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Photo: Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times / Polaris / laif
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Author Boyle
Photo: Tibor Bozi / Redux / laif
Boyle, 71, is one of the greatest writers in the USA with numerous bestsellers such as "Wassermusik" or "América". The exploitation of nature by humans recurs as a theme in his novels and short stories. Boyle lives near Santa Barbara, north of Los Angeles. California has been ravaged by forest and bush fires since mid-August - Boyle has sharply criticized US President Donald Trump for still denying climate change.
Santa Barbara, September 15th
Two years ago my wife and I drove to the Sequoia National Forest, where we've been renting a cottage since we moved to California in the last century.
We were horrified to see the consequences of the terrible drought that prevails there.
Six years of drought have made the pines susceptible to bark beetles, which the trees cannot defend themselves against when they are weakened.
A healthy pine secrete resin to plug the holes these millimeter-tall insects make as they seek a place to eat and reproduce.
The lack of water, however, reduces the flow of resin in the trunks, and the beetles eat their way into the tree unhindered, cutting off its nutrient supply, and within a few weeks it is dead.
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