Seriously.
I read Johann Hari in the Indepenedent about Mandleson's latest right wing scumbaggery to sell off university research to the highest corporate bidder. No more scientists talking about climate change when they're all owned by big Oil. No more pointing out that certain drugs are poisonous if big Pharma owns 'em. Jeez, at what point did Mandelson ever imagine he had anything in common with Labour and how bad were things in the early 90s that he, blair and their neocon pals could take over ?
Then I read the article via dKos about how deeply screwed California is regarding water and I realise that all the stuff I talk aobut happening in the next few years is actually happening now.
Talking of things I've been warning about, those pictures of pollution in china are distressing. china is just gonna fail catastrophically at some point in the not too distant future and it will be a terrible event.
We've now accepted we're beyond Peak Oil, yet we still cna't get anyone to do a damned thing about changing the way we do things. I read an article today in the paper, (sorry can't be bothered ot find url) about a farmer who did all he could to reduce his crbon footprint, but due to the need for fertilizers and weedkiller, it only reduced by 25%, and this guy did went a long way to get it down.
We. Are. Gonna. Starve. And no bugger with any clout is doing anything to stop it.
So, I'm feeling a little bit depressed and fearful.
the only laugh I got was an article in Saturday's Indy saying michele Bachmann was gonna be the next GOP presidential candidate. Don't these guys do any research ? keep to the Fen Causeway
It's apparently not nearly as bad for Phoenix (a shame since I'd take Vegas over Phoenix any day in the water wars), but it's probably just a matter of time.
None of this is new. We've known the West was getting drier for years. I suspect a lot of this agriculture is going to wind up moving back to the eastern side of the country.
I'm guessing the fact that California has for years governed its development with incompetence that would make Atlanta blush hasn't helped matters. A few million $500,000 houses out in an area where farms really need water probably wasn't the brightest move ever. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Another issue is the Hoover Dam. If Mead drops below 1,050 ft, the Dam shuts down. It's currently at about 1,090 ft.
That's my understanding of it anyway, but western ET'ers would likely know better than I. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
If Mead drops below 1,050 ft, the Dam shuts down. It's currently at about 1,090 ft.
Migeru:
Bloomberg: Venezuela to Save Water, Power as El Nino Curbs Rain (October 22)Venezuela will impose conservation measures for water and electricity because the El Nino weather pattern has reduced rainfall, affecting hydroelectric stations and drinking-water reservoirs. ... Chavez is trying to head off possible political fallout from power disruptions, which have become more common in recent years as growing energy use outstripped expansion in the nation's generation and transmission network. Water levels in reservoirs on the Caroni River, which generate 70 percent of the country's electricity, are "near the alert level," Chavez said.
Venezuela will impose conservation measures for water and electricity because the El Nino weather pattern has reduced rainfall, affecting hydroelectric stations and drinking-water reservoirs. ... Chavez is trying to head off possible political fallout from power disruptions, which have become more common in recent years as growing energy use outstripped expansion in the nation's generation and transmission network. Water levels in reservoirs on the Caroni River, which generate 70 percent of the country's electricity, are "near the alert level," Chavez said.
...
Chavez is trying to head off possible political fallout from power disruptions, which have become more common in recent years as growing energy use outstripped expansion in the nation's generation and transmission network.
Water levels in reservoirs on the Caroni River, which generate 70 percent of the country's electricity, are "near the alert level," Chavez said.
If people don't get that, they're in for a world of hurt down the line, unless they can somehow talk the Midwest into pumping water down there from the Great Lakes (an idea which Midwesterners understandably have no interest in whatsoever). Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
they're in for a world of hurt down the line, unless they can somehow talk the Midwest into pumping water down there from the Great Lakes
Toke-in' on the Funny Weed there Drew? THAT ain't gonna happen. California has already tried to pump water down from British Columbia and the local pols, who were thinking about it, were damn near tarred and feathered by the populace.
Don't know much about, tho'.
