The world’s largest reserve for migrating Monarch butterflies, located in the Mexican highlands, is suffering from an infestation of bark beetles similar to outbreaks that have killed millions of acres of evergreens in the U.S. and Canada…So far, the infestation has affected only a small portion of the 33,000-acre core mountaintop wintering grounds, but the outbreaks are occurring in widespread patches, which could indicate a spread of the disease. Mexican officials say the beetles have always existed in the reserve, but that a recent drought has weakened the fir trees and made them more susceptible to the tiny pests, which destroy the bark and kill the firs. Similar bark beetle outbreaks in the U.S. and Canada have primarily been attributed to warmer temperatures, which do not kill off the beetles in winter.– Yale Environment 360: Bark Beetle Infestation Spreads in Monarch Butterfly Reserve.

Whether it’s impact is augmented by man or a part of the natural cycle…This is just another example of the unforeseen consequences of climate change. Given enough time, most creatures can adapt to a slow change in micro-climate. What we are seeing these days though is not a slow change. Even though much of the info is anecdotal, that does not mean it isn’t true…and alarming.

As whole ecosystems are forced northward and upwards where there is the ability to move to a higher elevation…Some ecosystems do not have that ability. This months Orion has an article on the changes in the Maldives by Bill McKibben called Take The Plunge. Mr. McKibben speaks of the problems ahead for an island nation with an elevation that barely tops two meters in a world where global warming is expected to raise the worlds sea level by an equal amount…The only thing protecting the islands now from the actions of the waves and storms is the reefs of coral that surround them…Reefs that are dieing due to climate change.

And then there was this…

A report released by the relief organization identified high-risk “hotspots” across 13 southeast states from Arkansas to Virginia where poverty factors combined with high risk of drought, flooding, hurricanes and sea-level rise.

“Social factors like income and race do not determine who will be hit by a natural disaster, but they do determine a population’s ability to prepare, respond, and recover when disaster does strike,” Oxfam America President Raymond Offenheiser said in a statement accompanying the report.

“As climate change increases and intensifies floods, storms, and heat waves, many of the world’s poorest communities, from Biloxi (Mississippi) to Bangladesh, will experience unprecedented stress,” Offenheiser added.– Southeast U.S. exposed to climate change impact: Oxfam | Green Business | Reuters.

When it rains…it pours, as the old saying goes.