Dear Editor:
Why did the armadillo cross the road? Well, mostly they don't make it. Armadillo road kill is increasingly evident around town. Recently I drove a mile to my local YMCA and two armadillos were resting in peace along the way. How many armadillos should we see in a mile?
Some say armadillos follow the fire ants they eat. But the armadillo is expanding faster to the north than southern fire ants. The most common reason for seeing armadillos as far north in Missouri as Kirksville is the milder weather conditions that we now experience.
The armadillo is just one of many symptoms of warming temperatures. The only danger from armadillos themselves is they are excellent diggers and nocturnal in the summer. They can do a lot of damage to a yard in a night as they dig for insects to eat. Think of the armadillo as the proverbial "canary in the coal mine." Being a smaller lifeform, the canary was more susceptible to toxic gasses in an underground mine. A warning system using nature.
Avoiding armadillo road kill makes me wonder about the climate changes I have seen in my life. I am in my seventh decade and grew up in southern Missouri. Winters in my youth were colder and the snow much deeper. In my youth, there were no armadillos to see on my local roads.
I have read that climate has been stable for the last 10,000 years. This is a period that includes all known history for the human race. Survival and growth has depended on human ability to produce sufficient food. Now it seems agriculture is being challenged by drought or torrential rains.
The question is clear. Are we facing a short-term issue or do we need to prepare for a long-term change that will affect the very way we live our lives? If we prepare ourselves for harder times and those times do not come, have we wasted our time? Will the cost of doing nothing in the face of change be the greater cost?