Aspen Go

In 1975, John Denver released a wonderful song called "Aspenglow." Each stanza ended with the words, "Winter's gold, aspenglow." He was talking about the golden aspens that are known throughout Colorado, and while not the state tree, it is surely the most talked about.

But today the aspens are disappearing, another silent, subtle victim of climate change. Warmer temperatures have stressed the trees and now they are being attacked by four different parasites and one wasting disease. It isn't an isolated occurrence, according to Colorado authorities nearly 20 percent of the state's aspen groves and now afflicted.
Known as SAD, Sudden Aspen Decline, it is moving at an alarming rate. ""It's just rolling through the forests," Wayne Shepperd, an aspen specialist at Colorado State University, said of SAD.

It's getting warmer

The vocal and well-funded denier community took one in the gut today when the AP released its blind evaluation from different statisticians who concluded that worldwide temperatures are increasing.
This was backed up by NOAA which said, ""The last 10 years are the warmest 10-year period of the modern record." NOAA climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt said, "Even if you analyze the trend during that 10 years, the trend is actually positive, which means warming."