[Silence]
[Instrumental, Guitar, Piano, Organ, Synth, Bass, Percussion, Drums]
[Intro]
[Instrumental Intro: Rolling Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Organ Swells, Nature Sounds, Building Drums]
[Minimal Beat, Sub Bass, Spoken Vocal]
Tiny builders…
(Tiny borers…)
Changing landscapes…
(Open mouth gapes)
[Refrain]
Beetles and beavers
(Climate feedback deceivers)
Beavers and beetles
(Disruptive peoples)
[Verse 1]
Farther north the varmints roam
Making frozen lands their home
Building damns across the streams
Changing more than natural scenes
[Chorus]
Beavers and beetles
(Changing the land)
Following warmth
(Not anyone’s plan)
[Refrain]
Beetles and beavers
(Climate feedback deceivers)
Beavers and beetles
(Caused by disruptive peoples)
[Instrumental]
[Guitar Solo]
[Driving Bass, Organ Chords, Country Rock Feel, Synth Wind Effects]
[Verse 2]
Winter’s cold once kept them small
Now it hardly comes at all
Bark beetles wake another spring
Leaving forests suffering
Pines grow silent one by one
Standing dead beneath the sun
Fire finds an easier way
Burning hotter every day
[Bridge]
Not because
(They choose to be)
They’re simply following
(Ecology)
Life adapts
(To changing ground)
Unexpected
(Links are found)
[Breakdown]
[Minimal Beat, Deep Sub Bass, Spoken Vocal]
The varmint…
isn’t causing climate change.
(Become a believer)
The pest…
isn’t causing climate change.
They are…
responding to what we rearrange.
And their responses…
change the system…
(I am in)
[Final Chorus]
Beetles and beavers
(Climate feedback deceivers)
Beavers and beetles
(Disruptive peoples)
Northward moving
(Building more)
Opening yet
(Another door)
Small beginnings
(Big surprise)
Changing Earth
(Before our eyes)
Working together…
Without ever…
Meeting each other.
[Outro]
[Instrumental Outro: Gentle Guitar, Organ Fade, Forest Sounds, Flowing Water]
Varmints and pests
(… never rests)
Pests and varmints
(Human experiments)
About the Song
🦫 Arctic Beaver Expansion
🪲 Boreal Forest Beetles
Beaver Expansion in the Arctic
As northern regions warm:
- beavers move farther north,
- they build dams,
- ponds trap warm water,
- warm water melts surrounding permafrost,
- wetlands expand,
- methane emissions increase.
An animal once considered ecologically beneficial in temperate regions becomes an unexpected amplifier of Arctic warming.
Boreal Forest Beetles
Cold winters historically killed bark beetles.
Now:
- milder winters
- more beetles survive
- forests die
- dead forests burn more easily
- fires release carbon
- soot darkens snow and ice
- additional warming allows beetles to expand farther north.
From the album “Butterflies and Dominoes“