Your avocado toast may be killing the Monarch butterfly
Your avocado toast may be killing the Monarch butterfly
Written by
Cassie Werber
September 04, 2016
Two things Americans really love are coming into conflict.
Avocados have become an increasingly popular food in the US in recent years, as they’ve been both linked with health benefits and also aggressively marketed. But most of the avocados consumed in the US are grown in Mexico, and as demand rises, so does the incentive to deforest swathes of land and plant avocado trees instead of the pines that grow there.
Those oyamel fir trees comprise the winter home for Monarch butterflies, which migrate from Canada, across the US, and many of which come to rest in the Mexican province of Michoacan. The butterflies have been identified as so important that the leaders of those three countries discussed them at a summit, deciding to create a “flyway” with special plants en route for the Monarch caterpillars to eat.
More:
http://qz.com/773665/your-avocado-toast-may-be-killing-the-monarch-butterfly/
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