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Today I bring you two opinion pieces which I just now read in the New York Times, and which I feel are very important bellwethers of our economic and social climate in the USA (which in turn affects the worldwide zeitgeist).

One: “The Shrinking of the American Mind,” by Roger Cohen. “Among the words or phrases that were never spoken in the two presidential debates were: Syria, human rights, drones, democracy, inequality, dictatorship, Israel, Palestine, Middle East, United Nations, World Health Organization, Guantánamo, European Union, Britain, Brexit, France, Italy, Hong Kong, Africa (or any single African state), South America, terrorism, multilateral, authoritarianism, alliance. That’s a pretty good measure of the shrinking of the American mind. …”

Two: “The Radicalization of a Small American Town,” by Brian Groh. “In my more charitable moments, I can see my neighbors’ xenophobia and racism … as symptoms of alienation from people who feel forsaken and disdained. This is, perhaps, the part of me that still feels deeply connected to where I live. But I’ve been appalled by the ugliness I’ve seen here this past year. And more often, in the dwindling autumn light, I find myself staring at my grandparents’ old farmhouse and wondering if it’s finally time to pack my bags. …”

Both pieces are brief and incisive. Hope you will appreciate them as much as I did! Truth, even when it’s not rosy, can be a refreshing tonic.

As the benchmark of “normal” becomes more and more extreme, then any attempt to move it back in the direction of common sense (or even just to question it at all) gets met with ridicule, suspicion, contempt, or worse.

I’m thinking of the sod-grass landscaping hegemony but it applies to many other things as well. Such as the single-use-packaging norm. And extreme palm-tree pruning, which is the landscaping fad in Florida — taking away street shade, robbing habitat from bats and other wildlife. Question that, and you’re just a weirdo.

Note: My advice is, persevere, brave ones! We’ll know we’re making progress when the mainstream norms no longer define concern for plants and animals and ecosystems as some sort of fringe, sappy, impractical thing.

What examples have you noticed around you, of being considered crazy or extreme when you question an accepted norm that is itself crazy and extreme?

Erika Hardison of Reviewed.com offers “10 ways to make it fun for kids at home” on Halloween. (The tips are good for adults too, if you’re like me and enjoy Halloween.)

I like the idea of making homemade treats to eat at home. (In fact, in past years I’ve thought of reducing single-use plastic trash by giving out homemade candy. But I’ve never ended up doing that, and I’m not sure how it’d go over in a pandemic world.)

I particularly like this tip about kids’ costumes: “No need to spend a lot of money on costumes for your growing kids when you can just make a fun outfit that can double as their everyday clothes. Primary is the source for all trendy, genderneutral clothes for infants, toddlers, big kids and adults. You can turn regular clothes into funny pop culture references. The best part is that these Halloween outfits can also be part of your kid’s wardrobe after Halloween which means you will save money.”

The tip about an indoor scavenger hunt for candy is another fun one, if you’ve got family or housemates living with you.

My Halloween plans this year will probably involve a large bowl of wrapped candy (though I don’t like the plastic trash) which I will put out on a table at the bottom of the driveway for people to help themselves. I’ve thought of scooping loose unwrapped candy into little paper bags; that might be a greener choice than the plastic-wrapped stuff.

I may also invite neighbors to stop by for social-distance cocktails, but probably not. For sure, a friend and I are going to sit in the “outdoor living room” (my driveway, which is furnished with outdoor furniture and potted plants — benefit of car-free life!) and watch the Madea Halloween movie on a portable DVD player.

Do you celebrate Halloween? What are some of your favorite tips for having fun while saving money, minimizing environmental impacts, and safeguarding public health?

Finally, I want to express my appreciation to my local paper, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, for running the article mentioned above. As well as many other articles I’ve referenced on this blog. I consider the News-Journal pretty darn good as local papers go. I particularly appreciate their climate-related coverage.

(Another article in today’s News-Journal talks about an alternative approach to “school picture day.” Some schools are doing it the old way but with hand sanitizer and all that. But some schools offering online learning are now letting kids take their own selfies at home and upload them to the photo company. Sounds kinda cool! I tended to dread picture day as a kid, but if home selfies had existed, I might have enjoyed it more. As well as being potentially more fun and convenient, and eliminating the public-health risk, it could be more eco-friendly since presumably you cut out the need for a bunch of hand-sanitizer and other stuff.)

