MAY 2018 NEWSLETTER

A Personal Essay by Blain Hjertaas
The following article is my personal opinion and is not reflective of HM Canada policy.

I am angry and frustrated. I feel powerless as an individual in the fight against climate change. What can I do as an individual? I wonder why no one is jumping up and taking the lead on this crucial issue. I suspect many others feel the same way. A syndrome called “climate depression" or "environmental depression" is being diagnosed among young people graduating from university, especially in the disciplines of natural sciences as they begin to understand the magnitude of the problem and are not taught the solutions.

I sat down and wrote this article to help me think through, what has happened, what needs to happen and what I can do about it. Anger is an emotion that needs to be channeled into fixing the problem.

A Brief History of Climate Change Events

1. Scientists, Samuel Pierpoint Langley,Svante Arthenius, Arvid Hogbom and Charles Chrowder Chamberlin,  were writing about the effect that CO2 from burning coal could have on the climate in the late 1890’s.
    
2. In 1958 Dr. Keeling received a grant to set up an observatory in Hawaii on Mauna Loa to measure the CO2 content of the atmosphere. In 1958 the CO2 content was 312PPM and today it 407PPM
    
3. In 1965, the landmark report, "Restoring the Quality of Our Environment" was presented to then President Lyndon B. Johnson. His Science Advisory Committee warned of the harmful effects of fossil fuel emissions
    
4. The 1979 World Climate Conference  concluded "it appears plausible that an increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can contribute to a gradual warming of the lower atmosphere, especially at higher latitudes....It is possible that some effects on a regional and global scale may be detectable before the end of this century and become significant before the middle of the next century."^[51]
    
5. In July 1979 the United States National Research Council published a report,^[52] concluding (in part):
   
   When it is assumed that the CO₂ content of the atmosphere is doubled and statistical thermal equilibrium is achieved, the more realistic of the modeling efforts predict a global surface warming of between 2°C and 3.5°C, with greater increases at high latitudes.
   
   … we have tried but have been unable to find any overlooked or underestimated physical effects that could reduce the currently estimated global warmings due to a doubling of atmospheric CO₂ to negligible proportions or reverse them altogether.
    
6.  2015 COP 21 in Paris made history in that 176 nations agreed to limit emissions to hold the earth’s temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius. The other significant outcome of the Paris talks was that France launched its initiative 4 per 1000 or .04% increase in soil carbon would make a significant impact on climate. For the first time soil was recognized as a solution.
    
7.  www.unenvironment.org/resources/emissions-gap-report The UN estimates that the targets set at Paris in 2015 will now be missed by at least 20% and many people believe that is very conservative. The result of this is likely 3.2 degree warming and in our northern latitudes that doubles making it 6.4 degrees. That gives us the climate of Nebraska by 2050
    
8. www.climateatlas.ca  shows climate where you live with various scenarios

Why has it taken us so long to realize that we are in a very dangerous time and our survival as a species is in question! Elizabeth Kolbert recently wrote a book called the “The Sixth Extinction” in which she describes the rapid decline of species in our times. Are we the canaries in the coal mine? Several eminent thinkers have already stated we are past the point of no return. Many more say the next 10 years are critical and if we haven’t reversed the process by then, life will be much harder. I am optimistic we can fix this, but we need to start now!

For the doubters I encourage you to read a book by Harvard professor, Naomi Orsekes called “MERCHANTS OF DOUBT”. She goes into great detail and documentation about how people with a vested interest have been able to cast doubt on the science of climate change. They don’t say the science is wrong, they only raise doubt. They pick out a part of the study and twist a few facts and the media does the rest. Hence many people to this day are skeptical. It has been wonderfully effective.

Unfortunately our political system is such that politicians do not lead they follow. When the majority is convinced we will have policies in place that will begin to address this issue. We can’t expect leadership from our political system until we demand it.

We live in a cold climate so a little warming would be OK. Winter is long. If we change to a Nebraska climate what will California or Texas be like. If there is no water there, where do these people will go? Migration is the biggest threat of climate change. We are witnessing some of the upheaval in North Africa because of climate change. Suppose 20 million Americans decide to come north. What kind of social upheaval will this cost? How will we adapt agriculture fast enough to face these new realities?

These are the things I worry about, for my grandchildren’s future.

The sad part of this, is we know how to fix it. Most of us are doing it on our farms every single day by putting carbon back into the soil. Most of the organic matter levels on the prairies were 8 to 14% at settlement. 120 years of farming have taken that down to as low as 2% in some cases. By following holistic/regenerative principles we can easily reverse this process. As we put more carbon into our soils, nutrient density of the food increases helping our bodies and brains to work better. The water cycle works better. Keeping the earth covered in litter helps cool the earth. Worldwide the evidence is accumulating that agro ecological principles build soil, thus removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Removing carbon from the atmosphere and making the water cycle more effective is the solution.

We know the answers and have for some time. We have known about the problem for over 100 years and to date as a society we have accomplished nothing. I think this is why I am very frustrated and angry. How do we get the masses of people worldwide to understand and fix this problem? We need a mobilization effort similar to the Second World War .We had over 1 million people  in uniform with a population of 11 million.. Everyone was involved, from school children raising money for war bonds, to woman working in factories, to farmers producing what the war effort required, to community groups sending care packages to the boys overseas. It was a total country wide effort.  This is the effort we are going to need to reverse the processes. The lavish palatial lifestyles we have been living has had the waiter present the bill. None of us like the amount and many of us deny we were even there.

Time is not on our side on this issue. We need to go now. We need to tell our GOOD NEWS story to anyone who will listen. As I sort all this out, all I can do as an individual is practice regenerative agriculture on my farm and tell my good news story wherever I go. I am reminded of this quote by Margaret Mead “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: indeed: it’s the only thing that ever has “There are many small, struggling groups around the world trying to have an effect and change the world. Get involved, reach out, tell your story. We are all in this mess together. Our grandchildren’s future is at stake.

What are we waiting for?

If you have ideas, thoughts on how to move this forward, I will be pleased to hear your thoughts.

Respectfully
Blain Hjertaas
“If it’s to be it’s up to me”    William Johnson