Climate denying has been going on for a long time, and now things are hitting a crucial phase. We could have headed this off at the pass 40 years ago. But we had Republican opposition to the plain reality of science. Climate denying became the order of the day and right-wing conspiracy theories began to flourish. Dubya beat Al Gore at the polls and I wept, because I foresaw a worse case scenario down the road, and here we are.
Donald Trump called climate change a “Chinese hoax.” And long before he jumped on the bandwagon, Republican lawmakers wanted to keep their oil and gas big donors happy, so they did nothing that would affect their bottom lines.
Now, we literally are going into food shortage time, in no small part because the Republicans to put corporate profits above science and physical survival of the planet. Wake up call, ostrich time is over. Axios:
America’s salad bowl is in trouble:Â Price hikes coming for tomatoes, onions and garlic next year.
- “There’s just not enough water to grow everything that we normally grow,” California Board of Food and Agriculture president Don Cameron told Reuters.
Zoom in: California accounts for 95% of the nation’s processed tomato production and 35% of global production, Axios’ Sareen Habeshian reports.
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Kraft told Reuters it couldn’t rule out price increases — but can guarantee ketchup and other products on the shelves.
Zoom out: The Southwest is gripped by its worst megadrought since the Dark Ages, Axios’ Andrew Freedman reports.
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The past 22 years rank as the driest period for the region since at least 800 A.D.
Just think about this. Onions and tomatoes are ingredients fast food places use, so I think it’s reasonable to expect a hike in prices there, as well as at the supermarket. I don’t see how there wouldn’t be one. It just makes eating an ever bigger expense.
And the megadrought is wreaking havoc other ways. Just last week there was an article on how California offered to conserve 130 billion gallons of water from Lake Mead from 2023 to 2026. I read that with joy, because Nevada needs that water. However, that water NOT going to California is one of the reasons California won’t have what it needs to grow these crops.
This is getting dystopian as hell. The bottom line is, ya got no water, ya got nothin.’
I hope our greed and stupidity doesn’t doom us as a species. I sincerely hope that.
We’re all in this together. The Democrats know that because the Democratic mentality is community and the social safety net. The Republican mentality is “I got mine” the so-called party of personal responsibility.
The problem is, we have only one planet. Mark my words, the GOP won’t deny this for long. Whomever their 2024 candidate is, that person can’t continue to ride this pale horse one step further. We’ve pretty much hit the end of the trail and need to get accountable for our actions if we want the planet to remain a viable ecosystem.
You’re so right Ursula, so right.
As I understand it, a big part of the water shortage is due to farmers using water intensive methods instead of available methods that use less water to grow the same crops. Also it don’t help that companies that sell bottled water (one of the biggest scams ever!) are sucking huge amounts of water out of the ground practically for free. We need to stop the growing of crops in areas that are not appropriate (desert or near desert areas) and stop the growing of any grass where it needs to be irrigated to survive!
No, I don’t have all of the answers, just a few suggestions that might help a little.
I’ve mentioned for years that the book version of Jurassic Park is different, a darker version of the story than a pretty good & entertaining movie. Even the Malcom (the Jeff Goldbloom character) was darker and much more pointed and serious. It’s worth the time to read as there is a lot of profound stuff in it, but one thing always stands out to me. Well into the book when Malcom is in bad, bad shape but for a moment the park seems to be back under control Hammond says something to the effect of ‘at least the dinosaurs didn’t get out and destroy the planet’ and Malcom first tees off on him. Then seriously schools him. Malcom talks about time both in human and geological terms, as well as geological history and how this planet lives and breathes on a scale so vast humans can’t comprehend it. He notes a human life span of less than a hundred years is nothing. A thousand years? Nothing. Even a million years is nothing in geological time. Malcom goes on to say this planet will be here long after we’re gone.
Hammond tries to counter him by saying most scientists believe our planet is in jeopardy. Malcom ends the “scene” with a devastating statement. “Let’s be clear, we don’t have the ability to save or destroy this planet. But we might have the ability to save ourselves.”
Think about that. There is abundant history of species going extinct due to their own actions, usually overwhelming the food and water resources needed to carry on. Humans like to think we are more highly evolved but we have, and especially in the last hundred to hundred fifty years committed some monumental fuckups that wiped out (or nearly so – i.e. Buffalo) species, and of course there are water projects around the world that have caused all manner of devastation that has impacted animals and humans. And what about the infamous “Dust Bowl” back during the depression? But those with money and power refuse to accept that what they are doing will FUCK future generations.
We had the means to chart a different course and Carter tried to get us the right path but he was ignored as much by fellow Democrats as by Republicans. The “what if” of had we followed his lead, and made a Manhattan Project or Project Apollo type commitment to renewable energy would the world be like today?
IF, and that’s a big if we went all-in now the best we can do is mitigate damage that is already certain to happen. We can see it happening in many places and worse it is accelerating. We might have passed the tipping point and not even know it yet.
This November election is for our childrens’ future. Fact. IF the democrats pull off getting power then we need for them to be as radical in the positive direction as these greedy nazis have been for our destruction.
There’s another problem: the Glen Canyon Dam provides power for all of northern Arizona. Unless something changes dramatically, the water level will drop too low to produce power in 3-4 years. All of northern Arizona will be without power.
“THE PAST 22 YEARS RANK AS THE DRIEST PERIOD FOR THE REGION SINCE AT LEAST 800 A.D.”
I can hear the climate deniers now, “See, it has happened before. That means it’s cyclical. Global climate change is a HOAX!”