Water shortage is far from anyone's mind on the banks of the mighty Rhone River as it surges from the high glaciers of Switzerland down through eastern France. Along its 500-mile route, it is fed by many tributaries until the river spills, largely untapped, into the Mediterranean Sea. But along the same sea, scarcity of fresh water is an increasingly nagging issue farther west, in the arid regions of eastern Spain. Planners predict that in the area around Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city and the main seat of industry, the shortage of drinking water may become severe. So Barcelona has developed a daring plan: to build a pipeline through southern France and the Pyrenees to carry water from the Rhone River to Spain. The 200-mile aqueduct could provide water for more than 4.5 million people, who would pay for the project with higher water bills. Although the plan is still far from approved, it is the first time a pipeline of this scale to carry water from one country to another is being seriously considered in Europe.
But along the same sea, scarcity of fresh water is an increasingly nagging issue farther west, in the arid regions of eastern Spain. Planners predict that in the area around Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city and the main seat of industry, the shortage of drinking water may become severe.
So Barcelona has developed a daring plan: to build a pipeline through southern France and the Pyrenees to carry water from the Rhone River to Spain. The 200-mile aqueduct could provide water for more than 4.5 million people, who would pay for the project with higher water bills. Although the plan is still far from approved, it is the first time a pipeline of this scale to carry water from one country to another is being seriously considered in Europe.
Going to need the Rhone valley for food production.
Spain has the entire Atlantic Ocean sitting there. Better to use the money to build desalinization plants. Yes it will be more expensive - but the Portuguese, if they get their act together - should be willing to kick-in some of the money as well. Also some of the costs can be offset with "mining" the sea salt and other minerals that will be left behind once the water is extracted.
Plus, if things are done right, the operation should be fed electricity from that wind power plant you're going to build next door.
But then I'm on drugs I think in Systems, not by problems.
someone has to stand up and say, "Look, this is insane
yeah, everyone needs to stand up about a lot of things, but who's listening?
..apart from the others who stood up too?
it's way beyond madness, have your change ready.
(miss that sig already!) ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
Talk about being underwater on your loan!
There is also a large subdivision in Colorado Springs where they messed up the water rights and basically don't have any. Be aware when moving west that we have two things you don't have back east--besides sunny days--which are:
- Separable property rights. You only get the surface rights to your building lot. The Union Pacific railroad probably owns the mineral rights, which means that they can come in and put a gas well in your front yard and there is NOTHING you can do about it. Happens all the time. http://www.hcn.org/issues/328/16489
- A completely separate legal and judicial system controlling water. If you put a stone wall or driveway or cute little pond in your yard, you're almost certainly breaking the law, and the law is enforced. Happens all the time. http://www.gazette.com/articles/lot-61473-pond-cracks.html
Not retirement, though. There might not be a Denver by then. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Here is a view from above of part of the area.
Shortly after I arrived in Tuscon, Az. in 1963 I had a conversation with our neighbor on the corner, who was a hydrologist. He informed me that in the 19th century the water table was at the surface in a great many of the streams and rivers in the area, such as the Santa Cruz, but that by 1963 the City of Tuscon was pumping fossil water from beneath the valley to the west of the Tuscon Mountains, which were the western edge of the city in those days, when the population was ~125,000. The population today is >500,000 and the Central Arizona Project, which was intended to provide an alternative to groundwater pumping, feeds water from the Colorado River, below Hoover Dam. Tuscon has long encouraged low water residential and municipal landscaping, but possibly could better utilize surface run-off from the 10-14" annual rainfall.
A complicating factor is that various records going back hundreds of years, pollen in sediment, tree-ring data, etc, shows that there have been prior episodes of very long El Nino type weather patterns. I love Tuscon and LA, have family in Tuscon and friends in LA but am glad I don't own property in either city, or in Vegas. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Tucson has been continuously settled for over 12,000 years.... Tucson, too SAHN or TOO sahn, is one of the oldest towns in the United States. Tucson was originally an Indian village called Stook-zone, meaning water at the foot of black mountain. Hugo O'Conor established the Tucson Presidio in 1775. August 20th, 1775 is considered Tucson's birthday. Spanish settlers arrived in the area in 1776. Tucson officially became part of the United States with the Gadsden Purchase of 1854. Tucson served as capital of the Arizona Territory from 1867 to 1877.
All the area draining into the Pacific Ocean
depend on snow melt or sub-surface water. Climate Change is putting paid to the first. The second is slowly being tapped-out. The Central Valley in California (for ag areas) and Vegas (for urban areas) are only the first to hit the wall. Over the next 20 years I expect the entire region to literally dry-up and blow away.
