May #phenology, disMay'd by report

I don't know about elsewhere, but in our little corner of the North Country we've seen (and removed from the dogs, ourselves, and, today, one of the interior walls) more ticks than any year I can remember. So far, the count is more than 6, approaching 12. As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus (Michael Conrad) used to say on Hill Street Blues, "Let's be careful out there."

On the brighter side, today we saw the first hummingbird of the year. It floated by the picture window, presumably looking for a nectar feeder which we belatedly hung. There already is one in place in front if the house. While on the topic of bird feeders, I've been put in my place over the past day or so by a bunch of bird brains. I complained early this morning that the feeding ports in the new "squirrel-proof" feeder didn't offer access to much seed. Within the hour, cardinals, downey woodpeckers, and the usual multitude of chickadees and finches had shown me! They piled in like they'd been feeding at it for years. One blue jay hasn't found it to his/her liking though. I suspect s/he's oversized for the perch / feeding port relationship.

Back to some disheartening news, at least I found it so. Agriculture is among the top three sectors of Minnesota's economy which contribute significantly to our greenhouse gas emissions. Too many Minnesotans seem to think that's not important enough to do something about.

corn rarely uses all the nitrogen farmers give it

Photo by J. Harrington

Ag/forestry/land use

It’s complicated. Some emissions from crop and animal agriculture have increased by more than 10% since 2005, but forest regrowth has helped offset these increases. Overall emissions decreased by just 2% since 2005, and remain highly variable year-to-year.

Upon reviewing a recent Barr Engineering prepared summary of a Minnesota Environmental Quality Board survey on integrating climate information into Minnesota's Environmental Review Program. Turns out less than half (48%) of the respondents think it's a good idea. The same percent think it's important to add. This suggests to me at least two things:

1. The media has done a terrible "both sides" job of informing the public of the critical nature of humans impact on the climate; and,
2. The public is woefully uneducated about the negative impacts of agriculture on the habitat of humans. In addition to climate impacts, agriculture is also responsible for the failure of almost half of our rivers and streams to meet water quality standards.

                  Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

            by Wendell Berry

 

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won’t compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion — put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

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