Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

Farmers Won’t Like Climate Change, and Neither Will You

Ah! The end of the year! And, a new beginning! That time when we feel moved to evaluate the progress we’ve made in reaching our goals… or not.

In December of 2017, I stood in front of the mirror, looked myself over and said sternly to my image, “Forget about that 10 extra pounds. You can live with it. This year, it’s time to reduce our carbon footprint.”

Like any diet, it’s easier said than done. But, on Nov. 22, the Fourth National Climate Assessment came out and it’s not good. So, if you’re looking for motivation to challenge yourself on ways to save carbon, check it out. This report focuses on regional futures and the coasts, predictably, have the worst outcomes. More flooding, worse storms. Seafood scarce, corals dead. Those lovely views from the beach houses are endangered, as well as the beach houses themselves. Good bye, Kennebunkport! So long, Mar-A-Lago!

For the Midwest, crop failures will be more common, food costs will rise. More toxins, more bugs, more heat-related stress. And, oh yeah, more infrastructure failures due to the challenging weather. Look for bridges and highways to fail as pounding storms and blazing heat attack them.

It turned out that a few days after the report came out, I had a chance to interview one of the 1,000 authors of the assessment on my radio program, a retired scientist from Iowa who worked with one of the 13 federal agencies that participated on the report. Instead of the old tactic, which was challenging us to change our habits, he had a new idea. Learn to live with the new normal, he said. Farmers should concentrate on fighting erosion by using cover crops as much as they concentrate on increasing their bottom lines through increased production.

Fair enough. But farmers have to make a living. And cover crops are beastly tricky to manage. In 2017, a few guys around here managed to get them in the ground in time to protect soil from torrential downpours, but I haven’t seen any cover crop fields this year at all. We had a very early freeze and if anyone got a seed in the ground to raise cover, the seed failed to sprout. One new strategy — sowing cover crop seeds by airplane — seems like it would spawn as much carbon as it would save, especially since farmers then kill the cover crops with a chemical spray before planting their corn or soybeans. Better, in my opinion, to put in strips of perennials or even to abandon the old corn-and-soybeans paradigm and move to an alternative like, say, fruit trees or berry bushes, asparagus or garlic.

And what about “the new normal,” I asked. How do we know the climate’s going to stabilize at any certain point? If we keep putting out the bad gasses—CO2, nitrous oxide, methane and other greenhouse gases—can’t it just get more and more rowdy? The scientist said that’s the $64,000 question.

Saving carbon by cutting back on fossil fuels doesn’t seem to have much traction yet. My friends and family, even the most concerned, continue to live by the “I can afford it, so I’ll do it” rule, taking trips to wherever whenever. In 2018, reports the International Energy Agency, carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise about one-half a percent after falling for five years. They blame the robust economy, something POTUS will never try to cut back.

To set a baseline for myself last December, I googled “Carbon Footprint Calculator,” filled out the form and found out that if everyone on Earth lived like I do, we’d need six planets. That’s because my house is bigger than average at 2,000 square feet, and I drive instead of walking or biking, and in 2017 I spent 10 hours in an airplane.

The day that carbon footprint calculator said was my “overshoot day,” when I’d used up my fair share of resources, was March 1. For the entire planet, they say, the overshoot day is August 1.

This year, I did better. For one thing, I combined more trips to town. My old rule was never go to town unless you had two things you needed to do. This year, I upped it to accomplishing three goals with each trip and that cut back the mileage that I drove. And our whole neighborhood is getting better at asking around to see if we can create a carpool when we need to go to a meeting. We all saved gas, saved money, saved carbon!

I also cut my airplane time from 10 hours to three by taking only one one-way trip, from New York to St. Louis. How did I get the other way? I carpooled, with the National Family Farm Coalition farmers traveling coast-to-coast.

So, this year, I increased my overshoot day to April 1. One whole month of progress! And the computer program told me we’d only need four planets for everyone on earth to live like me.

Four planets! That’s shameful.

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. Her latest book is The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History. Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, January 1-15, 2019

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