Subject: Global Warming/the Gulf Stream

From: [email-masked] (Maddy Harland - Permaculture Magazine)
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 18:07:49 +0000

Hi Dan and everyone on the list,

(Dan wrote a very interesting piece on the changes to the Gulf Stream and
its effects on Scandanavia.)

There is a school of thought that subscribes to the theory that the Gulf
Stream is shifting. It would seem very possible to me as our planetary
weather patterns are being distrupted by Global Warming. I do not have a
reference to the scientific research but could find out more if you like.

On a personal level, we have had a six week drought here which is highly
unusual. Usually it is 'March winds and April showers'. There has been none
of either and my plants are wilting in the ground, despite mulch and other
moisture preserving techniques. The blossom is abundant and beautiful on
the fruit and nut trees as a consequence and as long as we don't get very
hard frosts it will be a good year for fruit (if we can water). We are
currently installing a 1400 gallon rainwater harvesting system to drip
irrigate the shrubs and trees. We had to get planning permission for it
from the local authority who had no precedent on such a system. Inevitably
the bureaucracy cost us money.

Drought is an increasing problem here, as is erosion of the land by the
rising sea. What I would like to gather now is a series of statistics about
climate change, soil erosion, environmental degredation etc. which clearly
spells out our crisis as I do not think most people in Britain believe it.
They have only just accepted that Global Warming may just be a reality and
some people think it might be good because it will get warmer in Britain
and we'll end up with a Mediterrean climate! They are barking mad. So if
anyone on the list has some statistics re. the above (like every year an
area of top soil the size of the state of Kansas is lost on the Earth),
please could you email me with them and their source. They do have to be
sourced though, please.

Incidently, I get the impression from the northern climate debate that we
are all rather cosy in this temperate, northern climes. In fact, poverty is
an increasingly serious problem in Britain after so many years of
Conservative rule. Many members of our so-called affluent society are
developing diseases associated with malnutrition. People just can't afford
to eat fruit and veg.

The positive side of this is an increase in community gardens which teach
people how to grow food like Springhill Community Gardens in Bradford,
Yorkshire. As a nation, most of us do not have these skills (I certainly
didn't have a clue until a few years ago, nor the opportunity to learn) and
do not know where to start. Local government has begun to fund permaculture
based projects to help with this and release land. A big problem is the
stranglehold of private ownership on land and premium prices. Many
allotments and school grounds also are being sold off for development. I
really cannot emphasis enough the disasterous policies of our current
government (but have little faith in all the other politician too!). Let's
hope they don't get voted back in.

I hope isn't too long for you.

Best wishes to all,

Maddy

Maddy Harland, Editor
Permaculture Magazine
Hyden House Ltd.
Little Hyden Lane
Clanfield
Hampshire PO8 URU, Britain.
Tel: +44 (0)1705 596500. Fax: +44 (0)1705 595834.
email: [email-masked]
Website: http://www.uea.ac.uk/~e415/home.html
Publishers of the Earth Repair Catalogue - over 230 books, publications and
videos on all aspect of sustainable living by email or snail mail.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 10:20:03 -0400 (EDT)

>I hope isn't too long for you.

Hi Maddy:

You seem awfully sane for someone with that name.

Our dear friend Joanna Campe publishes Remineralize the Earth journal which
was inspired by John Hamaker's work on glaciation and remineralization cycles
and is a good source of the info from that angle.  I'm a frequent contributor
so you know that it has to be good !  :-)  Her email address is
[email-masked]

Don Weaver, who worked with Hamaker on his book SURVIVAL OF CIVILIZATION has
been monitoring reports of climate shift.  His address is in TIPSY #4, our
old permaculture yearbook, which you probably have. I'll see if I can run
down his email address, if any.  I haven't seen any of Dons packages for a
while but back issues would be very useful even if he has moved on to other
tasks.  

Joanna distributes Survival of Civilization, by the way, which is a good
statement of the greenhouse-leads-to-glaciers theory, though he is more than
a bit cranky about his efforts to gain the attention of the US congress, a
small organization to which he ascribes far more importance than they deserve
anyway.

Given the fact that in the UK you have infinitely better weather than you
should expect at your latitude, any climate shift means that you are screwed,
to put the matter delicately.  The idea that it can get better than it is
already is a fantasy only supportable by deliberate stupidity--genetic
stupidity doesn't suffice.  If we do get runaway global warming, how much of
your bit of rock will be above water?

If you folks in the rest of the world are yawning, remember that this country
is very, very well armed and traditionally has taken anything it wanted that
it could take.  Imagine their approach if they actually need your land and
food and fresh water.  You have a hybridization of Viking bloodthirstiness
and Roman beauracracy and expansionism in that little place and it has
greatly disturbed remote peoples before.  No one should be complacent.  Worse
will be if the country that issues MY passport decides it wants what you
have, because we have nutto people who will destroy something to own it, but
we have a bit more wiggle room (though an itchier trigger finger) than the
Brits.   In other words, if one or two or a dozen very well armed countries
get displaced, the whole world population suffers.  It won't be like
bangladesh where a flood comes in, wipes out a significant fraction of the
population, and that is the end of the matter.  Believe it.  I don't know how
we design against this, but we have to think about it.  We permaculturists
may be the best hope for putting nucleii in place that can survive and
prosper.  Probably we should concentrate in overcrowded places with too many
people and not enough food, as they will be least attractive to older white
guys in suits who like air conditioned buildings and three lavish meals
daily.  

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
courses via email.  Internships available. Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia
Hemenway, P.O. Box 2052, Ocala FL 34478 USA  [email-masked]  

We don't have time to rush.