What do you see? What can we do?

[Oliver Buckle]

So, I had a bit of a rant in a thread about someone's cherry tree losing leaves early, and I was surprised at first at the response it got. Then I realised, we are gardeners, we are out there, we see the world changing and we see how the way the world is changing is affecting growing things, and I thought, 'That's worth a thread'.
Here is the rant, please add your observations and thoughts.

"Well, this year has been a very different one from the point of view of weather already, there has been a prolonged drought and record temperatures for England, not just a bit different from normal, way different, Add to that I see reports of prolonged rain and flooding in places like Oman and at the same time record lows in the levels of salt lakes in Utah, everywhere the weather is becoming unpredictable. I know it always was unpredictable to a degree, but not this degree. It also seems to be agreed by most reputable scientists that the change is real, and those who dispute it are to be suspected of bias. I am reminded of the link between tobacco and cancer which was discovered by German scientists in the 1940's, and dismissed by interested parties as Nazi propaganda for the next fifteen years or so, then disputed heavily and dishonestly for another twenty. That resulted in a painful and unpleasant death for a few million people, not all that significant in a population of billions, but change in climate will disrupt food production world wide, not just ruin our gardens, and kill hundreds of millions by starvation. Of course we live in societies that have the means to ensure what food there is we get, but even so it does not seem to big an ask that we try to regulate our energy usage a bit. It would also make sense for our own pockets, a ride on mower that ran on a renewable energy source wouldn't cost us in gasoline. Meanwhile I am driving my car less, I don't just pop out when I need something, but make an expedition that does several jobs. I use public transport for things like hospital appointments, I watch less crap on the TV and read second hand books from thrift shops. When people canvass my vote I make it clear what my priorities are, and here I am encouraging others to do the same. I won't make a huge difference on my own, but there are millions of ordinary people like me who don't want their garden to become a desert, or watch children in third world countries starve on TV, and together, just maybe, we can stop at least some of it."

 

[Sinajuavi]

I concur. Trained in anthropology, I learned about the effects of climate change in the past, and its causes. What is happening now is unprecedented. The change is occurring far more rapidly than most "natural" changes, though the Upper Dryas cooling event did proceed rapidly due to the sudden change in North Atlantic currents caused by a rapid influx of fresh water due to glacial melting. But generally the identifiable cause of such changes was volcanism, as in the case of the end-Permian extinction event.

Clearly now we have only human activity to blame for what is occurring. We are in the middle of a mass extinction event. And we are seeing now climate changes which are drastically affecting food production, and its potential in coming years. I marvel that so few are raising the alarm about impending famine. We have a drought in the major food-producing areas of the USA, Ukraine is on fire, the Sahara is spreading, and what are the prospects for the 2020 harvest in Pakistan with 1/3 of the country underwater?

I am 72 and slowing down but am endeavoring to have a fall crop and preparing to grow as much food as possible in the 2023 season. Everyone should be doing that, even if they have less expertise than I have (I was a commercial grower for years). This is not a trivial matter. You are correct.