Desert Gardens

» 44aces - What can we do about climate change?

My name is Andrea. I am a graduate student. I am currently taking a science class in which I have been researching climate changes caused by global warming. I started to wonder how my fellow gardeners are dealing with climate change. I am hoping for input from you on ways to mitigate the problem, both in and outside of our gardens.

In this part of Zone 8, the soil is now hot enough to support many Zone 9 plants. In an effort to conserve water, now days, I plant only winter hearty, drought tolerant plants. I have removed the lawn on the parking strip and replaced it with wild strawberries, lavenders, sedum and euphorbia. I no longer water the rest of the lawn. I use drip irrigation on my vegetable garden and perennial beds.

I have always been an organic gardener. I keep my soil healthy with compost and compost tea. I plant flowering plants and native plants to attract beneficial insects.

In non-gardening ways I plan to switch from an old oil furnace to natural gas. I have already switched from regular light bulbs to compact fluorescent ones. I am already conserving gasoline by consolidating trips. In the future, I plan to buy a hybrid car.

I would like to have incentives available to invest in solar and wind generation options. I always imaged my house with solar panels and a wind turbine on the roof.

Have you noticed a climate change in your own garden? What changes have you made in your garden? What changes have you made to reduce your "carbon fingerprint"?

Thank you for your time.

SOME FACTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming is the term used to describe an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere. It is caused by the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the term used to describe the entrapment of infrared radiation (heat) within the earth's atmosphere. When the sun shines, the solar energy that lands on the earth's surface is absorbed. After absorption, the warm earth gives off infrared radiation. With an increase in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and others, the earth's atmosphere has thickened. More and more infrared radiation is being trapped within the atmosphere instead of being released into space. Scientists agree that this trapping and reradiating of heat has been a sufficient enough to increase the earth's temperature. The rise in temperature has precipitated climate change including glacier melt, drought, flooding and an increase in hurricanes.

Scientists agree that humans have greatly contributed to global warming. Fossil fuel use and deforestation are the main contributors to greenhouse gases. If we continue on the current path, the earth's temperature will increase between 2.5°F - 10.4°F by 2100. The rise in temperature would lead further to climate change. Warmer sea temperatures increases glacier melt and increases sea levels. A rise in sea level leads to increased flooding. Warmer land temperatures will change the life cycles of plants and animal species. For example, pests like mosquitoes will be able to survive longer and will thrive in a wider geographical territory. In this way, they will be able to infect more of the population. Warmer soil will disrupt our planting zones. Our soil could become too hot to support agricultural crops.

REFERENCES

Flannery, Tim. (2005). The weather makers: How man is changing the climate and what it means for life on earth. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.

Kolbert, Elizabeth. (2006). Field notes from a catastrophe: Man, nature, and climate change. New York: Bloombury Publishing.

Schnoor, J.L. (2005). Global warming: A consequence of human activities rivaling earth's biogeochemical process. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 11, 1105-1110.

Stix, G. (2006). A Climate Repair Manual, Scientific American, 295(3), 46-50.

Union for Concerned Scientists web site.
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/sci...

-- posted by 44aces

» Robert Dailey - What can we do about climate change?

Andrea:
You make some great points about climate change. And it's not only because of global warming. The fact is that about 40 percent of the land mass of the world is at risk from desertification (becoming deserts).
In the high mountain deserts near Santa Fe, NM, the land has been overgrazed for about 400 years, and much of it will sustain nothing but marginal and desert plants.
But many places in the world have been overgrazed and overfarmed for millenia.

The United Nations has declared 2006 the "Year of Desertification," and has noted that desertification is a true threat to humanity.
Currently we are using the world's fresh water at an alarming rate. At the current rate, we will run out of fresh water long before global warming can take effect.
There are serious attempts now to institute water conservation methods in agriculture, particularly in the Third World, where starvation is immanent and disease (because of contaminated water supplies and poor nutrition) has reached epidemic proportions.
At least 38 percent of the world's population is at risk from lack of fresh water.
Perhaps the most important development of the century has been drip irrigation, which reduces (sometimes by two to three times) the amount of water needed to irrigate food crops.
Drip irrigation has increased yield significantly where these practices have been used. There are now large projects in China, North and South America, Africa (particularly Zimbabwe, Senegal and Egypt), and large portions of Asia.
Yes, global warming is a problem, but billions will stare, or die horrible deaths because of disease, if the fresh water problem is not solved, and soon.