Aug 26, 20212 min read

Adapting to a Changing Landscape {Week 16 CSA}

We chose this land expecting water scarcity to be our biggest threat from a changing climate. We didn't anticipate lack of sunlight or breathable air to challenge us first.

It's been interesting to see the array of responses to our recent smoked out weather. Being cloaked in a thick layer of ash strains many of us like no other weather pattern can. For some, it's a claustrophobia-like angst. Others experience a relentless eco-grief weighing the heaviest. Those who can flee to bluer skies seem to waste no second leaving, while the many of us who must stay are developing interesting and resilient coping mechanisms. So many aspects of our current reality feel depressingly dystopian.

As you might imagine, farm life carries on as best as possible on even the smokiest days. We wear thick masks when harvesting outdoors and try to concentrate on the tasks we can do inside our greenhouses and other structures. Working out here on heavy smoke days is optional, which means the load increases for those of us who can be here. There's no candy coating 2021. It's been a more difficult year than last and we're left wondering if things will only get harder. It's amazing how quickly our acceptance widens to include hazy skies at an AQI of 175 as a decent day. Perhaps that's how we'll be adapting to this increasingly challenging fire season as climate change continues to reveal its depth and force.

Darwin said it's not the strongest who survive, nor the smartest, but those who are most able to adapt. Our hope is the angst and loss and difficulty that these heavy layers of smoke carry spark the changes we all need to make in our lives. Often the only way out is through and discomfort can become our tool for breaking through our convenient complacency.

Because if not, what else will need to burn before we do?

Dixie Fire devastation adds to the record-breaking fire year of 2021. The smoke from our region's fires, and those raging in the Mediterranean and the Siberian forests are being photographed from space. Not only are they suffocating our lungs and our sunlight, but they are emitting megatonnes of carbon all the while. (Image by Noah Berner)