U.S. Farmer’s Facing the Grim Reality of Climate Change--the Public Won’t Be Far Behind.
Photos
7/14/12
Hot enough for ya lately? According the KMASALEM10 weather station report (located on Essex Street near North Street) today’s high temperature was 89.7 degrees. The digital thermometer at our house registered a high of 93.2, but the overall message is that it was pretty darned hot today.
My butternut squash plants, with their huge tropical-sized leaves exposed to the full sun, wilt at the drop of a hat. But today, my strawberry plants were wilting. My tomato plants were wilting. The green beans were wilting. The potato plants have bit the dust (I hope they lasted long enough to grow some decent sized tubers.) Even the century old Norway Maple tree in our backyard looks a little droopy.
Man is it hot, and when was the last time that it rained?! Real rain, mind you. Not a 20 minute pour that penetrates less than a centimeter into the soil. Not a single drop for the past ten days according to KMASALEM10, and before that just 0.5 inches total between June 30th and July 4th. I hope all the gardeners in Salem are practicing deep watering procedures to encourage their plants to throw some seriously deep roots. Goodness knows the surface soil is so dry that it’s becoming water repellant, and me with just one rain barrel. Oh, the water bill is going to be high this summer.
And believe it or not, we’re one of the lucky states in the country right now. According to a Yahoo! Lookout article posted on July 12, 2012 (U.S. declares drought-stricken states largest natural disaster area ever, “The United States Department of Agriculture has declared natural disaster areas in more than 1,000 counties and 26 drought-stricken states, making it the largest natural disaster in America ever.” Check out the drought map above!
Holy you-know-what, right? Well, that’s what I thought at least.
Then yesterday, I was on the phone with my father who is currently visiting family in Northwest Iowa. My dad hails from a long line of corn and soybean farmers, and though he doesn’t live in Iowa anymore, he still owns a fair bit of farmland out there on which one of my many cousins grows (you guessed it) corn and soybeans. He and some of the family he was visiting are all sweating hard right now. Why? Well, it’s hotter than the sun out there too, but mostly they’re all sweating because this past week the corn in Iowa started throwing silk, and that means that corn will be pollinating over the next couple of weeks.
If you’ve been listening to the news, the midwest only just got out of a blistering heat wave. Lots of places set all time high temperature records--they saw temperatures that had literally never been seen before. Temp’s are back down into normal ranges right now, but everybody in that part of the country who makes a living farming corn is biting their nails. If temp’s climb back up into the nineties in the next two weeks even for a couple of days in a row, the crop yields for corn are going to get killed. They’ve had some rain, my dad told me, but that was a fair while back and he wouldn’t be surprised if the USDA has to add regions of Iowa to the drought map above in the next week.
So, in addition to the federal government making available emergency low-interest loans to farmers in over 1,000 counties spread over 26 states because of the drought conditions, the USDA also downgraded its crop outlook for corn, soy and wheat in a report released on July 11th. Just one month after predicting a record corn harvest, a report in Bloomberg states that the USDA cut its outlook for corn by twelve percent. The report goes on to state that corn and soybean conditions are worse than they’ve been for the past quarter century, and areas of moderate to extreme drought blanket 63 percent of the Midwest.
As far as heat waves and droughts go, Salem is lucky. We’re right on the ocean and the ocean helps to keep us cool and wet... usually.
Actually, we’re not doing too bad this summer as far as temperatures go. KMASALEM10 documented a total of 5 days last year with temperatures above 90 degrees and just one day with temperatures above 100 degrees (fahrenheit). This year, we’ve only had four days with temperatures above ninety degrees. Of course, last year all of those temperatures were documented in a single hot week at the end of July. This year, they seem to be coming in two to three day spreads and they started in June.
