Thanksgiving Day started out rainy but then turned unseasonably warm. During a walk in the neighborhood we passed a tree and my younger son, who is eight years old, and I noticed there were buds on the tree. With little introduction, we started to have a conversation as if we were the tree.
“Oh my, I’m still so tired, but the air is so warm. It must be time to wake up. My winter sleep was too short. I barely shed my leaves and closed my eyes before having to wake up and start growing again.”
It was a sad conversation as we both understood the strain the trees and many plants are under with the unpredictable climate that is becoming our norm. It’s confusing and disruptive to have such warm temperatures in late November and December that the trees actually start blossoming.
Many of us talk about how nice it is to have these warm days later and later into the year. But it’s also scary and sad.
Of course I don’t miss shoveling mountains of snow every winter, but I do miss the deep frosts that kill off the mosquitoes that bite and carry diseases, that give the plants time to rest and rejuvenate, and that allow all of us a chance to experience seasonal change and be grateful for the hot days of August during the cold blasts of January and February.
On a larger scale, warmer winters means less snowfall and therefore less water in places like California. California farmers and residents depend on the snows in the Sierra Nevada for water for agriculture and drinking. The crops grown in California, like almonds, wine grapes, walnuts, pistachios and peaches, are impacted by less cold weather too. They need a certain amount of cold weather for pollination and without it the crops are diminished. Apples, cherries and pears also need a certain amount of cold weather to produce. In the southeast, warmer winters are hurting peach and blueberry crops causing as much as 80% crop failure. Like the confused tree near my home, the bees are coming out of their hives and eating more of the honey stored for winter. As they start being more active earlier, they require more energy, and if they can’t get the nectar they need, they risk starvation. That would be the end of the honey supply and much more if there aren’t bees to pollinate our crops.
Closer to home, we’re losing out on winter activities like skiing, snowshoeing and snowboarding as well as ice fishing and ice skating. Snow isn’t falling for ski areas to operate and the ice isn’t thick enough for people to safely ice fish or ice skate. I already mentioned mosquitoes, but let’s not forget ticks. With warmer winters the ticks spread farther, survive longer and infect more people.
The list could go on considering every region of the country and impacts around the world, but the point is made. While we may not love the lower temperatures, we need the cold winter months for our health, our food and our recreational activities.
It may surprise you to learn that the solution to the problem is in our soil. Healthy, nutrient rich soil supporting diverse plants can and naturally does absorb significant amounts of carbon, a component of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases contributing to our warming winters. We get healthy soil by returning cattle to fields to graze rather then being fed from monoculture farms producing corn and soy, condemning cows and other livestock to be raised in barren pens. Animals raised for consumption should be grazing on open land where they contribute to the natural, productive, beneficial cycle of regenerative agriculture.
Regenerative agriculture is simply a return to how people farmed for centuries before the introduction of pesticides, fertilizers and corporate farming practices that have all contributed to the desertification of the very soil that can save us from the destructive impacts of climate change.
Each of us can help by advocating for changes to our agricultural system as laid out in and subsidized by the federal farm bill. The farm bill is a package of legislation that effectively controls how food is grown and what food is grown. The current farm bill expires in 2023 and now is the time to advocate for changes. Many organizations, from the National Wildlife Federation to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, have information about the farm bill and how to influence its content. Get on their websites and read about what they advocate for and then call your legislators and let them know what changes you want to see in the next farm bill.
More immediately, find a spot in your yard to replace some of that grass with native plants and an edible garden. Then let the earth do what it does, absorb the carbon dioxide emitted from our cars, airplanes, energy sources and so much more. Our trees need their winter rest, and they can only get it with a cold winter.