My central Texas farm drought (PIC heavy)

bbbuddy · #21 07/15/09, 07:56 PM

Part of the whole "temperatures are rising stuff" comes from the fact that many of the same weather stations are being used to take temps that were used in the 40's and 50's. They USED to be located out of the city, surrounded by greenery in most cases. Now with growth of the cities, most of them are surrounded by concrete. More than one had been found to be located right next to heater ducts on buildings.

Duh, of course they report higher temps.

Globally, the earth temps have ALWAYS risen and fallen. Long before any industry. Earth temps are all about what the sun is doing.

The amount contributed by man would be like ----ing in the ocean and trying to measure the rise of the seas...

Global warming and cooling exists, always has existed, but it's NOT MAN MADE.

Minelson · #22 07/15/09, 09:47 PM

Feral Nature...hugs to you. I am so sorry you are going through this

I wish I could help. I'll pray for rain for you.

KimM · #23 07/15/09, 10:12 PM

That is really frightening. Praying for lots of rain to come your way. But not TOO much!

3crow · #24 07/15/09, 10:46 PM

Diane

My thoughts are with you. I know how hard it is to live in those conditions. Hope some good soaking rain cames your way soon.

Bricheze · #25 07/16/09, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wags

I think "global warming" is a bunch of hooey! Other places are having a wetter and cooler than usual summer.

Well that's because the areas that are having incredibly dry hot summers are having all the mostuire from lakes, rivers, snow run off, and evaportation from soil evaprotated into the atmosphere, and then it is all being rained in areas that are getting wet summers, such as northern Texas.

In fact, they even predicted that this would happen 20 years ago due to global warming.

Bricheze · #26 07/16/09, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbuddy

Part of the whole "temperatures are rising stuff" comes from the fact that many of the same weather stations are being used to take temps that were used in the 40's and 50's. They USED to be located out of the city, surrounded by greenery in most cases. Now with growth of the cities, most of them are surrounded by concrete. More than one had been found to be located right next to heater ducts on buildings.

Duh, of course they report higher temps.

Globally, the earth temps have ALWAYS risen and fallen. Long before any industry. Earth temps are all about what the sun is doing.

The amount contributed by man would be like ----ing in the ocean and trying to measure the rise of the seas...

Global warming and cooling exists, always has existed, but it's NOT MAN MADE.

There is no doubt that the climate has changed in the past.

Just because it hasn't been man made before it doesn't mean it can't be now. The truth is, climate change is a delicate balance between the sun, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. What has driven the change in global climate change before, was the sun and water vapor, with carbon dioxide adding a light momentum in each way. But since we are now adding onto the carbon dioxide it could cause results that are much more drastic and accelerated then ever before.

it is very complicated and has to do with the balance between carbon dioxide and water vapor in the Malkovich Cycles, and the sun, but it is really quite hard to explain and for others to understand, and most of the time the skeptics that call something as serious as climate change a hoax don't want to listen hard enough to understand where I am coming from...

Narshalla · #27 07/16/09, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bricheze

Well that's because the areas that are having incredibly dry hot summers are having all the mostuire from lakes, rivers, snow run off, and evaportation from soil evaprotated into the atmosphere, and then it is all being rained in areas that are getting wet summers, such as northern Texas.

In fact, they even predicted that this would happen 20 years ago due to global warming.

That's just nonsense! 20 years ago, they were still prediction the next Ice Age because of Global Cooling caused by all the CO2 in the atmosphere.

Bricheze · #28 07/16/09, 12:50 AM

Anyways, whether global warming is real or not, it doesn't matter. It is still no excuse to say "Well global warming is a hoax, so I don't have to recycle" you can't use it as an excuse to do what is right for the Earth. But many many people do. That is why I think 50% of skeptics don;t think it's real, they just want their responsibility to take care of the Earth to just disapear so they say we aren't effecting it and it will all be fine whether or not they waste resources and pollute the air.

Kids are getting asthma do to poor air quaility, hundreds of thousands of square miles of rainforests are being demolished daily, thousands of species of animals are going extinct daily, the ocean is filled with plastic, the list goes on and on. We are having an impact on the planet. Personally, I think the biggest impact is changing the climate to the point where millions of animals are going extinct, trees are being killed by bugs that never existed in their areas before (pine tree beetles), wildfires are raging through dried out forests through out all the states, deserts are expanding and more people are dying from dehyrdration, etc etc. The effects of climate change are monumentus, the consequences are incredibly serious, it is all happening now, and we still have the slighest chance to stop it.