What will the rest of the summer look like for us? My guess is hot, dry, and expensive. I’ll be on the hunt for more water barrels in the hopes of catching a bit more of the rain when it does fall, thereby trimming down on my water bill as I fight to keep my garden from frying. And as the cost of our nation’s three biggest food crops (corn, soy, and wheat) continue to rise to all time highs due to the drought that is baking 66% of our country (Grains, Soybeans Extend Rally, Bloomberg), may all those in Salem with a vegetable garden do what you can to keep your veggies growing and encourage others to consider investing in a bit of food security by growing and/or buying locally grown produce. Never shopped at the Salem Farmer's Market on Thursday afternoons in Derby Square? Might want to think about starting.
Who knows, as we all feeling the realities of climate change in this country, maybe the Victory Gardens of the 30’s and 40’s will make a comeback.
Nancy Gilberg
12:05 pm on Sunday, July 15, 2012
Sobering news, Kathy. All the more reason to keep pushing for renewable energy. Hopefully, Salem can be a leader on this front soon.
Ellen Rittgers
3:08 pm on Sunday, July 15, 2012
Like they say, the way to boil a frog ( or a civilization,) is to put it in a pot of cold water, and raise the heat veeeeerrrry slowly. It will never realize it's been boiled.
Matt Buchanan
7:26 pm on Sunday, July 15, 2012
Victory Gardens are a great idea!
windpower
7:30 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
"The sky is falling"
Say all you want about "climate change" renewable energy is NOT the cure .
I have to laugh at the greens complaining about the sweetheart deal for the power plant ,yet wind energy gets tax breaks and subsidies that result in doubling the electric rate .
Notice the rolling brown out last night ? Expect more of them when/if we are to depend on renewable energy .
Really want to help the environment ? Dump the SUV ,cut back on everything powered ,live a simple Spartan life ,and guess what . The third world will be consuming everything you give up .
The one positive thing that leading environmentalist are doing now is endorsing NUCLEAR power .
As for being a leader in renewable energy that train left the station years ago .And lucky for Salem ,we have not had to endure the utter physical ,emotional .Visual and economic failure of it .
Just look at the books on the Ipswich turbine ,and ask the several towns on the south shore about their problems . And look into the one at Hull ,the poster child turbine ,located under one of the busiest air traffic routes in the North east .
Oh and our garden ,best we have ever had . Got a 2 pound zucchini yesterday .
Ed Wolfe .I use windpower every day
Kathy Karch
10:45 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
As always, Mr. Wolfe, I appreciate your passionate if not completely irrelevant comments to my posts. I'm sure that I will write a post at some point about renewable energy options nationally and here in Salem, and a discussion of wind power will probably be part of that post, but this was not that post. That said, you should consider starting up your own blog on the Patch. It would give you a chance to disseminate the facts you collect on the big scam of renewable energy in our country in a more meaningful way. Good luck with your endeavor to educate us the ignorant fools.
Jeffrey Snell
8:49 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
Sounds like Ed Wolfe has been using a lot of "wind power" for his posts as well as his "everyday" life - wind full of hot air.
The production numbers on the turbines in Ipswich and down in Hull are just fine, despite what Mr. Ed might nay. Talk to any town official in those areas and they are laughing at us here in Salem, in part because people like Ed Wolfe oppose any prudent proposal to install a wind turbine here in Salem. We are leaving money on the table and the opportunity to reduce the City's carbon footprint by almost half. But no, we can't have that because folks like Mr. Ed down in the Willows might see it.
As for renewables and electricity production, again Mr. Ed is flat out wrong. Indeed solar and wind usually ADD to the dependability of the grid (especially when they comprise a small amount of the overall power, % wise), since they are often generating during high use (or peak) times. I encourage anyone to verify this.
Congrats on your two pound zucchini, Ed. You can tell your grandchildren about this when they ask you what you did when you heard the increasingly dire warnings about climate change and encouraged nothing.
windpower
11:21 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
Mr Snell
Why do you lower the standard all the time .I have defended SAFE when accused by people calling SAFE a cult .You on the other hand should know better than to expose this side of you in public .