The short grass prairie region is facing the same problems as the Ogallala Aquifer dries up. This area has already depopulated, to a large extent, so the humanitarian problems won't be as bad.
The Good News is this go will a long way to solving the economic and other problems of the Mid-Western region running from, say, the Mississippi river to central New York state. This area has also depopulated, mostly due to the subsidized competition of California and etc., but is capable of be economically re-vitalized through diverse cropping and an increase in population.
Europeans need to start taking a good hard look at what is happening in the US and start making some analysis of what the effects of Global Warming will have on Europe. Given your basic problem is too much rain during the growing season it may turn out to be a net benefit, oddly enough. But I don't know.
Given your basic problem is too much rain during the growing season
ends up with us developing grains that grow is areas that don't have rain during the growing season and thus are prone to drought at other times of the year. The major problem with this is that fields are left bare after cropping which makes them extremely susceptible to drying out and losing topsoil. Every time you see a farmer ploughing a field and stirring up dust, that's erosion in action. Even in Britain some fields are as much as 2 feet below the level of surrounding land from dust erosion. And it rains too much here for reliable quality grain production.
We have to switch from grain agriculture. We have to go to permaculture where land is never left open but our diet has to change radically. and yes, I know I'm saying the end of beer too. keep to the Fen Causeway
OR about barley and einkorn production in the Jutland peninsula during the Jastdorf culture! (Don't. Isn't worth it. Spend your time raising little piggies.)
LOL
It's looking like you Brits are going to lose the Fens from rising ocean level. Which which case ag production in England is, as we say, fucked. BSE wiped-out the flocks and herds in the whatchamacallit (Dorset?) area & etc. That can recover if the government gets off it's ass ... like Right Now ... and stops wasting the CAP money on maximizing grain production, like you said.
Shouldn't get rid of all of it. Grains have their place in proper crop rotation. Hops is a perennial and can be used as part of the basic structure of a farm, in the right area. (Do they still grow hops in Kent?)
There are lands where the best crop one can "grow" is animals -- New Mexico, for instance -- although the amount of meat/acre is lower than current production practices.
In any case, animals have their place in sustainable agriculture. Tho' not in the current practice, in the current quantities.
The rest is a question of industrial process. Grain farmers are a highly-subsidized "top level", integrated into industrial production of concentrates for intensive animal raising integrated into meat packing and supermarket sales.
We can do without this and be in better health.
The problem with it is that eating meat is a matter of prestige, like driving cars. We may wean ourselves off this kind of consumption (to some extent), but people in developing economies want meat like they want cars.
(Nitpick: Europe produces its own maize. But by decades-old international agreements, it does not produce large amounts of soy (even where it could). Intensive animal production here depends on soy imports for protein.)
But I'm not up on the very latest numbers.
seems a bit off... ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
In order to understand how agriculture came to central Europe, it is important to know something of the geography of this region. I prefer to simplify the very complicated patchwork of hills, mountains, plains, and streams into two major landscape zones which have relevance for the study of early European farmers. These are the upland basins drained by the major river systems of central Europe and the flat lowlands of the North European Plain. I am putting aside the mountain chains like the Carpathians, Sudetens, and Harz, and the glacial outwash plains of central Poland and Niedersachsen, for these became of interest to European farming peoples only later. The upland basins of interior central Europe had generally served as traps for wind-blown dust during the last glaciation, which formed the fertile loess soils, while the North European Plain is covered with thinner soils which had been moved around quite a bit by glacial action. In the upland basins, streams formed a dendritic pattern separated by dry watersheds. On the North European Plain, the drainage was the result of glacial action: the bogs and streams that formed in meltwater valleys and kettle lakes, connecting with meandering little rivers and the broad floodplains of major streams like the Oder and Vistula. Within the upland basins, there was one habitat that was of greatest interest to the early farming populations. This was the valleys of the smaller streams which drained patches of the loess. Loess is fertile but dry, and these stream valleys were oases of moistness from runoff from the adjacent watersheds and from upstream. Early farming populations settled in these habitats along the smaller rivers and creeks. In the lowlands of the North European Plain, there was also one very important habitat. This was among the chains and clusters of lakes left in meltwater valleys and dead-ice features that interrupt patches of ground moraine in several parts of the plain. In some respect, these features are analogues of the upland creeks, in that they are moist habitats in the midst of drier areas of fertile soil.
