It’s easy to forget global warming exists when Syracuse’s freezing winters dominate most of the school year. But even as fall arrives and temperatures drop, the Northeast’s warming winters are still to blame as New York’s forests fall victim to the Southern Pine Beetle.

The beetles, which are native to the southern United States and Central America, typically can’t survive the Northeast’s cold winters. But our climate is changing, and higher winter temperatures have allowed the beetle to expand its reach, according to a study released in late August. The spread of the southern pine beetle may seem minor, but it’s an important example of how climate change directly affects all of us, and things will only get worse from here.

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The “global north,” where the U.S. is situated, typically does not feel the effects of climate change as intensely as the global south. So, many in the United States have the luxury of not having to worry about climate change because it hasn’t directly affected them. But now, the Northeast is the fastest-warming region in the United States, according to a study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Northeast Climate Science Center.

Long Island is already suffering from beetle infestations, which, as the insect’s name suggests, starve evergreen trees. David Althoff, an associate professor of biology at Syracuse University, said the pine beetle is particularly bad because it can kill off acres upon acres of trees when it reaches a new area.

There are both short-term human impacts, as well as long-term environmental impacts, said Jason Fridley, an associate professor of biology at Syracuse Universtiy.

The northeast is the exclusive home of White Pine trees used as timber — trees that are susceptible to this invasive beetle. In addition to functioning as a source of income for small family timber businesses and large companies, forests are a habitat for many of the animals that live in the Northeast.

Displacing these organisms degrades their population, Fridley said. That could result in fewer animals to eat pests, particularly disease-carriers like mosquitoes.

And when it comes to providing the oxygen we breathe, trees go further than other plants. Trees act as a carbon sink and store carbon dioxide over relatively long periods of time, and thus slowing the immediate effects of global warming, Fridley said.

Southern states have been able to mitigate the effects of the beetle by using pesticides and marking and cutting down infected trees, Althoff said. But finding a permanent solution is more complicated.

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These beetles communicate through pheromones, so each one can summon thousands of other beetles if a viable tree is found. Dense forests don’t stand a chance. Likewise, the continuous use of pesticides can harm other organisms, so it’s not a viable option either.

Fridley explained that while nature itself will not cease to exist with the spread of pest outbreaks and other climate change-induced phenomenon, the nature that we have grown up with and have a fondness for will not be around much longer. Unfortunately, this may be exactly what we need to enact change.

“The more and more the landscape changes, at the speed at which it’s currently changing, the more I would hope there would be public support to free up resources to actually do something about it and plan appropriately for the future,” Fridley said.

We need to wake up every day thinking about climate change. We cannot continue to ignore this increasingly devastating course and hope it will go away. It won’t.

Bailey Benzinger is a sophomore magazine journalism major and environment and society minor. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at bpbenzin@syr.edu.

Published on September 19, 2017 at 10:28 pm