Outbreak In British Columbia Leads To Carbon Dioxide Crisis.

Vancouver, B.C.- For years there has been an annual outbreak in the Canadian NW forests of the Mountain Pine Beetle. But the vast infestation this year is leading to massive releases of greenhouse gases, and may lead to Canada totally missing their air quality goals.

The Mountain Pine Beetle has previously been held in check, mostly striking the NW part of Canada in the British Columbia region. But warmer temperatures in recent decades, along with forest fire suppression have allowed the pine beetle to take over.

The current infestation of the Pine Beetle has never been this bad. The current infestation of the rice size beetle will have damaged and killed trees to such an extent that as much as an extra billion tonnes of Carbon Dioxide is thought to be in the atmosphere.

A billion tonnes of CO2 gas is over five times the combined emissions from trains, planes, trucks and cars in Canada annually. Federal scientists are warning that the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation is something that needs to be taken seriously.

Normally forests function much like an atmospheric heat sink, they attract and absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen from the green organic surfaces of the trees making up the forest. But with the damage caused by the mountain pine beetle is a very serious issue, and one that threatens to spread east, across Canada.

The Mountain Pine Beetle has already crossed into Alberta, leapfrogging the Rockies, and with warmer temperatures threatens much of the forest landscape across Canada itself.