In order to understand how agriculture came to central Europe, it is important to know something of the geography of this region. I prefer to simplify the very complicated patchwork of hills, mountains, plains, and streams into two major landscape zones which have relevance for the study of early European farmers. These are the upland basins drained by the major river systems of central Europe and the flat lowlands of the North European Plain. I am putting aside the mountain chains like the Carpathians, Sudetens, and Harz, and the glacial outwash plains of central Poland and Niedersachsen, for these became of interest to European farming peoples only later. The upland basins of interior central Europe had generally served as traps for wind-blown dust during the last glaciation, which formed the fertile loess soils, while the North European Plain is covered with thinner soils which had been moved around quite a bit by glacial action. In the upland basins, streams formed a dendritic pattern separated by dry watersheds. On the North European Plain, the drainage was the result of glacial action: the bogs and streams that formed in meltwater valleys and kettle lakes, connecting with meandering little rivers and the broad floodplains of major streams like the Oder and Vistula.
Within the upland basins, there was one habitat that was of greatest interest to the early farming populations. This was the valleys of the smaller streams which drained patches of the loess. Loess is fertile but dry, and these stream valleys were oases of moistness from runoff from the adjacent watersheds and from upstream. Early farming populations settled in these habitats along the smaller rivers and creeks. In the lowlands of the North European Plain, there was also one very important habitat. This was among the chains and clusters of lakes left in meltwater valleys and dead-ice features that interrupt patches of ground moraine in several parts of the plain. In some respect, these features are analogues of the upland creeks, in that they are moist habitats in the midst of drier areas of fertile soil.
Europe's broad plains curve around the highlands. Scoured by Ice Age glaciers, the North European Plain, or Great European Plain, stretches from southeastern England and western France eastward to Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. The plain's fertile soil and wealth of rivers originally drew farmers to the area. The southern edge is especially fertile because deposits of loess, a fine, rich, wind-borne soil, cover it. Deposits of coal, iron ore, and other minerals found on the North European Plain led to western Europe's industrial development during the 1800s. Today many of Europe's largest cities, such as Paris and Berlin, are located on the plain. Another fertile plains area, the Great Hungarian Plain, extends from Hungary to Croatia, Serbia, and Romania. Farmers cultivate grains, fruit, and vegetables and raise livestock in the lowlands along the Danube River.
Europe's broad plains curve around the highlands. Scoured by Ice Age glaciers, the North European Plain, or Great European Plain, stretches from southeastern England and western France eastward to Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. The plain's fertile soil and wealth of rivers originally drew farmers to the area. The southern edge is especially fertile because deposits of loess, a fine, rich, wind-borne soil, cover it.
Deposits of coal, iron ore, and other minerals found on the North European Plain led to western Europe's industrial development during the 1800s. Today many of Europe's largest cities, such as Paris and Berlin, are located on the plain.
Another fertile plains area, the Great Hungarian Plain, extends from Hungary to Croatia, Serbia, and Romania. Farmers cultivate grains, fruit, and vegetables and raise livestock in the lowlands along the Danube River.
Wherever the region's terrain is rolling and drainage is satisfactory, the land is highly productive. This is especially true of the areas that contain a very fertile siltlike loess soil, better than most German soils. Such areas, called Börden (sing., Börde ), are located along the southern edge of the North German Lowland beginning west of the Rhine near the Ruhr Valley and extending eastward and into the Leipzig Basin. The Magdeburg Börde is the best known of these areas. Other Börden are located near Frankfurt am Main, northern Baden-Württemberg, and in an area to the north of Ulm and Munich. Because the areas with loess soil also have a moderate continental climate with a long growing season, they are considered Germany's breadbasket.
I'm not preaching against extensive animal production on marginal land and grassland, or old-style mixed farming.
Didn't think you were.
Also, carbon costing would involve all the extra flatulence from animals digesting feed their digestions cannot process properly.
In the long run, more people are going to have to return to the land and growing their own food, we need to depopulate cities, the south east of england is a joke. But that's gonna need legislation and landowners in Scotland who have stolen good agricultural land to turn into grouse or deer moors will suffer most. keep to the Fen Causeway
...and you feel better physically, once you're 'over the hump'! ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
We have to switch from grain agriculture.
