Beltane \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Early Growth Moon<\/p>\n
A post written this time by Woolly Bill Schmidt. \u00a0My comment below.<\/p>\n
From Bill:<\/p>\n
We may be able to ignore the effect that humans have on global warming or even deny that it is happening.\u00a0 It is difficult to explain away the effect that we humans (farmers in this case) are having on an important earth resource.\u00a0 And the farmers are crying because they can no longer farm in ways that don\u2019t make sense relative to what they are given.\u00a0 Maybe it is time to pay attention to our local environments and live\/farm within the limits of what is provided by earth environments.\u00a0 Tapping the aquifers to irrigate farm land is like shooting yourself in the foot.\u00a0 The aquifer is not infinite and pretty soon you don\u2019t even have enough water to drink.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a\u00a0link to a New York Times article<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0about the plight of Kansas (Midwestern) farmers who have robbed the aquifer and now it is drying up.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when the groundwater runs out, it is gone for good. Refilling the aquifer would require hundreds, if not thousands, of years of rains.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the cost of pumping 1,600 gallons per minute to irrigate farm land.\u00a0 And on page 2 of this article, the same farmer is continuing to drill more wells.\u00a0 Reminds me of a song: \u00a0Pete Seeger \u201cWhere have all the flowers gone\u201d — \u00a0\u201cWhen will we ever learn.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My Willa Cather Moment With This Problem<\/strong><\/p>\n 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. \u00a0But, it’s worth retelling.<\/p>\n 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: \u00a0Death Comes for the Archbishop, O’ Pioneers, The Professor and many others.<\/p>\n In the Willa Cather Center there I remember, back in 2005 or so, speaking with the folks behind the desk. \u00a0It was really hot, 107 or so, and we got to talking about climate change and agriculture. \u00a0Since I have a long standing interest in the Ogallala Aquifer<\/a>, I asked about irrigation.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0It 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.<\/p>\n Here’s a good resource on this issue, which nuances it: \u00a0Ogallala Blue<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Beltane \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Early Growth Moon A post written this time by Woolly Bill Schmidt. \u00a0My comment below. … Continue reading Ogallala Blue<\/span>