Friday, September 18, 2020
Don't know what's wrong. Re-starting the computer hasn't helped. I'll try again
tomorrow. We had another beautiful day – it’s a bit too early, perhaps, to speak
of Indian Summer. I did my lap of the garden, all unassisted. And I sped round
the yoke of the EPS. It won’t take much longer. I had an early nap today, and
thus caught an item about knitting on Woman’s Hour. It wasn’t very good. The
famous presenter (Jenni Murray) clearly didn’t know the first thing about
knitting. Susan Crawford (Shetland Knitting Project) was there but didn’t get a
chance to say much. The idea was that farmers don’t make enough from selling
wool to pay for the shearing. That’s been the case for years, with breeds like
the Scottish blackface. Their wool used to provide carpet backing, but carpets
are now backed with acrylic and woven on the continent. I would have liked to
hear how farmers are getting on who grow wool that knitters want to knit with.
Kate Davies’ new Schiehallion yarn, for instance, is 70% Corriedale and 30%
Cheviot. (Merino sheep, I gather, have delicate chests which make them
unsuitable for the British climate.) But the notion of differences in wool
between one breed of sheep and another wasn’t touched upon in the item on
Woman’s Hour, so the whole thing was rather pointless. Maybe I’ll have to buy a
Schiehallion kit, just to do my bit for British sheep farmers. I’m greatly
looking forward to our club. Politics A dangerous subject. You’re all going to
want to shoot me. I’m sure you know that, in reference to the horrible wildfires
on the west coast, Biden has been talking about the need to pay serious
attention to climate change and Trump has recommended forest management. I’m
afraid I think Trump is right. Climate change needs to be paid attention to. But
doing so is not going to improve things this year or next year or for a while.
Whereas getting in there and removing the trees that have died of drought in the
last 10 years is likely to help right away. Meanwhile Kamala (whom I greatly
admire) is complaining that air pollution affects black people
disproportionately. And she’s probably right. But that’s not what we were
talking about. Addressing climate change will eventually improve air pollution.
But it can be improved by other means more rapidly, as well.
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I think your ideas about climate change vs immediate action are quite right. Even if it was Trump suggesting it. (My dad had a saying that this makes me think of: "Even a blind hog gets an acorn sometimes.")
ReplyDeleteBesides, we could never "want to shoot' you, Jean. Your ideas are always thoughtful and thought through (unlike some politicians...)
There's forest management and there's forest management... I strongly suspect that one side wants to do profitable clear-cutting and leave unsalable debris to burn, while the other side would like to do as you suggest, the very labor-intensive work of removing only the deadwood (and even that is not good for the health of a forest). I don't think anyone has yet suggested hauling water to wet down everywhere that isn't already burning; I guess it's too late for that.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right too, Jean. What struck me the other day was a map of the Pacific coast. The whole US was in flames, but neither Canada nor Mexico is suffering from forest fires. If it were global warming, a border wouldn't make a difference. I believe there is global warming, but I don't think it's causing the fires.
ReplyDeleteAs of right now, British Columbia has 20 wildfires of note. I think you have to search for Canadian or Mexican wildfires to get accurate information. Maps of US wildfires stop at the border. Wildfires don't.
DeleteYou have probably noticed how the weather stops at the border as well on US tv stations.
DeleteAmazing, isn't it?
DeleteAlso, since the US Government owns more than 50% of the forests in CA, THEY are the ones that need to be doing that forest management, which hasn't happened no matter how much Trump talks about it
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good point...a large portion of the forested land in the west is actually under the control of the federal government.
DeleteSo, how many people would it take to “manage” the millions of acres of forest in the US? And who will pay them? What does Trump mean by “forest management” anyway? Seriously, with the terribly dry conditions and gale force winds, does anyone really think that clearing out the dead stuff would prevent these fires? Have you watched those dry live trees explode into flames in the video? Fires are, of course, nature’s forest management.....unfortunately man has just gotten in the way......
ReplyDeleteThe weather patterns have all gone sideways--due to climate change. Northern California generally has damp, foggy, cool weather. Lately this region has been hot, sunny, and very very dry. It makes the forests much more vulnerable to fire than they were in the past. There is an ecology of fire, and as Maureen in Fargo says, fire is nature's way of managing forest overgrowth. There were forests long before there were people to manage them. What makes these fires so dangerous now are the weather conditions (high winds, drought, excessive heat) that unquestionably have been exacerbated by climate change.
DeleteAlso, these European countries, such as Finland, that Trump holds up as paragons of forest management, must have been astonished to find out that they do things like rake forest floors! Perhaps the Austrians will emerge from their forest-cities to advise California...
What might help is public education. I was amazed to hear that some of these wildfires are started by things people do without thinking, and some as deliberate arson. That was certainly the case in Australia last year.
ReplyDeleteWe just don't know enough. Are all those Federal forests together in one chunk? Or interspersed among California forests. Hard to act decisively when there is intermingling. Not to mention the politics involved. How does one set of jurisdictions impinge on another - either by affecting nature or local political egos. Perhaps in just throwing that idea out there to the general public some wheels might start turning. Maybe it is a combination of methods that might be the best solution. Chloe
ReplyDeleteIn California the federal land and private land are a literal checkerboard. Think of the light aquares as federal and the dark squares as privately/state owned. During the wet months there is plenty of clearing of dead trees and undergrowth by Calfire. Inmates do some of the work just as they help fight fires. Do you realize how large California is? How the understory is animal habitat? How quickly understory reinhabits itself? How full of oils those shrubs are to be able to live in drought conditions, thus they more flammable and also they burn hotter. Topography also plays a role with canyons and inaccessible areas.
ReplyDeleteAs Chloe says,
It needs a variety of methods and understandings to manage the forests.
United Kingdom is approximately 243,610 sq km, while California is approximately 403,882 sq km, making California 66% larger than United Kingdom. Meanwhile, the population of United Kingdom is ~64.4 million people (27.2 million fewer people live in California).Just found this:
ReplyDelete