A Simple Farmer's View on Global Climate Change

Today I am going to depart from the descriptions of my loony experiments and discuss a topic of real importance. Three days ago, the government released the National Climate Assessment. The report finds that global climate change is here now and that human activity is most likely causing it. Coincidentally, the report was released just as I was finishing the book Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How it CanRenew America by Thomas L. Friedman so I am looking at the data presented in the report in a new light.

By now I think that most of us agree that the climate is changing in some way. We have higher highs, lower lows and our storms are getting larger and more severe. These changes are bringing a whole host of second and third order effects, as well. Freidman calls it “Global Weirding.” We can argue amongst ourselves for days about why the climate is changing and get nowhere. While I personally believe that we are affecting the climate with our waste production, I find this to be a useless argument. It has been so politicized over the years that it goes nowhere. Anyone can pick a set of data and use it to prove their point on either side of the argument. Liars figure and figures lie.

I believe that a better argument is this. The fact is that we are getting more crowded by the day and there are only so many resources on the Earth. The human population topped 7 billion just over a year ago and is steadily climbing. Across the planet are millions, if not billions, of people struggling to live a better life and they’re starting to make it – think China and India. The increased population and all those increased living standards are putting a huge strain on our global resources – air, water, land, oil, fuel, wood, minerals, etc. We are very quickly using all of our resources without a plan. In the process we are polluting our land, water and air and eliminating the Earth’s natural response mechanisms. What will happen when the larder is bare?

What happens when you can’t find what you need at a particular store? You go somewhere else, right? The same thing happens on the Earth. There are finite amounts of natural resources in the ground and growing on the land. As people find their land can no longer support them, they start migrating to other places. Cities, already swollen and overpopulated, will become more crowded. Infrastructure will become strained, causing unrest among the population. At a national level, nations will move to secure resources for their populations causing regional conflicts and war. The future is not bright if we continue down the road we’re on. We may not see it in our lifetimes but our children and our childrens’ children will.

We continue to deplete our resources at an alarming rate without any plan or consensus on how to move to a sustainable lifestyle. Politicians argue that any change in our current unsustainable systems will destroy our economy and limit our ability to compete on a global scale. That argument is rather short-sighted if you ask me. I guess that’s what we’ve become… a nation of short-term thinkers. Yes, there may be short-term pain for the country as we shift from a consumption economy to a sustainable economy but that short-term pain is far better than the long-term misery we are going to face if we don’t make some sort of change. Maybe we deserve that misery.

That brings me back to global climate change. We are just now starting to feel the effects of a warmer climate. Already we are seeing big changes; larger storms, record temperatures melting ice, droughts. Further down the road we will see increased ocean levels, reduced land and even bigger changes in climate and storms as we continue to pollute our air and trigger the positive feedback loop of carbon release from which we may not recover. But that’s not all! A recent study found that crops grown in a high carbon dioxide environment have fewer nutrients so not only will we be able to produce less food but it will be less nutritious as well. We can twiddle our thumbs and argue about who or what is responsible while our ship sinks OR we can take action. And here’s the thing… If we take action to move to a more sustainable economy, our greenhouse gas production will necessarily fall.

I, like Thomas Friedman, have a hope for a better day. Unfortunately, in the words of the former Army Chief of Staff Gordon Sullivan, “Hope is not a method.” We have to do something about it. My family works hard to do our part but our actions don’t amount to much more than one atom of a drop in a bucket. We ALL have to row in the same direction! I agree with Friedman that America has the World leadership role, the responsibility and the ability to affect lasting change, AND that we can benefit from making that change and being the world leader!

I am attempting to write this essay in a politically agnostic way and I don’t feel qualified to discuss the correct policy changes we need to make to affect a change. I’m sure there are many controversial decisions that must be made. If you’re looking for examples I wholeheartedly recommend Friedman’s book. I don’t know how we are going to do it given our current political climate. I just know we have to do something. Anything is better than what we’re doing now!

So now it’s up to us. Change is never easy. Change is usually controversial. Change is necessary for our survival and the survival of this planet I’ve come to love. What are you going to do to make a change?