The natural world is being destroyed to cater for “green” energy.  Nothing demonstrates the stunning hypocrisy of “green” energy ideology more than destroying trees and replacing them with environmentally destructive not-so-green solar panels to mitigate climate change. Yet this is what is happening in California.

More than 3,500 majestic Joshua trees in California’s Mojave Desert are being shredded onsite to make way for thousands of solar panels.

Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) are not actually trees, but rather a type of succulent that stores water in its trunk and leaves.  They are native to the arid Southwestern United States, specifically in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. They are an important food source for many animals, including birds, insects and mammals.

The plants are slow-growing, adding only 2 to 3 inches each year, but because of this, they live for a long time. One Joshua tree in California is thought to be over 1,000 years old. A more common lifespan is about 150 years.

Joshua trees are not currently considered to be a threatened or endangered species but their populations are declining due to habitat destruction.  For what climate predictions are worth, it is claimed that Joshua trees are one of the species predicted to have their range reduced and shifted by climate change.

Efforts are being made to protect and conserve Joshua tree habitats, including the establishment of national parks and wildlife refuges. Until the creation of the Mojave National Preserve, no population of Yucca brevifolia jaegeriana was protected but now Joshua trees are protected under many city and county ordinances and within the Mojave Preserve. But, as Dr. Bonner Cohen explains below, these protection laws are being pushed aside for the “green transition” juggernaut.