People around the world are adorning homes and businesses with festive holiday decor, which typically means an abundance of Christmas trees are on display. In the U.S., they pop up everywhere from the average living room to the Rockefeller Center plaza in Manhattan and the White House in Washington, D.C.
But climate change threatens to complicate the tradition. Christmas trees, like any other crop, are affected by the general rise in temperature associated with global warming and the extreme weather events that result from it.
“The Earth’s climate is changing to a warmer one. And like most of society and the environment, Christmas trees are not adapting fast enough to these changes,” according to the National Centers for Environmental Information website.
Higher temperatures have led to warmer winters and longer growing seasons, which contribute to the prevalence of pests and disease that damage the trees usually decorated for Christmas. Heavier rain …