs, and it takes a very long time for trees to adapt to changing temperatures. It's usually supposed to happen over thousands of years, not a decade. They're weakening and dying.
- The Rose Chafer has also never been that much of a big deal. Most people have maybe 5 of them in their garden each year, but now, they're numbering in the hundreds. They're constantly copulating and I'm kinds freaked out over what things will be like next year. This population explosion is around for the same reasons - our winters are too short, things are warming up generally, and where pests couldn't survive the colder months, they are now moving northward where our winters would prevent this onset of problems.
- When the Montreal General Hospital opened, it was flooded with malaria patients. Yes, right here in Montreal. There used to me many many swamps before we drained them all for housing and other massive eyesores (like shopping malls), but our cold winters have kept them at bay. For the same reasons I've outlined above, they're going to become a threat again.
So, yeah, what's the big deal? Garden pests shouldn't make one think that the urgency is any less important, but it is. Gardens are one thing, but if you have been paying attention to the news, and to the G8 meetings, there is a food crisis right now. We can up the pesticides (and the cancer treatments...) to try to control these things, clear more swampland, clear more forests... and create more spectacular problems until we're so plasticized and processed and numbed until these pests are gone, or, we can join in and fight and change ourselves and our consumer choices. The coal plants have alot more to do with your backyard vegetable patch than you realize. A food crisis exacerbated by an increase in pests in any part of the world does hold significance that we should be paying attention to, and thinking about, and not being passive with.
Back to the pesticide thing for a minute. There is a trend, a good trend, towards organic farming and produce. The plants sown here tend to be hartier, closer to the real thing, and more resistant to certian kinds of pests, but there's a big but. BIG BUT: With the encroaching pests that previoulsy could not survive our winters, a real threat is posed to organic (and non organic) food is pretty nasty. The only food we'll have left to eat will be cheeze-whiz from Wal-Mart because it's all chemicals (and grey before they put in the food coloring), after a global nuclear crisis, only cockroches and cheeze-whiz will rmain to repopulate the earth.
So, it's now officially time to run around screaming like out hair and asses were on fire. This is big, bad, ugly and serious. Start talking about it, and start doing something about it. Here are some things so easy that an impaired monkey with one eyeball could do it:
Shop locally:
Look at the lables to see where your food is coming from. Water from Fiji is kindof unecessary, we have water here, in Canada. Buy a water filter and SHAZAM, you're saving on massively produced plastic products that are shipped half way around the world, using tons of fuel just so we can have a pretty bottle that you're just gonna throw out eventually anyway. Whoop-de doo.
Think twice about driving:
The bus is lame only cuz car drivers are spoiled little brats who think they're too good to sit on a seat that some stranger just got off of, so they try to frame the issue to make themselves look more sophisticated than the rest of us. It's a hell of alot cheaper to take the bus, the train, the communal kayak, etc. Walking and biking is good for you and gets you there anyway while allowing you to have a moment to yourself. And hey, if you just have to go around the block, get of your ass and use the legs that we evolved to make us more efficient than other animals, be proud of them and make them work! (little side note, I don't mean to berate those who have a disability or pain who are dependant on a vehicle, just everyone else.)
So, let's recap. Climate change=crazy insect overpopulations+imported Fiji water+driving your car just down the block... badness! Personal mitigations that will go a loooooooong way=check your food lables+walk, bike, train, bus+talking about it... alot better!
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