Little Green Bugs Ruining Baseball?
Sat, Feb 23, 2008
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It’s probably not a surprise to anybody to hear me say that Detroit is having severe difficulties coping with an Asian newcomer right now.
It might, however, come as a bit of a shock to hear that rather than some new hybrid automobile, the state best known for supplying America’s need for hot, nasty speed is putting up roadblocks at the border for this little guy.The Emerald Ash Borer, which apparently came over from Asia in packing material, has been ravaging the ash population in Michigan since 2002. The state of Michigan, and the U.S. Forest Service, decided the best way to address the issue was with a quarantine, which accomplished absolutely nothing. Despite the locking down (well, at least the attempt) the movement of ash trees, firewood, wood chips and the like, the little devil has moved into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland, inspiring local quarantines, and leaving still more dead and dying trees in its wake.
So what does this have to do with baseball? While I think I could replace all of the ash wood in your home tomorrow, and you wouldn’t notice, it is the favorite of most Major League Baseball players. The forests owned by Louisville Slugger, which are in northern Pennsylvania, are safe for now, but spring is coming.
By new Environmental Graffiti contributor Ben Ray. Ben is a freelance writer, check him out at What’s Required
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1 Trackbacks For This Post
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Probably should have done this before… « What’s Required– Read Ben Ray Online Says:
February 24th, 2008 at 3:08 am[...] coming here from anywhere BUT Environmental Graffiti, so I guess I can slack. The new post is here, and is about the Emerald Ash Borer. It’s a little bug that came in on pallets from Asia. [...]
February 24th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
To say the QT accomplished nothing is a unfair misnomer. You obviously noticed enough to write a piece about this invasive? I think the real issue here is to get the word out that its not just the emerald ash borer the United States needs to be concerned about but all destructive insects that are capable of attacking a native species. Unfortunately history has a way of repeating itself. Gypsy Moth, Sirex, Asian Longhorned beetle are just a few of the many invasives that have had human influence in attacking our forests. Until we go back to buying strictly American and sustaining on our own, the world economy is going to become a world ecology.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Fair enough–the quarantines have held the little dudes at bay since 2002, and I for believe they’d be nationwide by now if it weren’t for that. Of course, I also believe that they will make that leap eventually anyway, in spite of the quarantine, which is what led to my claim; unlike some of the past invasives that you named–Gypsy Moth is the one I’m thinking of in particular– the climate won’t be able to bail us out.
As for your assertion that having a self-sustaining economy will help matters, I don’t know that that’s a feasible option; the world economy is here, and as you say, the world ecology is following. Perhaps, as this horribly pretentious Atlantic article points out about global warming, all we can hope for the changes we’re making to the planet is figure out how to get rich off of them:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200704/global-warming