How to Feel More About Climate Change

It was a big month for sustainable ag news. 

The Farm Bill, that behemoth of legislation that funds and directs how we eat and farm in this country, and which expired back in September, was extended for another year. 

The fifth national climate assessment dropped. 

The USDA plant hardiness zone map, which is widely used to determine growing schedules and crop viability based on weather conditions, was updated for the first time in 12 years to reflect that the zones have shifted due to increased average temperatures. 

All of these confirmed on a macro level what we experience in smaller, more tangible ways every day. The climate has already changed, and the way we farm and eat has changed too. The horse has been out of the barn for a while now, and it’s never coming back home. 

In past years, when big pieces of scientific reporting have arrived to substantiate our worst fears and most apocalyptic headlines through rigorous research and data, the range of responses starts at indifference and spirals downwards to devastation. For those very close to this work and on the frontlines of this fight, it’s completely crushing. Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist, has written extensively about the grief and depression that climate scientists experience, and describes “a grieving process for the loss of a world we believed in our bones would always be there.” For many with more personal distance, the news hits a barrier of emotional lidocaine, allowing even the most well-meaning of folks to shrink back behind glazed over eyes. (No judgment here: it’s a powerful and necessary defense mechanism for living in a world that is so rife with horrors). Then there’s the camp that just flatly denies. 

To sum it up, the range of emotional responses is pretty negative. There’s nothing to feel good about on this topic, it would seem; it’s just a devastating end-of-times crap sandwich. 

But these days, maybe there’s a wider spectrum of emotions to feel. While the news is still, without question, bad, it’s also starting to show the effects of human-based change. Kate Marvel, one of the lead writers of the climate assessment, shared an op-ed with the New York Times this week that for the first time she’s feeling a glimmer of optimism that we can mitigate certain effects that will stave off a worst-case scenario. 

Then, there was this headline out of Portugal, noting the country’s success in powering the entire grid on renewable energy for a weekend earlier this month.

Solar roof installation during construction (Photo: ReDesign.Build)

And of course there’s the constant, closer-to-home reminders for us here that there’s a path forward. Here at Burkett Farm, we’re running our container barn fully off of solar energy. It’s not without its challenges - we’re still troubleshooting some issues, and learning more about what kind of energy load we can reasonably expect to use over time. In full transparency, we’ve had to rely on a generator back up a few times while working out the kinks of our system. But zooming out of those day-to-day learning curves, it’s still a remarkable thing that all of the electricity powering our walk in cooler, our demo kitchen appliances, our HVAC system, and our lights is being harvested (just like our crops) from the sun. 

We’re also adapting to climate change in real time through the growing seasons. In that updated plant hardiness zone map, our farm’s zone has been updated from 7b to 8a - which came as no surprise to us, based on what we’ve experienced in the garden. Our farm manager, Jamie, has learned through years of trials about which varietals of crops work well in our evolving climate, and which ones don’t, and how to time our plantings for the best possible outcomes. As we expand our perennial plantings and landscaping, we’re choosing edible plants that are good for pollinators and are drought-hardy. We’re studying the work of others who are experimenting with plants typically grown in more temperate zones to get ahead of the direction that our area’s climate is heading. The Utopian Seed Project in Western NC is doing some interesting work in this area. 

In our day to day work, none of this feels depressing. It feels exhilarating, and challenging (in a good way) - it’s work with purpose and with poetry, expansive rather than reductive. The vegetables that come from our farm are grown within the confines and challenges of a changing climate, but there’s nothing missing from the incredible flavor, the rich nutrients, the opportunities for feeding ourselves and others. 

It may not be realistic or prudent to feel good about climate change, but there’s definitely an opportunity to feel more than bad.