This blog is not intended to be a political soapbox. And this post is not intended to be political, although some people might think it is.
First off, the topic of climate change should not be political, although it seems to have become one (and I use the term "climate change" on purpose here, as opposed to "global warming", only because in some places on the planet, we are seeing a cooling instead of a warming - although the planetary mean temperature is going up, some people use colder than normal temperatures to argue against "global warming" and I don't want to be part of that silly discussion). In my mind it isn't a matter of the "climate change supporters" opposing the "climate change deniers". It is a simple fact that our weather is changing and becoming less predictable. I don't think at this point that we're in the "we can't survive it" stage. It's just more severe than it used to be.
In 2005, I lived in Calgary when we experienced the worst storm my husband had ever seen (I'm not sure I can say that since I did see a storm that spawned 20 tornadoes when I lived in Texas, but the Calgary storm was pretty nasty). It produced what was called a "once in a hundred years" flood - many basements were flooded and the moose had to be relocated from the zoo. Then we moved away closer to Edmonton, about 2.5 hours north. Four summers ago the stage at the Big Valley Jamboree was torn down and one person died under it, in a storm that also saw my family huddling in the basement and a large tree land on our garage. Two summers ago, in Millet, Alberta, (10 minutes north of us) I saw the results of a hail storm that left gardens in tatters and vinyl siding looking like the victim of a 1930s Tommygun attack. And this past week we've all been watching in awe as Mother Nature left Southern Alberta struggling to come to terms with more water than they've ever experienced before - ALL of the animals at the zoo had to be moved and I think 75,000 people moved from their homes in Calgary alone (not to minimize it, of course, a whole lot more horrible things happened, but you can Google it - let's just say it was many times worse than 2005). A mere 8 years after the "once in a hundred years" flood, we suddenly had a "worse than ever recorded" flood.
Climate Change is not a political subject, my friends, it is a reality. It IS happening, whether we like it or not, and denying it's existence will not help fix it, nor will it help us deal with the consequences.
So here's where I think we can all do a little bit to secure ourselves. If these massive weather events continue to occur, our food safety will be in jeopardy - I'd say it's already tenuous. We will not necessarily be able to get corn from Iowa if there are droughts there. We will not necessarily be able to get wheat from Alberta if there are massive floods. We will not necessarily be able to get oranges from Florida if they have frost. We need to be able to at least partially feed ourselves.
WE NEED TO GARDEN!
And we don't just need to garden so that we can sustain ourselves next winter if the power goes out and we can't get groceries for a few days. We need to learn how to garden (and teach our children how to do so) so that if our infrastructure collapses significantly, it's become a part of our daily lives to sustain ourselves. We are a the whim of a very large, complex transportation and economic system that is very vulnerable to major weather events - and we are having them. Frequently. We really need to take more responsibility for our own day to day needs so that we are not left suffering when our regular way of life isn't working anymore.
And we need to grow more food than we need - so that when our neighbours are dealing with a catastrophic event, we can help feed them. And vice versa. If my garden is decimated by a hail storm, I'm hoping someone a few miles away can share their food with me. I really am hoping that. Please share! I'd rather have to end up composting some of my bounty because no one needed it, than not have any to give to those in need.
I'd lost perspective on all of that this year. I haven't been as passionate about my garden - or about not using plastics, or about recycling and reducing. But the Calgary floods brought it all back into perspective. Although it's hard work, and sometimes it feels like everything is just ticking along status quo and the hard work isn't worth it, major disasters remind me that things are indeed changing. That urgency I've felt to adjust my life and to get a better handle on our self-sustainability wasn't just a whim. It's real and I need to get back to it. Time to get back to taking care of my people and the Earth.
