Why I Am Ticked Off About the Climate Crisis
Advertisement
There are many reasons to be frustrated, angry and downright ticked off about climate change. First, there are the climate deniers, who cannot be reasoned with as denying climate change has apparently become an article of faith! Then there are the out-of-control wildfires, intense periods of rain, floods, droughts, melting glaciers and permafrost, heatwaves, killer hurricanes and extreme tornadoes - just to name a few challenges. But what is less talked about is the migration of species traditionally found closer to the equator, moving to more northern areas or in the southern hemisphere to more southerly areas.
In North America, the Emerald Ash Borer is perhaps the most well known of the insect types on the move, as they burrow under the bark of trees killing them in a year or two. This has had a multi-billion-dollar impact on ash trees as they simply cannot survive this assault. Climate change and associated weather impacts is causing milder winters and as a result, increasing tick populations, particularly in Canada and the Northeastern US. Ticks are showing up not only in the countryside but also in urban areas.
Black Legged Tick (Ixodes Scapularis). Photo courtesy US Department of Agriculture/Scott Bauer
These ‘charming’ insects bore into your skin so slowly they cannot be felt, unlike mosquitos or black flies which announce their presence prior to feeding on your blood. Ticks are much stealthier, hanging by their back legs from grasses and bushes so they can grab on when you brush by them. Once on you, they look for warm areas, often hiding under your arm pits, or in cracks and crevices or along your hair line before slowly bore into your skin. Ticks, particularly the black-legged species, may also carry with them Lyme disease, which if not treated soon after exposure can subject you to an agonizing and debilitating ordeal, which may last for years.
As with other climate change related impacts, the migration of ticks is happening very quickly. In Canada, cases of tick-bite Lyme disease have increased from 144 in 2009 to more than 2,600 in 2019, and that’s only when doctors correctly identify the strange new disease. The numbers are likely worse.
Heath MacMillan, a biology professor at Carleton University said that because climate change has impacted the movement and spread of tick populations, it’s caused them to move out of their traditional rural, trail and forest habitats, into urban centres. “This year we had a particularly mild (and wetter) winter, especially in southern Ontario,” said MacMillan. “This is something that is happening more and more frequently. We’re having winters like this because of climate change, where we’re not getting as much snow cover; we’re not getting as much constant low temperature; and this is something that makes ticks survive better in the winter, which means we have more in the spring.”
Like other climate change impacts, we need to adapt our behaviour to counter the threat of ticks. “The biggest thing people can do is to wear long pants and long sleeve clothing. Ticks can’t jump. They climb onto us from vegetation low-down, so essentially if you’re wearing stuff that covers your skin, they are less likely to get access to your skin and to bite you,” MacMillan said.
If you are bitten by a tick, you can remove it with tweezers, since they are often the size of a sesame seed or even smaller. Please also check your pets if you go out walking with them, and stay on trails, wear long pants and socks and use bug repellant to avoid getting bitten.
Advertisement
In this Climate Change issue of the LAM, we explore other mitigation and adaptation strategies we need to respond to our changing climate. Bruce Dvorak provides us with some great ideas on green roof plants and how to design for extreme weather, including drought conditions. In our On the Roof with panel, Architect Lois Vitt Sale and Scientist Wolfgang Amelung share a number of strategies to maximize climate change mitigation and adaptation with design strategies for green roofs and walls. Rohan Lilauwala unpacks how the Living Architecture Performance Tool addresses climate change in the design of green roofs and walls. Nataliia Gerzhova and Roxanne Miller help us look more closely at fire and green roofs, and explore the latest research on that subject, often a misguided concern of property owners. Dr. Anna Zakrisson takes aim at ‘gut feelings’ by reinforcing the importance of data-driven design for green roofs, particularly for stormwater retention and detention.
Policy change in support of climate change adaptation is also critical to securing our future. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has launched a communications and lobbying campaign to rally congressional representatives to support congresswoman Nydia Velázquez’s $500 million HR 1863 bill. If passed, it will provide funding for the design, installation and maintenance of green roofs on schools across America. If you live in the US we’ve made it easy for you to add your voice by writing to your congressional representative.
Additionally, Emma Tamlin takes us on a tour of rooftop greening on schools to illustrate the plethora of benefits. Melissa Ludke of Mothers Out Front explains how this grassroots climate advocacy organization convinced policymakers in Cambridge, Massachusetts to make green roofs and or biosolar roofs mandatory on new buildings. In Europe, Luigi Petito explains that the EU is opening up its regulatory management of urban waterways and seeking input for the next few weeks on new policies which could provide a much-needed boost to green infrastructure. In Canada, Jenn Court and I share more good news on the policy front in this issue, with a new $200 million green infrastructure fund, the first of its kind.
As climate change clearly demonstrates, our world is changing more rapidly than we thought, and in ways we never dreamed of. Our challenge during the climate crisis is surely to adapt as rapidly as we can to these changes while dramatically reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. As an industry which uses the extraordinary capabilities of soil and plants, we must prepare for the ‘bite’ of greater climate variability with its extremes of weather. And hopefully in the process, we can also avoid the black-legged tick.
Have a safe and prosperous Summer everyone!
Sincerely yours,
Steven W. Peck, GRP, Honorary ASLA
Steven W. Peck, GRP, Honorary ASLA is the founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and has worked to develop the industry in North America and around the world for the past 23 years.
