When it comes to growing food we need water, and not too much but certainly not too little, between May and September 2018 we had the direst summer ever. We had a water deficit here on our farm. We had parched ground that went down 18 inches, never in my lifetime or in my dad’s lifetime had we seen such a thing.
Our planet is burning, it seems like we are walking in an alternate universe, there is so little talk about the climate crisis, as today COP29 finishes. Three weeks ago, Spain was devastated by the worst flooding on record, did you see it? A year’s worth of rain fell in less than half a day in some regions, killing at least 205 people.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We have seen Europe burn in two successive summers. The impact that this changing climate will have and is having on our food supply will be immense.
The science is clear, and it makes sense, warming oceans mean more water and energy in the air, hence bigger wind and more rain. Last year I remember swimming in the sea off Galway and the water was hot! Another once off. An unheard-of marine heatwave caused an increase of 5C in sea water temperature. These “once off” events are happening more often, the extremes are becoming normalised.
We are not immune here in Ireland either, thankfully we have been spared the worst, or maybe better to say we have been spared the extremes. But how about the relentless rain? I know there will be many who smile and say of course it rains this is Ireland, but this is on a whole new level. It started raining in June 2023 and it didn’t stop here until the end of August 2024. It prevented us getting into the fields to plant, It delayed harvest, it reduced yields, increased disease, it has had a very serious impact. July 2023 was the wettest July ever recorded here in Ireland, EVER!
Why is all of this change happening so fast? We all know the answer to this, we are putting too much greenhouse gases at too fast a rate into the atmosphere. Of course, there are natural variations in the climate but over the last 11700 years we have been blessed to live in a relatively stable climate. This is all on the cusp of changing, but why? Why must we destabilise a planetary system that has allowed us to prosper, to have such abundance like never before?
There is only one reason when clean energy solutions are staring us in the face: GREED. The fossil fuel companies are determined to keep us on this path of planetary overheating. 57 fossil fuel producers have been responsible for 80% of all global CO2 emissions. Of course we need energy, but we can change to clean energy, and we are.
There is such hope in renewable energy, we have these amazing natural resources that are clean and do not pour warming gases into an already overheated atmosphere, why wouldn’t we do it? What is the downside? There is none that I can see.
In 2018 with the help of a crowd funding campaign we got enough money together to install a 10KW solar panel array. Two years ago, we borrowed to increase this and finally with the aid of a grant from the Department of agriculture we installed a further 20KW array this week. I am so excited to have finally taken this step, which brings us one step closer to creating our energy here locally from the sun and becoming carbon neutral. There are so many sheds on farms all over Ireland, and there is good support from the government, if you are in agriculture, surely it is worth a look?
Producing our food locally and harvesting and being able to store it in fridges that are being run by the sun makes me feel very happy. What makes me feel even happier is that there are people like you who believe that taking these steps are critical to protecting our planet.
I can only say, at this time of great change in the world, you are needed now more than ever.
We can only ever take these steps because you support us.
Thank you.
Kenneth