General News
13 July, 2024
Barry's Corner
One of the issues we're having trouble coming to grips with is the climate discussion.
We try to ignore the thing and hope it goes away, but it's a harsh reality that we have to work with and address by making some changes for the survival of our families, the community and humankind.
There was talk about it in the '70s but not much was known about the realities and the extent of it at that time.
Lots of studies, research and observations since then have together pointed to a challenging future.
There is confusion between individual periods of hot and cold weather but that’s not the real issue.
The real story is the longer trends over months and years when floods and fires can work to higher intensity and therefore do more damage.
Fires in the past 15-20 years have nearly all been harder to supress and cope with.
While we have always faced and dealt with droughts, fires and floods, there is real concern that each disaster is more intense than before and the disruption to our food-growing regions will cause supply systems to be challenged.
There is also a focus on the rural agricultural sector to do any heavy lifting, when every one should make contributions.
Carbon emissions are everywhere - we can deal with them industry by industry.
All-electric seems to be popular and renewable energy can be successful.
Larger tractors, headers, trucks and heavy-fuel users have created some challenges but bus fleets are picking up the less-polluting engines successfully.
Electric cars are advancing in technology and it should soon be possible to drive greater distances on a single charge.
Having such a car right now can be a challenge due to a lack of recharge points but I see they are popping up in lots of places.
Even with fuel-based vehicles there needs to be some planning when visiting certain districts because many of the lower-turnover enterprises have closed down, making fuel harder to find.
If you live there it is no mystery but visitors do not always know where to look.