It's more like we need to switch how we farm our grains:
The future is Green: Perennial Polyculture Farming
For three decades, the Land Institute has been working to create a sustainable system of agriculture that is patterned after nature itself, that is, in the words of Director Wes Jackson, "more resilient to human folly." In Jackson's eyes, modern agriculture wages war on nature. Every year erosion eats away 5.5 tons of soil for every acre of farmland in the U.S. Petrochemical based fertilizers and pesticides kill the soils fertility. The land Institute's Kansas farm is working to reverse this damage by developing cropping systems that mimic the prairie. Rather than planting annual crops, Jackson and the Institute are developing perennial crops that need no plowing or planting. A farm that looked like the prairie would require fewer inputs by farmers, allowing them to keep more of the profit. It would feature a mixture of crops that could be harvested from the early spring to late fall; and perhaps most importantly, it would regenerate the soil into a thriving ecosystem. The main problem farming with perennials is that they must devote more energy into building a larger root system and have less energy for growing seeds, thus have a lower food yield. Researchers at the Land Institute and several universities are searching for varieties of perennials whose yields can compete with annual crops. The Land Institute has had some success with wheat, sorghum, and sunflowers by cross breeding perennial strains with annual strains. Some lines of wheat have been developed that yield 70% of the best annual varieties. Perennials are hardier than annuals and more resistant to weeds once they are established. In addition they contain stronger resistance to disease. A polycrop field, imitating the prairie, further increases resistance to disease since each type of plant is further separated making the spread of disease more difficult.
For three decades, the Land Institute has been working to create a sustainable system of agriculture that is patterned after nature itself, that is, in the words of Director Wes Jackson, "more resilient to human folly."
In Jackson's eyes, modern agriculture wages war on nature. Every year erosion eats away 5.5 tons of soil for every acre of farmland in the U.S. Petrochemical based fertilizers and pesticides kill the soils fertility.
The land Institute's Kansas farm is working to reverse this damage by developing cropping systems that mimic the prairie. Rather than planting annual crops, Jackson and the Institute are developing perennial crops that need no plowing or planting. A farm that looked like the prairie would require fewer inputs by farmers, allowing them to keep more of the profit. It would feature a mixture of crops that could be harvested from the early spring to late fall; and perhaps most importantly, it would regenerate the soil into a thriving ecosystem.
The main problem farming with perennials is that they must devote more energy into building a larger root system and have less energy for growing seeds, thus have a lower food yield. Researchers at the Land Institute and several universities are searching for varieties of perennials whose yields can compete with annual crops. The Land Institute has had some success with wheat, sorghum, and sunflowers by cross breeding perennial strains with annual strains. Some lines of wheat have been developed that yield 70% of the best annual varieties. Perennials are hardier than annuals and more resistant to weeds once they are established. In addition they contain stronger resistance to disease. A polycrop field, imitating the prairie, further increases resistance to disease since each type of plant is further separated making the spread of disease more difficult.
It will raise the total amount of nutrition per acre (hectare) by raising the amount of fruit, vegetables, berries, etc. produced. And you don't need a 12 ounce steak every night. 4 ounces of animal protein per meal is enough.
i bet many excellent products could be created from them, and the wood is great.
also edible bamboo, wonderfully productive plant
200 apple varieties in england 50 years ago... ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
and here is the whirl'd... En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
IIRC, the large dark surface collects the suns heat, warms the air that then goes upwards, sucking in wind from the the sea, carrying moisture. The moist air floats upwards and drops the rain on the forest.
Cut down the rainforest and the weather patterns change and you might even get desert instead. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
Unless you insist on considering the Irish Sea basin... :P En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
And what about the Shannon - the Greatest river in North West Europe? notes from no w here
I read Johann Hari in the Indepenedent about Mandleson's latest right wing scumbaggery to sell off university research to the highest corporate bidder.
Helen:
We've now accepted we're beyond Peak Oil, yet we still can't get anyone to do a damned thing about changing the way we do things.
Finally, take Nomad's
... a touch of anecodetal despair: A month or so there was (another) newspaper special on people whose work, in some way, aim to address climate change issues. What struck me was that, while every interviewee agreed on the importance of addressing climate change effects, not one of them had even remotely considered to introduce significant lifestyle changes. The basic argument was: they could not do their job otherwise.In short: climate change isn't even a problem for those who made it their job to care...
In short: climate change isn't even a problem for those who made it their job to care...