Whether or not you believe in global warming, we need to realize that the risks are to high not to do nothing about it. We still need to move towards sustainable agrictulture and a non-linear natural resource system (take from forest, process, sell, throw away). And we each need to be doing our part instead of standing around saying "Naw, global warmin is just a hoax."

susanne · #29 07/16/09, 07:51 AM

i'm happy to see that there are at least some people here that see global warming as a threat and that something has to change.

Bricheze unfortunately you will not change their minds. most of them can't see
further then the length of their shoes.

diane i hope you will get rain soon.

mnn2501 · #30 07/16/09, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bricheze

hundreds of thousands of square miles of rainforests are being demolished daily, thousands of species of animals are going extinct daily, the ocean is filled with plastic, the list goes on and on. "

While I understand where you are coming from and I do believe in global warming, its exagerations like the above that help cause the reactions like "global warming is a hoax"

"hundreds of thousands of square miles of rainforests are being demolished daily" and "thousands of species of animals are going extinct daily" Come on, do the math.

There are 57,500,000 sq mi of land on the planet*, if 100,000 sq miles a day of rain forest are disappearing - the entire planet would have had to be rain forest and it all would have had to disappear in under 2 years (575 days to be exact).

If we're going to fight the 'hoax people' we need to have accurate facts and not just emotions.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now

*Science Desk Reference American Scientific. New York: Wiley, 1999: 180.

Ambereyes · #31 07/16/09, 08:21 AM

Looks just like my place, well I guess it should I live in Lee county too.. Most of the stock ponds are just mud puddles too. Hoping for a better fall so I can have time to plant my fall garden.. Ground is rock hard with very large cracks..

Just want to say Hi neighbor to Feral Nature.

LaManchaPaul · #32 07/16/09, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbuddy

Part of the whole "temperatures are rising stuff" comes from the fact that many of the same weather stations are being used to take temps that were used in the 40's and 50's. They USED to be located out of the city, surrounded by greenery in most cases. Now with growth of the cities, most of them are surrounded by concrete. More than one had been found to be located right next to heater ducts on buildings.

Duh, of course they report higher temps.

Globally, the earth temps have ALWAYS risen and fallen. Long before any industry. Earth temps are all about what the sun is doing.

The amount contributed by man would be like ----ing in the ocean and trying to measure the rise of the seas...

Global warming and cooling exists, always has existed, but it's NOT MAN MADE.

Fellow goatherder, regarding your comments:

If the detector placed in the 40/50’s suddenly finds itself near a heat vent, then move it to a nearby forest. When the heat vents replace that forest, move the detector to another mini-environment forest. Ditto for next time. Duh, of course global temperatures remain close to those of the past recordings.

What the sun is doing is pretty much a constant over a hundred years. What hasn't remained constant is the amount of carbon oxides in the atmosphere. Carbon that was locked-up under thousands of years of soil/rock buildup, has been siphoned out and converted into energy. That process alone has released "a lot" of carbon into the environs; which affects the Earth as a whole. For one to deny that is unconscionable.

Your image of a man ----ing in the ocean is quite vivid. Perhaps the “amount” contributed by man is “small” in the whole scheme of the naturaleza, but to imply that the current upping of global temps aren’t contributed-to by Man goes against my logic.

I looked for satellite images of SA’s Amazon rain forest then and now, but couldn’t find it. “We” can’t destroy the NA forest, and then start the SA forest without some sort of consequences to be levied by Mother Nature.

Like Susanne said, nothing said will change some peoples’ minds – just as nothing said will change mine.

How ironic that this topic is so similar to certain goatherders’ ideas; who have CAE and/or CL in their herds. NOT A BIG DEAL – What’s all the fuss?? Eh? (As they continue to propagate sicknesses) My current opinion is that it would be just too inconvenient to have any other position regarding CL/CAE or global warming. “I want my cake and eat it too!”
Paul

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnn2501

While I understand where you are coming from and I do believe in global warming, its exagerations like the above that help cause the reactions like "global warming is a hoax"

"hundreds of thousands of square miles of rainforests are being demolished daily" and "thousands of species of animals are going extinct daily" Come on, do the math.

There are 57,500,000 sq mi of land on the planet*, if 100,000 sq miles a day of rain forest are disappearing - the entire planet would have had to be rain forest and it all would have had to disappear in under 2 years (575 days to be exact).

If we're going to fight the 'hoax people' we need to have accurate facts and not just emotions.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now

*Science Desk Reference American Scientific. New York: Wiley, 1999: 180.