I’m pretty sure I’ve covered this topic here before, but it bears repeating. People (especially here in Florida) seem to be excessively fearful of plants “taking over” their yards. Even gardeners express this fear. Even permaculture gardeners express this fear. It strikes me almost like a feeling of revulsion for the success of a life form other than humans.

In response to yet another “that plant will TAKE OVER” thread on one of the many gardening-related forums I belong to, I posted the following comment. And was happy to see it get over 30 “Likes” so far. Glad it has struck a chord!

“I am grateful for plants that are super robust. One day we may be thankful for them. They may become the only thing holding the soil down; the only thing keeping us from turning into full-on desert as drought-flood extremes continue to accelerate.

“Super vigorous plants are my best buddies. Mineral-harvesters. Chop & drop material for biomass. Flood mitigation; stormwater runoff prevention. Allow us to make our soil a sponge for anti-desertification and firebreak.

“I wonder how many plants, animals, and other creatures, if they could speak, would be saying about us humans, ‘Get rid of them all now! They take over! They’ll overrun you!'”

In Part 1, I linked an article that lets you find out where your county ranks in terms of climate-related threat. (USA only; my apologies to readers elsewhere but maybe something similar has been done for other parts of the world.)

In Part 2, I offered some pointers to guide you in your planning.

In this post, I’ll wrap it up with some more bullet points, and a link to another helpful article for you to read.

• Really, this whole entire website of mine is about “making your plans for climate change.” A low-footprint lifestyle doubles as climate-change adaptation training and household/community preparedness all in one.

• Some bullet points may overlap; this is a big subject to wrap our brains around, and I’m trying to make it digestible and actionable by presenting it from different angles and different magnitudes of viewing.

• The article that inspired this post seems to be looking at a time horizon of 20 to 40 years. But I sense these kinds of changes in a more immediate future; I’m looking at more like 5 to 10 years. Residents of California, Colorado, and other western states; or coastal Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states that are already seeing significant changes, might want to really consider either moving to another part of the country, or staying and taking more of a leadership role: boosting your land-based skills such as gardening, ecosystem restoration, fire-mitigating landscaping. If you can’t breathe the air where you live, it’s time to take a serious look at making some shifts.

• I see personal planning for climate change as falling into two broad categories. One category is steps you take to make yourself, your household, your community more flexible, adaptable, resilient, anti-fragile in the face of whatever the future brings. The other category is steps you take to change your lifestyle in such a manner as to help shift society in a direction that will (possibly) avert some of the most severe consequences of climate change, increasing the likelihood that you, your children, grandchildren and future generations will continue to be able to live life on this planet. Not only survive, but live a life worth living.

• There are no guarantees anything we do will work. We’ve painted ourselves into quite a corner. But we have to try.

• Pick an old-school skill you’ve been interested in, and get good at it, if you don’t have one already. Gardening, carpentry with hand tools, sewing, mending, small-engine repair, knife-sharpening, bicycle repair, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, cooking, canning, herbal medicine, field medicine, and so on. Nursing, child care, elder care, mental-health services, teaching, writing, food/beverage service — the form of these occupations may change, but I doubt any of them are going away. Occupations like art, music, and storytelling may even come to be more in demand, as traveling and spending money on mass “entertainment” becomes less of an option. However you earn money right now, see if you can become location-independent so you can make a livelihood anywhere.

• When doing your planning, try to override the very strong primal instinct to focus on just your, or your immediate family’s, own safety and wellbeing. Too much self-focus feeds fear and selfishness, and leads to reactivity and mistakes, which end up hurting you as well as others. If you can focus on the wider good, concern for your community, your region, the wellbeing of many others — you’ll be able to stay calmer and will make sounder choices; you’ll be much better off. And not coincidentally, if you focus beyond just yourself and your immediate family you’ll be happier.

• If you live in one of the top threat areas like the Gulf Coast, parts of the Atlantic coast, and so on, you might well be experiencing cognitive dissonance, as so much “business as usual” keeps moving forward in the face of obvious changes in weather patterns and such. Hotels keep getting built on the coast; billion-dollar superhighways keep getting planned as if nothing is amiss. Recognize that large companies and governments are living in a different frame of reality, different timelines, different incentives. Use your own common sense; read and listen to information sources you trust; keep your own senses tuned to your environment. Just because yet another fancy new housing development is getting built in your county, and just because your state highway department is talking about 40-year transportation plans still, doesn’t mean you can assume everything’s hunky-dory and you don’t need to look at making any changes.

