What could affect fall foliage as we know it? I had to introduce you to today’s link, an article about the impact of global warming on fall color, if only for the fact that the author cites the Bard: Let me count the ways…..

 

(1) higher temperatures, (2) altered timing and/or amounts of precipitation, (3) changes in humidity, (4) changes in cloud cover and light striking the trees, (5) increases in the length of the growing season and displacement of the timing of leaf out and leaf fall, (6) higher levels of nitrogen inputs to ecosystems from agricultural practices such as fertilizing and hog production, (7) acidic deposition that causes nutrients to leach out of the soil, (8) migration of trees farther north to escape the heat, (9) extirpation of trees that can’t migrate for one reason or another, and finally, (10) changes in competition due to greater pest loads or invasive exotic species.

The majority of these changes will mute the color we are so fond of seeing in autumn. Not the biggest thing to worry about regarding climate change, but, as the author puts it, another canary in the coal mine. Paler colors have a kind of “Death in Venice” beauty, but only if you ignore what they might imply.

http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors/will-global-climate-change-affect-fall-colors

 

All the more reason to go out today and photograph more leaves as historical evidence for our grandchildren what the world once was – and could have remained, if we only acted in time.

And as proof that I am not all doom and gloom here is something completely unrelated that made my heart sing:

http://www.rimonthly.com/Blogs/ridaily/March-2016/Video-Good-Night-Lights-at-Hasbro-Childrens-Hospital/