While most sugaring operations used to rely on buckets and spiles, more are upgrading to vacuum tubing systems able to suck more sap from the tree over longer periods.
How much you wanna bet this is gonna be bad in the long-run? I’m predicting that increasing the sap harvest from individual trees is going to damage the trees; and while the effects may not be seen in the next couple years, I bet eventually the trees will start getting sick and start dying because they don’t have enough sap.
I make syrup out of the tree(s) in my yard.
It’s true. It was such a weird year weather wise that I only got about 2 bottles of syrup. Normally I can get like… 8-10?
A lot of people don’t really know how sap production works, but it really is a pretty limited window
That being said, if you live outside of a maple tree (or some other kinds), go buy a $20 tap or whatever from Amazon. It’s fun and surprisingly piss easy to make syrup at home.
Maybe, just maybe, we should be considering the impacts of increased natural gas consumption on climate change? Although direct CO2 emissions from burning are about half that of coal, natural gas (i.e., methane) is a GHG that’s 80x more potent than CO2 over 20 years and about 30x more potent over 100 years.
Meanwhile, a significant proportion of natural gas is lost during transmission due to leakage… Figures, then, that the symptoms of climate change seem to be escalating just as natural gas is being used to replace coal.
Burning natural gas does have an important benefit: it burns much cleaner, which reduces particulate emissions.
Maybe we should switch to clean, renewable energy wherever possible and save important, nonrenewable hydrocarbons for future generations. There may not be an energy breakthrough that comes along to replace them.
Maybe. But I just want syrup for my pancakes.
Maple syrup shortage? Canadians everywhere:
Maybe I’ll buy an extra bottle next time I’m at the store, eh?
