14 DAY TRIAL // Global warming is already displaying widespread negative effects. One of them can ruin an ancient tradition, by making the popular mistletoe go extinct.
Its decline is linked to a severe drought compromising crops and wide surfaces of agricultural land in the US, especially in Texas, Mother Nature Network informs.
Kissing under the mistletoe is one of the long-beloved traditions making winter holidays truly special. Couples all across the globe love it and add mistletoe to their shopping lists during this time of the year.
However, this year they might be forced to come home empty handed, since it appears that 70% of the harvest was destroyed by bad weather conditions, liked to climate change, according to New York Times.
Unusual temperatures and extreme precipitations are powerful factors that threaten the profit margins of farmers in almost every part of the planet. In an attempt to preserve the tradition and cope with the current threats, companies have scaled up efforts to offer trust-worthy substitutes for this highly-appreciated semiparasitic plant, most of them made of plastic.
Even if the effort is appreciated and this initiative most likely fills the pockets of ingenious manufacturers, artificial alternatives are far from being able to replace the real thing.
Not to mention these options are less eco-friendly than the natural mistletoe and will increase the amount of holiday waste, requiring supplementary recycling strategies.
Climate change is definitely changing the aesthetic side of our winter holidays. Mistletoe is the first victim; however, lack of snow is another consequence posed by extreme weather conditions attributed to global warming.
Experts have warned that governments have to find effective measures of curbing emissions to tackle the acceleration of this disastrous phenomenon. If the same path is preserved, deadly floods, droughts and devastating tropical storms could be part of a daily agenda, making the absence of mistletoe seem truly irrelevant.