• And on a more micro level: Try not to make plans that are predicated on the continued availability of high-energy-input goods and services (such as air travel, or 401(k)s and other retirement funds). I’m not suggesting you need to go cold turkey, but it’s best not to assume such things are going to be an option into the indefinite future. I know it can be hard not to assume the continuation of “business as usual” when everyone else seems to be just going along as if they don’t expect any change in our default way of life. But it is in your best interest to think ahead. Use your own common sense, and don’t let the craziness around you color your judgment.

• If at all possible, secure a house and/or land mortgage-free. Go in with friends and family to buy a place free and clear. I could be mistaken (will have to research this further), but my understanding is that a homesteaded property can’t be taken away from you as payment should you become unable to repay debts such as medical bills or student loans.

• Even if you live in (or plan on moving to) an area that’s expected to be relatively unaffected, plan for extremes. Unseasonably hot AND unseasonably cold weather; drought alternating with heavy rains. And more wildfires everywhere. (At least some expert predictions corroborate my feeling on the droughts and wildfires.) The basic cure to mitigate all of these extremes is vegetation. Tall grasses, shrubs, trees. Plant them. Get them established so they create a moist micro-climate that is self-reinforcing. You may need to remediate the soil first by adding organic matter. I cover these topics and share relevant links elsewhere on this blog. If you can’t find them give me a shout; I will help you.

• Good news! Everything you do in the way of climate-change planning can also help you right here, right now with all of the following: Dealing with Covid and other pandemics. Weathering economic crashes (personal and global). Getting more freedom to pursue your right livelihood, the junction where your skills and passions intersect with the needs of your community and the world. Freeing up your attention and creativity. Reducing loneliness and isolation; building community. Curing boredom and a sense of purposelessness. Improving your relationships with loved ones. Freeing up your time and energy. Improving your physical and mental health. Contributing to your spiritual growth. Facilitating the evolution of consciousness. Wow! What a list!

• I am here for you! I am now offering climate-change planning as a service, free to anyone who wants it. (I will strive to avoid living up to the cliché of “free advice is worth what you pay for it.”) And I will add more bullet points to this post as they come to me.

In closing, here is a great article for you to read. Ancient agricultural systems (some still in use today) embody the kind of mind-set we would do well to embrace, not just in our food-growing but in all of our landscaping, land stewardship. Ancient Gardens of North America (by Jonathon Engels at permaculturenews.org ). I can help you translate the concepts herein to your own geographic region. And can help you apply them to your yard, balcony, or common area.

In Part 1 of this post (see link in next paragraph), I brought up a study that predicts the level of climate-related threat faced by each county in the United States (over 3,100 counties in all) over the next couple of decades. (To readers in other countries, I apologize that this article only covers the USA. Some of the suggestions in here may still be useful to you; I hope so.)

*Let’s try link again. Part 1 of this post is here. Cool, the WordPress link feature worked this time! It doesn’t always lately.

In addition to ranking each county in terms of overall climate risk, the study also assesses each county’s risks in six categories: 1) heat; 2) wet-bulb temperature (where the combination of heat and humidity is such that the human body can no longer cool itself by perspiration); 3) crop yield reductions; 4) sea-level rise; 5) very large wildfires; 6) economic damage.

If you have not yet done so, I encourage you to visit the link, type in your county name, and find out how your place stacks up.

If your place is ranked high, you probably already know it. It wasn’t news to me to learn that my county (Volusia County, Florida) is considered to be at risk for more heat, more wet-bulb days, higher crop yield losses, and economic damage. 

All of these changes will determine which places will remain viable for human beings to live and to grow food. 

If your place is deemed to be significantly at risk, you might well be asking yourself, “Should I move? And if so, where?” You’ve probably asked yourself those questions before already, if you’ve ever been concerned about climate change and how your place might be affected.

I don’t have and cut-and-dried answers for you, but I do have what I hope will be practical and reassuring advice. I’m starting a bullet-point list here; will add to it as things occur to me.

• The document is of course only a forecast. It can be wrong, in either direction. Rather than focus on trying to figure out how accurate it might be (an impossible task), I recommend planning for the “severe” scenario outlined in the forecast. You could end up under-planning, but I think it’s far more likely you’ll end up planning appropriately, or at least increasing your preparedness to within reasonable distance so that you’ll be able to respond and adapt as well as can be expected.

• I suggest you go through the categories of threats one by one, and note which threats you are least comfortable with. For example, I would probably never choose to live in a place that’s affected by huge wildfires. I don’t relish the thought of intensified flooding and stronger storms, but I’m more comfortable with those than with wildfires. (By the way, storms and flooding aren’t mentioned as a threat category. But I see them as being roughly correlated with the regions threatened by sea-level rise. And with places located along the large rivers such as the Mississippi and Missouri.)

