I did some commercial fishing in California back in the late 1970s. Back when there were still large orchards full of oranges in Orange County. The boat I worked on went back and forth between San Diego and Terminal Island in Los Angeles. I got to explore many of the beautiful canyons and valleys close to the coast when I was not working. It’s hard to express how seeing just some of the devastation of the beautiful towns and valleys in California feels. Many of those areas were like little pockets of paradise. Figs or pomegranates on hillsides. and citrus trees or date palms in the low lands of the south. Up north were fruit orchards and berry farms, vineyards and the amazing Redwood forests.
Another second atmospheric river event has come to California in the last ten days. When this happened last year it was estimated 13.5 trillion gallons or more water fell on California. Some estimates came in as high as more than thirty trillion gallons fell from last year’s events. It is past time to take the changing climate seriously and institute a full-on state of emergency in relation to this global warming while we can still make a difference.. First We must begin to scale back commercial agriculture the destroys soil life and releases stored carbon. Scale back subsidies for chemical agriculture, and start increasing funding and subsidies for organic and regenerative agricultural systems. Spraying massive amounts of poisons of many types destroys soil health and the health of people who eat it. Second we have to start scaling up more traditional or regenerative forms of agriculture and animal husbandry that regenerate the soils and ecosystems. Washington passed a farm bill last year, ask your legislators to support an increase in funding for Regenerative and Organic agriculture in the next farm bill. Washington Switchboard #(202) 224-3121
#ClimateChange #AtmosphericRiver
