Demand for avocados is threatening monarch butterflies
Quote:
Downhill from the monarchs’ mountain roost, in the oak and pine forests that border this small farming town, there lurks a new threat to their winter habitat: a lust to grow the lucrative avocados that are being consumed at record rates in the United States.
Spurred by soaring demand for the creamy fruit, farmers here in the western state of Michoacán are clearing land to make room for avocado orchards, cutting oak and pine trees that form a vital buffer around the mountain forests where the monarchs nest.
Omar Vidal, director general of the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico, said that conserving the winter sanctuary was “fundamental to the survival of the migration.”
Deforestation “has to be reduced to zero,” he said. But the avocado boom could complicate that goal.
Avocados in high demand? Really? That's like, the last thing I thought would be in such demands.
Poor butterflies
I remember once reading that going vegan / vegetarian will cause more harm to the environment than eating meat. This seems to shape into a real counter argument..
save the Monarchs
Hopefully we can find a happy medium
