Hot and Bothered

Heat waves are happening everywhere. We’re having another one in the UK this week. It’s August. Normally, at about this point in the month our weather begins to cool. Instead, we have an amber heat alert.

We also have drought of a depth that hasn’t happened for years. The head of the Thames river has moved several kilometers because of it. Reservoirs are low. Streams are low. Some areas are beginning to ban the use of garden hoses (hosepipes).

The trouble with this is not simply that it’s happening, it’s that this is a taste of things to come. Even if we stopped, right this minute, doing everything we do that makes the planet heat up even more, it would take a long time for our climate to move back toward “normal.” We have to start adapting.

I’ve talked here about some of what my wife and I have been doing at our house to improve our environmental footprint while being comfortable enough. We are not the only ones, and it isn’t always just on a house by house basis… thank heaven.

Farmers are especially hard hit by what’s happening to the climate. We shouldn’t be surprised if some of them are making drastic changes. Have you heard of regenerative agriculture? That’s a catch-all term for agricultural practices that focus on sustainability instead of putting crop yield at the top of the priority list. A few farms in the UK have converted to this already. From what I see while out walking the dogs, more will need to convert to such practices. Conventional modern farming methods aren’t as resilient as sustainable methods.

Regenerative agriculture is not really something new. It’s new terminology to describe techniques that are often so old they’ve been forgotten by everyone except, I suppose, archeologists and a dwindling number of indigenous communities. But the farmers who have converted to them here are finding that they work. They make farms steadier, less vulnerable to shocks ranging from prices of fuel or fertilizer to heat waves, droughts and bigger storms.

Late this year or early next year, AgriLeader wants to do an online interview with me as part of their series about bringing different ideas into agriculture. They thought talking with a former Space Program person could be interesting, and I find the interviews they’ve streamed so far interesting. Most people don’t think about how much already-established technology NASA uses. NASA likes using existing, proven ideas and devices as much as possible, reserving wizardry (and budget) to invent something new only where it’s necessary.

That’s very compatible with what AgriLeader is trying to foster among British farmers. Their impact will dwarf anything my household can do.

It’s also what we need to do about the plethora of problems that are making more and more of us literally hot and bothered. Let’s take a look at what’s already available. Maybe some of our solutions are already at our fingertips, handed down by our grandparents or maybe even their grandparents.