Beltane Early Growth Moon
A post written this time by Woolly Bill Schmidt. My comment below.
From Bill:
We may be able to ignore the effect that humans have on global warming or even deny that it is happening. It is difficult to explain away the effect that we humans (farmers in this case) are having on an important earth resource. And the farmers are crying because they can no longer farm in ways that don’t make sense relative to what they are given. Maybe it is time to pay attention to our local environments and live/farm within the limits of what is provided by earth environments. Tapping the aquifers to irrigate farm land is like shooting yourself in the foot. The aquifer is not infinite and pretty soon you don’t even have enough water to drink.
Here’s a link to a New York Times article about the plight of Kansas (Midwestern) farmers who have robbed the aquifer and now it is drying up.
“And when the groundwater runs out, it is gone for good. Refilling the aquifer would require hundreds, if not thousands, of years of rains.
The irony of using insane amounts of water for fracking to get more oil would be laughable if it were not so sad. Literally hundreds of millions of gallons of water per day are being used for this process, poisoned by who knows what chemicals and with a fraction, if any, of that water being recovered.”
This is the cost of pumping 1,600 gallons per minute to irrigate farm land. And on page 2 of this article, the same farmer is continuing to drill more wells. Reminds me of a song: Pete Seeger “Where have all the flowers gone” — “When will we ever learn.”
My Willa Cather Moment With This Problem
I’ve told this story to the Woollies and others many times, I imagine, a sort of recurring tale like so many offer to others, unaware of their repetitiveness. But, it’s worth retelling.
Twice I’ve visited Red Cloud, Nebraska, a small town on the Kansas/Nebraska border, and home to Willa Cather, a favorite American regional author of mine: Death Comes for the Archbishop, O’ Pioneers, The Professor and many others.
In the Willa Cather Center there I remember, back in 2005 or so, speaking with the folks behind the desk. It was really hot, 107 or so, and we got to talking about climate change and agriculture. Since I have a long standing interest in the Ogallala Aquifer, I asked about irrigation.
The conversation became animated because it turned out that in the spring, when the farmers began irrigating their fields, the towns wells would go dry. It seems they’ve pumped the aquifer out enough that the volume of water available in their area can’t sustain the needs of both town and country.
Here’s a good resource on this issue, which nuances it: Ogallala Blue.