As a member of the RETF read the data on Ipswich given to the board in June .
Also read this http://www.akdart.com/wind.html
Sorry but this is what you have been missing sense SAFE censored me for posting negative FACTS about wind power .
Mr Turiel as you are in a decision making position I ask you to read this as well .
Don ,well ,Thanks for the name calling ,It is expected ,and is part of the overall defense of renewable energy scams .
Yes I am off again to use wind power .
Ed
KlassySalem
2:09 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
I have to say, I'm a little surprised by your tone.
Reverend Camden wouldn't be impressed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWT_o8HFXs0
I say I'm only a little surprised, because I know how Ed can be.
Don Nadeau
9:23 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
So either Jeffrey Snell the encourager or Ed Wolfe the naysayer is lying. I think it's Ed. So expect more heel-digging: a March 2003 Governing magazine article open here on my desk shows a similar drought map for the US. And bemoans the lack of planning and the expensive short-term "solutions". And the fact that those not affected at the time basically don't care.
The National Weather Service said back then drought cost the US around seven BILLION dollars a year and flooding and hurricanes six and five BILLION a year. Well we've had almost ten years to change from being reactive and naysayers to being proactive. Have we? I went to college for this subject and have always since worked for a conservation organization (for less money than I could easily have commanded in a more selfish sector), so I hope I did my part. And I have a garden in Winter Island Community Garden - although I hear the city is taking that away to add PARKING. LOL :'-(
Josh Turiel
9:59 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
Look, climate change is a reality. Period. We can disagree about some of the specifics, but the basis isn't speculation anymore, it's fact. The last few decades have made it clear that humans are playing a large role in the changes we're seeing to global weather patterns. Are we the only factor? Of course not. Are the changes all negative? Nope, there are places that are seeing benefits (though not too many). But we're clearly a big part of it.
As a society that consumes a lot of energy, we do have to do our part to try and consume less of it, and also consume more of our energy from cleaner and renewable resources - and less energy from carbon-intensive resources. That's also clear. Are wind turbines part of the solution? Yes, they are (sorry, Ed) - whether or not one goes in Winter Island. Is solar power part of the solution? Yes, it definitely is, even though Chinese subsidies have killed our domestic solar industry. Can we build better, safer nuclear plants and make them a part of this? I believe we can, and we must. And will fossil fuels continue to be used? Of course (Sorry, Jeff). But we can use less of that resource and more of the others. Fossil fuels are cheap when you externalize all their costs to society and factor out the subsidies they get from government. Once you take that out of account, though. the playing field levels more.
I'm not going to speak specifically to Winter Island here, because it's not really appropriate for me in this venue.
Maggi Smith-Dalton
10:38 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
Climate change is real. We as a species have been irresponsible stewards of the earth. It is in our power and is our responsibility to change that. However and where ever we can. Period.
Kathy Karch
10:39 am on Monday, July 16, 2012
The impacts of climate change are no longer some distant future threat that some point to with alarm and others laugh off as imaginary. Sadly, the impacts are here, right now. Mitigation is still needed to fend off an unlivable future, but people need to find ways to adapt to the realities of right now, and happily most adaptation strategies also have mitigating qualities. For example: growing your own food or buying food that was grown locally is a way to adapt to the realities of our current climate. I don't think that this year's drought is a one time freak occurrence, and that means food produced using mainstream industrial agricultural practices is going to become unreliable and expensive. Buffer the effects in your own life by finding a more dependable food source (local). In doing so you will also be mitigating future climate change because local food (indeed food from your own back yard) has a tiny carbon footprint compared to food (even organic food) shipped to a Massachusetts supermarket from California or Florida or Chile.
