Red Hot and... Greasy?

It’s another Red Hot and Green Friday, and this week Mike’s greasing up for sage grouse!

Mike’s car runs on vegetable oil fuel – commonly called a “grease car.” Vegetable oil can be used as an alternative fuel for diesel engines. Also known as “waste vegetable oil,” the biofuel is often acquired from restaurants who would otherwise thrown the spent oil away – many times given away for free!

Sage grouse is primarily threatened by habitat loss, as the prairie and sagebrush lands that the rare birds depend on have increasingly become targets for oil, gas and wind energy development as well as increased agricultural use and grazing. But new danger has appeared in the form of the West Nile virus, a deadly mosquito-borne disease. Where it has appeared in sage grouse populations, significant die-offs have resulted; even worse, tests of surviving grouse in those areas showed no antibodies for the virus, and thus no evidence that some individuals can survive an attack and develop immunity to it. Unfortunately, climate change promises to make diseases even more rampant. Most diseases are viruses, bacteria or protozoa—tiny organisms that develop faster at warmer temperatures. Many diseases, like West Nile, are spread by mosquitoes, flies or ticks that also benefit from warmer temperatures.

Decreasing the use of  fossil fuels helps lower the chance of a pest and disease-ridden future. What are the other ways you’re working to fight the climate change that threatens our wildlife and natural places? We want to know! Read these simple instructions and tell us what YOU’RE doing to protect wildlife from the harmful effects of climate change.