Pensacola, Florida recently
Climate Has Already Changed: New Study-
When the government finally released it's new Climate Study this week- Globalchange.gov it was a bit more candid that I expected. While most people ignore this kind of thing, and most won't actually read it, it was pretty grim. I've read parts of it, since there's a lot there. I will read the rest soon. These are the N.W. highlights-
Water-related Challenges -Changes in the timing of streamflow related to changing snowmelt have been observed and will continue, reducing the supply of water for many competing demands and causing far-reaching ecological and socioeconomic consequences.
Impacts on Forests: The combined impacts of increasing wildfire, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases are already causing widespread tree die-off and are virtually certain to cause additional forest mortality by the 2040s and long-term transformation of forest landscapes. Under higher emissions scenarios, extensive conversion of subalpine forests to other forest types is projected by the 2080s.
Adapting Agriculture: While the agriculture sector’s technical ability to adapt to changing conditions can offset some adverse impacts of a changing climate, there remain critical concerns for agriculture with respect to costs of adaptation, development of more climate resilient technologies and management, and availability and timing of water.
We're already seeing this, despite our wet spring. Farmers may need to really get on board and start thinking outside the box if they can. I know that's a complicated issue, but it's sink or swim. I live in HIGH DESERT, and people still plant LAWNS. Ok, we get 10" of rain a year, so where is the water going to come from, to water turf??? I'm worried about DRINKING WATER! Anyway, it's the old- DO WHAT YOU CAN WHERE YOU CAN...
British WWII poster, courtesy of British War Archives
Independence Days Challenge-
1. Plant Something- Waiting for rain to stop, have Swiss Chard, Italian Kale (heritage) and seeds for Collard Greens to plant. I'll do the summer veggies soon, after I get the new chicks. It poured twice in the last 3 days! New snow in the hills today, and pea sized hail this afternoon-
2. Harvest Something- Apparently the hens are eating their eggs :( Good thing I'm getting 4 pullets soon!
3. Preserve/Store Something- Starting to stock up on meats for the freezer, with the drought in California more in the back of my mind. I bought more chicken, now .99 cents a pound, and bacon. I may start buying more frozen/canned veggies to stockpile as well. I keep eyeing my 2 five gallon freeze dried buckets of mixed fruit/veggies. That was for real dire times :( I don't know if those times will be sooner than I thought...
4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Stockpiling more good deals on foods from the Grocery Outlet. Today we bought 3 used nickel finish knobs at the Habitat store, to replace our old, ugly brass ones from the 70's. They were great, $4.00 each instead of $11.00 new, and nice quality. All installed and purty-
We bought a new 50 gallon rain barrel for $35.00 today, and Dave got it installed-
The other 2 are leaking, so they may to to the free Craigslist. Got a few things on eBay.
5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- Bought a new Chili/Lime dry rub in the bulk spices section. Will try that on a pork roast.
6. Build Community Food Systems- Will get some of my own rhubarb soon, but will ask my neighbor for some. She throws her away!
7. Recycle/Re-Use- We recycled some screen that needs to be replaced on our side garage door. I asked Dave to cover the rain barrel opening (no hole) to keep our the leaves and debris. Worked great. I'll screen that door next. Will give the old knobs to Habitat for someone else. Donated our old stuff that was good to them from the bathroom. I have a donation pile ready for the local Mountain Rescue EMT group in Idaho City for the yearly fund raiser- clothes, shoes, a mower, etc. I took the 4 knobs that came with the IKEA cabinet and recycled those onto our other bedroom closet doors. Old bathroom cabinet knobs I bought from HD several years ago, will be put on our bedroom closet bi-fold doors. I need to buy one-
8. Skill Up- Learned about bathroom re-dos and gutter (which work great!!!) installation. I'm figuring how to "upcycle" some of my extra clothes in the Lagenlook I like. It will be free and give me more variety.
9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- I wanted to re-do the fencing on the shade area for the girls. It was green plastic fencing, had ripped, was just ugly and very visible form our living room-
For $15.00 we bought chicken wire and Dave got it up in 15 minutes. Ugly all gone. Will recycle the green fencing in the veggie garden. It's much more invisible now!
Great Book- You Can Buy Happiness, It's Cheap-
If you think you don't have too much stuff, read this book, and you'll probably change your mind! I realized after I checked out the book from the library, that I already knew who she was-
Anya enjoying some fresh spring air-
2 comments:
Once again, an excellent blog post. Thanks for the tip on the book too.
Yes, great book!
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