More Environmental Concerns?

Every day we hear something about new concerns for our environment, and the latest one hits home, or could hit home, for most of us.

Seems that in citrus country, a disease called "citrus greening" is out there that harms the orange crop. The fruit stays green and it's not edible, so there's concern the disease will have a big impact on the size of the crop.

The disease has turned up in many, if not most orange-growing states and there doesn't seem to be a cure. That could mean really expensive orange juice, or no juice at all.

Now, I'm not ready to say the sky is falling when it comes to the environment, but there are several other factors that can make us worry.

There's the disease that has been killing bees. This is a big problem because of the way bees are used for pollination. In many fruit and vegetable production areas, such as the Central Valley in California, bees are trucked in to do their pollinating, and then the beekeepers move on to go somewhere else for the same reason.

There's the mountain pine beetle, which is affecting trees in the Black Hills and elsewhere. Experts say it's cyclical, and that this is just one of those times. But someone I know who owns property in the Black Hills has said they've lost 90 percent of their trees.

The "white-nose" disease that has been killing bats is another concern because of all the insects bats eat. And don't get me started on the hole in the ozone layer and the shrinking of the polar ice cap.

A layman like me has no answers, just questions.

And while I'm not ready to say we're "fouling our nest," so to speak, I do hope some solutions can be found.