January 29, 2023

“Addressing Climate Change”

I was listening today to a program on climate change.  It started with a comparison of the 1816 summer and the Indonesian volcano eruption of Mount Tambora, April 5, 1815. This one simple act of nature produced devastation and loss of life in Indonesia.  It also set in motion a series of weather disruptions which eventually affected both North America and Europe, producing crop failures, famine and other life-altering changes.  The eruption produced “The Year Without a Summer (1816).”   It also produced a change in English literature, with the poem “Darkness” written Lord Byron and the makings of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein!”

The author of the radio show was able to make a comparison between the weather events of 1816 precipitated by the Indonesian volcano to the current feelings of the younger generations and their collective “angst” about climate change.  She described how our youth speak of being “robbed of their future,” due to the current weather events and the lack of this generation’s adults addressing climate change.  For the younger generation, they see the climate already changing our planet in ways not even our scientists fully understand.  This leaves many of us feeling powerless, living somewhere between depression and hope, unsure of what the future holds for us and our beautiful planet.

It is sometimes easy to ignore this looming weather crisis, in which too much C02 emitted since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution of the 1900s is reaching a point of crisis, of no return, save some life-saving technology to scrub massive amounts of C02 and methane (CH4) and other pollutants from our atmosphere.  At other times, when either we or our neighbors has been devastated by a weather disaster, too much rain, too little rain, too much heat, or frigid cold, it is not so easy for us to ignore.

Since we are not sure in the year of our Lord 2023, of what is coming on our earth, it seems more prudent to make provision for a changing world climate than to ignore it if we wish to survive this crisis. It is time to make provision for these changes, as we collectively and individually have no way thus far to change what is coming.  Our politicians and leaders of the world have Climate Conferences every few years, and pledge reduction of C02 through various “green energy” policies and C02 reductions.  But Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States and China continue to use and to promote the use of oil, natural gas and coal, as our primary means of energy, not yet able to make the switch over to solar, wind, water, nuclear and other cleaner energy forms with less C02 emissions.  Nuclear, of course, has its own long-term concerns, but is “more green” than oil, coal or natural gas.

How can this be done?  I think there are a few prudent ways to currently make a difference.  Besides voluntarily reducing our own use of oil and seeking alternative energy for ourselves, we can recycle our trash, and reduce the amount of energy needed to make new things.  Viewing our trash as a renewable resource might make persons less inclined to dispose of their own trash on the sides of our roads and highways.

Consuming chicken and fish, and other alternative plant or algae protein sources will reduce our energy consumption from growing cows, pigs, and sheep.  And suppose, instead of each of us owning our own car, at least in the larger cities, we convert to public transportation within a 50 mile radius of our cities.  The switch over to bicycles, golf carts and electric transportation running off the electric grid (which needs to be both updated and revised) is a better use of our energy than building more and more crowded roads for trucks and automobiles in our cities.  Distribution hubs outside of cities could use electric rails to transport supplies into the cities, without a lot of pollution.  Public green spaces could be built for residents to enjoy and recreate.  It is even possible to convert residential buildings into places with vertical interior gardens that recycle the energy and waste of that one building (or a group of buildings). 

It is surprising to me how much we are locked by our own limited imagination into the way things are, waiting it seems for catastrophe to strike up before we are willing to change our behaviors.  If a community in Florida can survive a category 4 hurricane Ian and still have electricity, having been designed to do so, why are we not investigating ways to survive climate change?  Even is we stopped all C02 production in 2 days, there will be a lag time of at least 50 years before the climate would correct itself.  The ocean can only absorb so much C02 without become so acid as to bleach the corals.  When the Arctic Ice and pieces of Antarctica melt, along with Greenland, who should be surprised with rising sea levels and inundated coastlines and cities? Where will the energy come for use to recover the fresh water for drinking water lost to the sea without burning more oil and gas?  Will solar come to our rescue?

I personally advocate for persons of all socioeconomic strata to learn how to grow food!  A small organic garden can grow an immense amount of food when properly managed.  It is also possible to preserve harvests in order to feed ourselves in times of less abundance.  If we shift from our reliance on big agriculture and become self sufficient in our own communities, we can certainly finds savings on transportation costs carrying food and vegetables from long distances and perhaps enjoy a better quality of life.

I grow a garden each year for myself, my friends and family.  Last year, summer of 2022, my garden had from 6 to 8 weeks of very hot temperatures with very little rain.  I harvested a lot of tomatoes before the heat, but those remaining “cooked on the vine.”  100-104 degrees F temperatures on multiple days makes it hard to grow vegetables.  My string beans were so tough from the heat, they could not be eaten.  I have been growing a garden since 1967 and I attest to a change in my local climate for the garden.  Certain years are more unpredictable as to both patterns of late frost, too much or too little rain and then parched dry soil, baked with too much heat.  I am building raised beds, which allows more control on early planting (as these drain quickly even after a heavy rain).  For late frosts, row covers can be placed, for excessive heat, canopies can be quickly put in place.  Covering can be placed over plants to prevent insect infestations, as well. Fences for predators are an easy addition, if needed.

There are other types of gardening, the European berm or “mound”, the American Indian char, and aquaculture (or hydroponics), producing both fish in and green vegetables on the water.  And don’t forget the standard row crop method, which can be improved with row covers, as straw between rows, or cover crops of clover and other types.  There are, of course, manufactured row covers that now degrade into soil after one season which allow moisture and nutrients to penetrate, but block sunlight and weeds.  Persons in apartments with access to sunlight can grow vegetables in large pots, on the deck and indoors.  In some of our communities with abandoned lots, these are being converted for community gardens.  Finally, some of us are abandoning the traditional grass yard and converting our lawn over to more resilient plants, which are beneficial for insects, pollinators, butterflies, and many species of birds.  This may help counter our extinction of many species, which we seem quite adept at doing.

I plan to always grow some kind of food, plant, flower, or herb just to make a little more oxygen, absorb a little more C02 and enrich the earth, producing a place to catch more of the precious water needed for our lives.  As soon as I can afford, I am placing a 25,000-gallon cistern in the ground to harvest rainwater collected from the roof of the house.  The water is free, and cost nothing beyond infrastructure and a little electricity to pump it out for irrigation.  Buried in the ground, no algae can grow.  With some filtration for the micro plastics, it may even become a source to drink.

Now if an old man who is neither an engineer nor a scientist, but enjoys eating fresh vegetables and giving away when there is abundance can come up with ideas like these (from gleaning other persons articles on gardening and a healthy earth), then I am sure you, dear reader, can do much better than this.  Let’s get about the business of saving the earth!  Even is we perish while trying, at least we have done something to do our part to save this planet!  Now is not the time to paralyze ourselves with fear,  but rather, with faith,  rejoicing, good hope and the reverence of the Lord, we can move forward together and do our part, whether great or small; at least we will have done something!

I am reminded of two hymns:  Let us join together with singing:

‘For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies, Lord of all to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise!”

“All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing, ‘Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah.” (Saint Francis of Assisi)

Bill Wilson,  servant of God, by God’s abundant grace and mercies.

“Amen.”