Anchor Struck

It’s about 250 kilometres (150 miles), as the loon flies, from our farm to Abbotsford, which is still draining from torrential rains and flooding. My heart aches every day for the families there as they search through mud and debris for reminders of their normal lives.

We got a lot of rain up here, as well. Last month we got 628 millimetres (25 inches), the most since I started keeping records in 2006. Last Tuesday we had nearly four inches, which blew out our micro-hydro pipes. Yesterday we got socked with ten inches of snow. Five months ago we had three straight days of record 33 C. degrees (90 F.) heat and sweated out another forest fire season more than usual.

I understand that these few stats will not move any needles. But I don’t know what stats will. Weather extremes are accelerating and we’re doing fuck all about it. This is the gravest threat humans have ever faced, aggravated by the lack of political boldness all around.

Most frustrating, there are a lot of solid ideas out there that can’t find enough oxygen. There are 16,000 ocean desalination plants in 177 countries that supply 300 million people with fresh water, but when the U.S. Marines investigated building one at Camp Pendleton, California, it bogged down in red tape. The Salton Sea, not far from Pendleton, may be able to produce two million metric tons of lithium. That’s a welcome irony because the Salton was partially created by catastrophic farming practices. Some consider it the biggest environmental disaster in California history.