• Personally, I am more worried about drought and desertification than anything else. It’s a concern even here in water-rich Florida. Water availability is pretty much a deal-breaker for living in a place. (That said, Brad Lancaster (Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands) informs us that if all the rain falling on ultra-dry Tucson were collected and used wisely, it would be enough to meet all residential and municipal needs. So a place with scanty rainfall may still be livable if other factors don’t prohibit.)

• While it’s important to be aware of the physical threat, your best asset is community. Where do your family or close friends live? Think about moving there if you’re not there already. Or (and) step up your efforts to build community with your current neighbors if you haven’t already.

• Look up the following in your area: permaculture guilds; bioregional organizations; native-plant societies; agricultural extension offices. Join their Facebook groups, webinars, Zoom calls. All of these entities will help you connect with people who are concerned and knowledgeable about soil health, watershed health, food-growing, rainwater collection, and land management (including stormwater mitigation, anti-drought measures, wildfire prevention and mitigation). (Note: The permaculture design movement has attracted a fringe element of people who are mainly focused on securing their own households, and don’t care about the community/social element that is the biggest part of permaculture. Steer clear of those folks and look for the community-minded people in the movement.)

• Don’t stay in a place you don’t feel a connection with just because you have a job there. We’ve all learned that even the steadiest jobs can be gone in an instant. Cultivate financial resilience by lowering your overhead and creating micro-businesses. I offer advice on these topics in my book and elsewhere on this blog. And move where your heart is. Usually that’s some combination of geographic features and social/family factors. 

• But really, above all else, cultivate portable resilience. Emotional fortitude; spiritual grounding; occupational and practical skills that’ll serve you and your community wherever you land.

• Humans are adaptable. If the waters rise, we can count on some people to stay put and build a village of floating islands out of reeds or something. It’s been done. Become anti-fragile; become the kind of person who gets stronger with adversity.

• Physical health & fitness: This is a cetegory of portable resilience but I’m giving it its own bullet point. The most basic ways I know to boost your physical resilience are (to the best of your ability) 1) spend a lot of time walking; 2) get used to doing outdoor labor in all seasons; 3) learn to tolerate the prevailing outdoor temperature of your place (in other words, expand your ability to tolerate your place’s weather without heat or A/C). Even if you can’t walk, you can boost your physical fitness and climate-tolerance by getting out and about in a wheelchair. 

• Become socially resourceful. Talk with the people around you. Offer your help and surplus goods. I’m amazed at the number of people who live in a place for 30 years and don’t know any of their neighbors or local resources.

• If I had to choose between the perfect threat-free physical environment and a community with a strong social fabric, I would choose the latter. No contest. Ideally you won’t have to pick. But my point is, prioritize the “people” factors. I don’t mean seek out soulmates or best buddies. Those are great if you find them. But I’m talking about the simple local community connections that can make the difference between surviving or perishing. Know your neighbors; build nuts-and-bolts day-to-day practical connections that transcend political divides and other differences. Swap seeds and plants; share tools; keep an eye out for each other’s kids and pets. Then it won’t matter so much who has what sign in their yard. You’ll have a stronger thread connecting you. 

• Climate change won’t only affect where we are able to live and grow crops. It’ll also determine where and how we should invest our money. I’ve written about financial resilience elsewhere on this blog and have posted some outstanding resources such as Laura Oldanie’s blog.

• Related to the subject of investment: Resist the temptation to hedge your geographic bets by having empty houses in multiple places. Live in your main house, and if you have houses in other places, don’t leave them empty. Let family members, friends, or tenants occupy them. It’s the decent thing to do, and the good you give to a distant community by providing housing will come back on you one way or another. Don’t let your fear lead you to make choices that create scarcity for other people.

• Wherever you live, set about increasing your knowledge of your bioregion. Now. And if you are even thinking of moving to a different geographic area, begin in advance to cultivate knowledge of that bioregion.

• Before you decide to move, remember no place is free of risk or threat. A big part of how we industrialized consumer nations have gotten the planet into this horrific situation we’re in is by trying to insulate and insure ourselves against any possible risk. It’s not possible to have this risk-free state while in a body on planet Earth. You can have that after death; it’s available to us all.

