I once had a fight with a radical friend over why it was important to stay active politically despite being in a tiny minority, and in the course of her explaination about why she wasn’t, she said, “and when North Dakota is the fucking French Riviera, perhaps people will finally pay attention to people like me!” It inspired me to do a little research about what is called the “plant hardiness zone map.” You probably know that this map relates to what climates and ranges of temperatures are found on our continent, and thus what you can and cannot grow in a given area. I still sigh with jealousy over Leah’s very fine Meyer lemon tree that I just can’t grow in the North. Yet.
Recently, the government released a new zone map, which reflects the changes in the climate which have caused temperature extremes to shift over the last few decades. Oddly, it’s really hard to find, and if I hadn’t read about it in the paper (wow, real news! I almost fainted) I wouldn’t have known about the changes. Seed sellers and gardening websites still mostly use the old map, which in turn is still common on many government web sites. Those dirty fucking hippies at the Arbor Day Foundation have a little movie they want you to watch (click that link). Make sure you’re sitting down.
I expect around another 40 years of life, assuming I don’t get shot by an authoritarian or struck by lightning, and I can do basic math. Inspired by this comment in which our resident Yankee Lambert reminded me that he is gardening in Zone 6, it occurs to me that if the zones have changed as greatly as the Arbor Day folks note, and they have, well…that’s happened in only sixteen years. Which means at that rate, we’ll all be in zones two higher than we are now when I die, perhaps even more. So in a way, my friend was right, and I should be investing in waterfront property in North Dakota now, while it’s cheap.
I don’t really have a proufound point to make, but this knowledge does have an effect on me as I make decisions about ’what matters.’ I’m just going to say it, because it’s my blog: I’m really, really glad I didn’t waste my time on the Libby
trial and all that “Fitz” triumphalism…goddess did that seem like it was all people could talk about for a while. And we all know today what it was for. Nada. But rather than be an embittered “I told you so” bitch, let me ask that perhaps we can find the same energies and focus for the subject of climate change, and what can be done about it, and what we must do to prepare for it. In the context of “don’t expect those criminals in DC to do anything about it, or even inform you about it, because they are heartless killers who would doom their own grandchildren for a bit more wealth and power, and they all already own property in Idaho and Paraguay.”
Do you?
Front page
Ahead of the curve,as usual
I tried not to be all Merry Fitzmas and pass the popcorn on the bit. They will always take care of their own. Moreover, Bush told us over the years exactly what his philosophy of Bushiprudence was. He fooled us again - shame on us.
So last night I had the thought, I am going to do something everyday to reduce my family’s waste and carbon footprint, and our consumption of new things in general. It was the only thing I could come up with that was not just more bitching about the same old Bush shit.
And three weeks ago, after hearing this amazing Anne LaMotte interview on MPR (after which I made my first donation to public radio in five years) I rededicated myself to helping the poor. It probably shouldn’t take an MPR show to spur me to that, but there it is.
“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
beautiful, THB
that’s just inspirational. thanks.
the possibilities
Gamblers, compulsive ones, never feel they can lose, even when they know better.
Even if the fate of the world’s at stake.
The possibility of extinction is far away but close at hand as a finger on a button.
Being a doomsayer, and even more, seeing doom, let me reiterate again, it does not have to be this way. Even at the high water point of the Mesozoic, life was diverse and abundant, and even if we precipitate mass extinction, it will be again. Our job, if we accept it, is to make sure something of intelligence survives.
If someone does not, I’m not sure even a fossil record of us will remain.
By all means, when the time comes, get that lemon tree, and keep the green spark alive cd.
In all of this, though, I am increasingly puzzled. As a long time advocate of Occam’s razor as an explanation for what’s going on, I have used the simple motivation of greed and world wide dominion as a rationale for why all this is happening.
It still works, mind you. But increasingly, I have my questions. Chaos is the plan, but there seem to be a lot of higher order patterns forming, and I’m no longer sure exactly who the planner is.
Certainly not the idiots at Cheneyburton. They seem simply intent on riding the wave of shadow. Their transparency is the dead give-away they aren’t the tectonic shift that caused the tsunami.
No Hell below us
Above us, only sky
I don't know from zones, apparently
Xan reminds me of this, and I think I’m in Zone 5. But the larger point remains.
No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.
Building the record is laborious but necessary
If I were feeling snarky, I’d point out that focusing entirely on the result instead of the entire process is, well, kind of a guy thing…
No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.