Wow. AND with reference::::; oh no... please stay up there!

Paul

chickenista · #33 07/16/09, 10:46 AM

Oh Holy Cow!!
Those pics are beyond belief!
My heart goes out to you. I cannot imagine.
It looks so very much like the Dust Bowl era.
If I could take in your critters and you could get them here, I would let them clear my undergrowth in a heartbeat! I really would.
Hugs to you and hopes that you can keep your sanity while living in a new desert!

shiandpete.1 · #34 07/16/09, 10:47 AM

I wish I could send some rain your way, For the first time in 5 or 6 years we are out of a drought....My thoughts are with all you Texans who are suffering because of the drought!

fishhead · #35 07/16/09, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wags

I think "global warming" is a bunch of hooey! Other places are having a wetter and cooler than usual summer.

That's why it's more accurate to call it "climate change". Yes it is happening. There is plenty of evidence around us already and it will only get worse. My biggest fear is that major food production systems might collapse from changes in rainfall patterns. If that happens things will be in crisis mode very quickly because we have failed to stabilize our population. Even with a stable climate and harvest the intersection between supply and demand is rapidly approaching.

I wonder if anyone moves their herds to greener pastures while they wait for the rains to return? That might be cheaper than importing hay.

Feral Nature · #36 07/16/09, 10:16 PM

IMO global warming does not mean the globe warms but rather the process of global warming alters the climate, making some parts dry and hot, some parts cool and wet etc. Not just a warm planet. It is all things out of whack because of the sins of mankind against his only environment.

And yes, Susanne, it was I that had to sell off our herd of very nice Polled Hereford cattle, bloodlines in the family since 1940, when this drought started several years ago. It broke my heart and I cried for a long time.

I have had several offers from really nice folks to keep my goats for me for awhile. I am thinking all this over. Thank you all very much.

Meanwhile, I am praying for hurricanes (where no one gets hurt).

Alice In TX/MO · #37 07/17/09, 06:47 AM

I think it's important to have a longer view of history and to avoid the Chicken Little response.

The drought cycle is not new. Texas had a major drought after the dust bowl years. The website below has a good overview.

This drought will come and go, and the agricultural industry will survive. We will not starve.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/droug...t_history.html

The 1950s drought was characterized by both low rainfall amounts and excessively high temperatures. Texas rainfall dropped by 40% between 1949-1951 and by 1953, 75% of Texas recorded below normal rainfall amounts. Excessive temperatures heated up cities like Dallas where temperatures exceeded 100°F on 52 days in the summer of 1953. Kansas experienced severe drought conditions during much of the five-year period, and recorded a negative Palmer Drought Severity Index from 1952 until March 1957, reaching a record low in September of 1956.

susanne · #38 07/17/09, 09:08 AM

[QUOTE=Alice In TX/MO;3921841]
The drought cycle is not new. Texas had a major drought after the dust bowl years. The website below has a good overview.

and if we look a little bit deeper into this,
dust bowl years were man made because the miss use of the land.

hope this does not count as " Chicken Little response"

Feral Nature · #39 07/17/09, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rose2005

Oh my! I wish I could send you even 10% of the rain we have had this year. It has been so unusually wet here and folk have really struggled to put a garden in because of it, or bale hay. We have had roads washed out!

Plus it's getting down in the 40s at night time here which is very unusual for this time of the year.

Are you able to purchase hay at a decent price for your animals?

Rose

I has been as warm as 95 degrees at midnight. Hay is at a premium. It is often limited to 3 square bales of grass hay per customer per week at the feedstores and the round bales in the pastures are not for sale in some cases as they are needed by the rancher who has grown it. Hay is being produced at 10% of it's normal rate. hay fields that usually produce 100 round bales only produce 10 round bales. No alfalfa of course because it doesn't grow in Texas, so if it is available, it is $15. for a very poor quality square bale.

We have had 30 days now of triple digits, last summer 50 days, they think we will beat 50 days this summer.

Feral Nature · #40 07/17/09, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambereyes

Looks just like my place, well I guess it should I live in Lee county too.. Most of the stock ponds are just mud puddles too. Hoping for a better fall so I can have time to plant my fall garden.. Ground is rock hard with very large cracks..

Just want to say Hi neighbor to Feral Nature.

Ah, a kindred spirit! I was hoping for a fall garden too. The weatherman tells us we have an El Nino in the Pacific that may give us rain this fall and winter, keep your fingers crossed, pray and do a really extremely crazy rain dance.