• Here in the wealthy industrialized nations, we are at once too risk-averse and too risk-tolerant. We won’t quit the job we hate, because we’re not willing to risk losing health insurance. We won’t go for our dream of starting a business, because we’re not willing to risk losing a steady paycheck. And yet, daily, we take the terrible risk that we’ll drop dead on our job before reaching the nirvana of retirement, and we take the terrible risk of living far away from our dearest loved ones so we can pursue a “career”; we’re willing to take the risk that we will never see our loved ones again. We won’t risk standing up to our HOA to win the right to grow food in our yards, but we’re willing to risk exposing our kids and pets to pesticides and herbicides just to avoid a bit of social disapproval. 

• The bottom line is, no place is free of risk.

• Every place has a historic storehouse of bioregional knowledge about watersheds, weather patterns, traditional agriculture. Also in many places (such as here in Florida), grassroots people and organizations are engaged in the essential work of experimenting with non-supermarket food crops. Many people here are growing tubers from Africa and the Caribbean. This will stand us in good stead, should white potatoes and other mainstream crops stop growing well here. Also keep in mind that your homescale gardens can be more resilient than large farms.

This is a big topic and I know I’ll have more to say. Will add bullet points as they occur to me.

A final point for now: Talk about this topic with your family, friends, city leaders, neighbors, congregation members, local Chamber of Commerce — anyone who’s willing to seriously engage. Share fears and concerns out in the open. Take stock of your community’s knowledge and skill base. Make your plans individually but also in community.

By the way, governments and big corporations recognize the threats of climate change and are making plans accordingly. Inevitably, government and corporate planning will tend to revolve around safeguarding property values and other economic interests. (You can see a bit of this official mentality reported in this article in my local paper. By the way, I want to thank Abigail Mercer and the Daytona Beach News-Journal for this article, titled “Data: Climate change to heavily affect Volusia-Flagler-St. Johns.” It’s how I found out about the study that prompted this blog post.) We, on a grassroots level, can be much more nimble and creative than government or corporate interests can afford to be. We, everyday people, are the ones in the best position to build true resilience at the household and community level. Government is doing what it can, but don’t let yourself be a sitting duck waiting for government to protect you or offer you the best direction for your own circumstances. 

Please drop me a line if there’s anything else you’d like to see me address in this post. I’m here for you! In fact, I’ve decided I’m offering climate-change planning consultation free to any person or group who needs it. (I will do my best to ensure that this service defies the conventional wisdom on what “free advice” is worth.) Drop me a line or give me a call.  

New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States, reads the headline of a recent story from the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica.

The article summarizes climate-related threats for every county in the United States. Out of over 3,100 counties, mine ranks 42nd overall in terms of being expected to be heavily affected by climate change. (I live in Volusia County, Florida).

(To readers in other countries, I apologize that this article only covers the USA. Some of the suggestions in here may still be useful to you; I hope so.)

The article lets you view the whole list of counties, in order of overall threat ranking. It also lets you input your county name and just look at the assessment for your own county.

It’s useful to see the breakdown of how strongly your place is expected to be affected by various categories of climate threat, and also get its overall ranking.

The categories include sea-level rise, reduced crop yields, large wildfires, wet-bulb temperatures (where the combination of temperature and humidity is so high that the body can no longer cool itself off by perspiring), and economic damage.

I’m saving this post right now but will be back later to write more. (The old “Save as Draft” option seems to have disappeared awhile back.) For now, I invite you to visit the article and check out where your county stands.

In the “extreme warming” forecast scenario, some places, especially in the southern part of the country, have the potential in the next 20 years to become too hot and/or dry for humans to live and to grow food.

The very real climate-related threats notwithstanding, I feel confident in offering you some reassurance. Humans are a highly resilient and adaptive species (sometimes too much for our own good, it turns out). You probably won’t need to move unless you choose to. And even if you are in one of the most highly affected counties, you are not helpless and you have options.

As I mention above, my county is ranked pretty high in terms of climate-related threat. But I am not feeling scared or worried. Just prudently making plans. And I can help you make your plans if you would like help.

There is A LOT we can do, as individuals, households, and communities — not only in terms of adapting to what may come, but even possibly being able to avert some of the worst impacts. We have more power than we think.

More thoughts coming soon! Either in this same post, or as a Part 2 of this post. Update: I have now posted “Making Your Plans for Climate Change (Part 2)” (just search for the post; it’s the post after this one — sorry, I can’t get WordPress link feature to work right now).

Also: I’ve decided to offer climate-change planning/adaptation advice free to any person or group who wants it. (I will endeavor to override the conventional wisdom on what “free advice” is worth.) Drop me a line or give me a call.