Global warming hits home

An article in today's NY Times discusses the collapse of so-called sky islands in the Arizona desert. In the higher elevation areas where temperatures are significantly lower than the desert floor below, trees stressed by record heat are being killed by insects. The dead wood further increases the danger of fires, and there have been significantly more damaging fires over the last 20 years.

There are certainly good reasons for us to tread more lightly on the earth. In the garden, this can be accomplished by reducing or eliminating the use of herbicides and pesticides, using plants that require less water, mulching, and composting. None of these changes require great sacrifice, but if adopted by a large number of people they would significantly reduce our impact on the earth.