Matt Buchanan
8:26 pm on Monday, July 16, 2012
The most obvious way to lessen our impact on climate change that is so glaringly obvious, yet nobody wants to talk about, is very simple. New technologies, gardens, alternative energy, new attitudes, policy changes, and many other issues do matter and are absolutely worth pursuing, but these are all band-aids. The one true issue that is at the core of this whole thing is population.....stop having kids, it's easy math. More people = more consumption. If a couple (2 people) generate more than two kids, they are in fact a major part of the problem, even if they live in Marblehead, shop at the Farmer's Market, drive a Prius, and compost everything. 2 kids for a couple is still too much, 1 kid is better, no kids is optimal.
Our entire lives are based on consumption....we fool ourselves into thinking that recycling "helps" the planet, when in fact it just hurts it less than not recycling does. Again we should continue to recycle and pursue all of the new ways of thinking, go back to working local, buying local, gardens and all of that, but it pales in comparison to not having another kid. Think of the amount of energy that goes into producing, shipping, buying, taking home, using, throwing away, processing, and then repeating...say diapers, or food, or anything.
Unfortunately, we think it's our birthright to do what we want, when we want, at our convenience. I believe our world will continue to pump out kids that we can't support and then wonder why we're in trouble.
Kathy Karch
12:55 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Choosing, or not, to have children is an immensely complicated topic. At it's bare core, population (or over population) is the ultimate environmental problem. Too many people on the planet, not enough natural resources to sustain them all. The Malthus fans in the conversation will say that nature will solve that problem in the end, just as it solves over population problems for all other species living on the planet. But I'm not about to try telling people to stop having kids. I have kids. Two in fact. Choosing to have a child is one of those basic human rights of which I am so fond, and the factors that influence a person's decision on the matter are intricate. History, culture, health, economics, education, geography, religion, psychology, not to mention biology all play a role. The conversation, I think, has to stay focused on making sure that today's generation doesn't make living on the planet "tomorrow" impossible for the next generation (regardless of then next generation's size.) Keep the climate with in survivable parameters, keep some resources around, and keep those resources clean enough to use.
Michael McNeil
1:48 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Another message from the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda .
S.A.F.E. is a cult.
And your leader is a very unpleasant man.
KlassySalem
2:19 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Ms. Karch, wouldn't the responsible response to a drought really be to stop watering your garden, other than from your rain barrel, and conserve that water for the farmers who feed the many, and whose livelihoods depend on it? That would solve your water bill problem, and you could take that savings from not having a super high water bill and use it to support our local farmers at one of the many area farmers markets. Personally, I'd recommend Marblehead on Saturday mornings, just for the time convenience. Gibney and Clark both have nice produce for relatively small expense.
I grew tomatoes a few years ago, and found that when I factored in all my costs it was cheaper to buy them at the farmers market.
Matt Buchanan
10:21 pm on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Kathy your words to my response are reasonable, but I think they are somewhat safe. I am not against kids, in fact I love kids, I love families, and have dedicated my career to helping kids (I'm a teacher), but when we're taking away emotions and talking about biology and ecology, our current path ends in disaster no matter how anyone spins it. All of the, "immensely complicated topics" you mention are essentially just human ego, I'm certainly a part of this.
I'm a product of a huge Irish-Catholic family. My mom was one of 9, her mom was one of teens, her father was one of 15 (2 people made this). Think of all the grandchildren and g.children of my family, all justified by some of the many, "immensely complicated topics" (in this case religion / culture). If you take away the emotion (I certainly love all of my family and value my own life) and look at it in terms of numbers, your argument that, "Choosing to have a child is one of those basic human rights of which I am so fond, and the factors that influence a person's decision on the matter are intricate. History, culture, health, economics, education, geography, religion, psychology, not to mention biology all play a role" is a bit weak.
Numbers don't lie....this will end bad if we don't make drastic cultural changes now. These ideas are not popular and therefore will not happen. It's ok for us to admit we've made bad choices, it's ok for a conversation to end without fuzzy feelings. It's ok to face reality.
Michael McNeil
5:30 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
It rained today.
Aubry Bracco
9:06 pm on Wednesday, July 18, 2012
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