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What good news! The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has been approved by the Congress and signed into law August 16, 2022. This legislation totaling $437 billion will dedicate $370 billion, 85%, for clean energy and combating climate change. Its goal is to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by up to 40% by 2030. There are many tax incentives in this legislation to bring down the cost of electricity by using more renewables and encouraging more American consumers to switch to electric power for their homes and vehicles. We look forward to examining the details of this package. See the conclusion of this newsletter for some of the breakdown.

The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest bodies of warming water in the world. As a result many of the local groundfish like cod and haddock have disappeared. Maine’s lobster population is inching northward and eastward along the coast or farther offshore, escaping the warmer

waters and leaving the fishery industry in search of a new way of making a living.

Ms. Warner, a retired US Foreign Service economic development officer, moved to Maine in 2013. She and Mr. Belle, director of the Maine aquaculture organization, helped the watermen begin to farm kelp. Aquaculture of one of the most rapidly growing food production methods in the country and kelp is the fastest growing subsector. Seaweed farming works well in Maine because it grows in lobster watermen’s offseason. That means that the watermen already have the boats, equipment and knowledge for working the sea and can make an additional profit over the winter. Ms. Warner started a company that supplied kelp seed, technical support and training, as well as promised by buy all the kelp the watermen grew. Since then Ms. Warner’s company has grown to purchasing 1 million pounds of kelp a year. Maine is now the top domestic producer of seaweed.

Another beneficial side to growing kelp is its benefit to mussel aquaculture. Growing mussels near kelp makes the water less acidic. As warming waters become more acidic they weaken the exoskeleton of marine animals. The water around a kelp farm has more oxygen because the kelp is sucking carbon dioxide directly out of the water, reducing the acidity of the water in its general vicinity. That helps the mussels grow bigger and faster.

Main’s new cash crop is part of a global story that weaves together climate change, industrial food systems and nature-based solutions.

Christian Science Monitor 7/4/22 pg. 18. Excerpts from

Harvesting Underwater Forests by Stephanie Hanes

A new study published in July's journal Nature found that climate change has pushed almost a quarter of Earth's best-protected forests to a "critical threshold" for lost resilience, i.e. the point at which even a minor drought or heat wave could tip them into catastrophic decline.

Also arid forests around the globe have experienced a similar loss of resilience in the past two decades. These forests, whether tropical or temperate, steamy Amazon or the North Woods of Minnesota, are in similar decline.

Indeed, 23% of untouched forests are approaching the point at which they could be pushed into an abrupt and irreversible transition and not be able to pull planet warming gases out of the atmosphere!

On a brighter note the U.S. Forest Service arborists have reforested 6% of land damaged by fires, pests and extreme weather events, leaving a backlog of only 4.1 billion trees to be replanted.

                                    excerpts Washington Post 7/15/22 A1, Kaplan

Gardening, like standing on grass or sucking in forest vibes, is a tried-and-true way to reduce stress and anxiety, increase inner peace, lower blood pressure, and get some low impact ergonomic exercise along the way. It is also a tiny window into the impermanence and the void, for everything in a garden dies; and while the garden presents with a facade of tranquility, it is actually ever in flux and disharmony—insect combating leaf inserting disease at odds with fungus struggling to survive on soil wherein ant devours worm and beetle devours root and root reaches with futility for sparse nutrients and fleeting water before the sun takes it all back to the sky and leaves the whole microverse at odds, just waiting for another drop of rain to sustain it all, just like in Mad Max, that is to say, just like our future.

A garden will give us a sense of peace, physically, mentally. Simultaneously, it is a perfect representation of this unstable world, and if we are able to lean into that truth, and hold both of these truths together, a garden and what it represents can paradoxically bring us even more peace through this observation. In the end, all we can do is accept that chaos is inevitable and there is very little that we can change; in our lives, in this world, in our gardens. All we can do is learn to be OK with that and hold on to what we love the best that we can. Let a garden lead us there, let it be an illusion of stability that we can embrace wholly, even as we know it’s a lie.

(read Ian's full article on Antigravity)

Remember to give any surplus from your garden to your local food bank.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is an historic act. It represents the boldest move to address climate change in U.S. history. Its ultimate goal is to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by up to 40% by 2030. Let’s hope the momentum from this initiative will take wings and fly.

Most of the environmental funding for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will go toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions through tax credits and rebates for solar, wind and other technologies, including EVs. $27 billion is allocated.

These are some of the pieces of the bill. Many more will follow. Stay tuned.

Grow, grow, grow beautiful produce for yourself and others.