We are driving south from Phoenix to Tucson, through a desert that until a few minutes ago was filled with saguaro cacti. Now, as far as we can see, the land is marked with chollo, prickly pears and mesquite. The saguaros have disappeared. It is a marvelous thing to see how slight changes in elevation reveal new landscapes. However, I just read Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction and it is sobering to take in all this beauty, realizing that many of these plants - and the animals that evolved to depend on them - will not be able to adapt to the increased temperatures of anthropogenic climate change unless they can migrate to the higher elevations. That is, if we humans haven’t already taken over the desired habitat.
Thirty years ago, driving through these deserts at sunset with my family, my sister Lynn told my then 5-year-old son Mike that the saguaros dance at dusk and if you try hard enough, you can see them out of the corner of your eyes. For the rest of the trip, he stared hard into the disappearing light of the desert trying to see them swaying in the twilight.
Oh, Senor Saguaro, save the last dance for me
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