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FISA Judge Reggie Walton Is Skeptical that NSA’s Phone Record Program Has Much Value
Mother Jones
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As we all know, the NSA collects records of every telephone call made in the United States. Even if the rules governing the use of this information are highly restrictive, this still represents an enormous intrusion on the privacy rights of American citizens—something that FISA judge Reggie Walton acknowledged in a court opinion written in 2009. No court would ordinarily allow such bulk collection, he wrote, but the program had nonetheless been authorized due to the government’s insistence that it was “vital to the security of the United States.”
But is it? Plenty of people have wondered about this, especially since the NSA has never provided any public confirmation of a terrorism case in which the call record database played a key role. In fact, in a statement earlier this year, NSA director Keith Alexander was only willing to say that NSA’s surveillance programs had made a “contribution” to “our understanding” of 50 terrorist plots over the past dozen years. That’s pretty cagey, and it’s cagier still when you realize that he’s referring to multiple programs. He didn’t address the value of the phone record program by itself at all.
So what about it? Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, who have seen classified briefings of all 50 plots, said in June that the call record program appeared to have “played little or no role” in most of these cases. Today, with the release of Judge Walton’s 2009 opinion, we learn that he has plenty of doubts too:
This was written in 2009, and as of that point the government could point to virtually nothing positive that had come out of the phone record program. The best it could point to was three (!) preliminary (!) investigations opened by the FBI.
It’s crazy that we permit this. The phone record program is (a) expensive, (b) prone to abuse, (3) a massive intrusion on privacy rights, and (d) not very successful. And that’s not all. It’s also the program that would be the easiest to shut down with virtually no ill effects. All we have to do is require phone companies to keep their call data for five years and require the NSA to get an individual warrant whenever they want to do a search of the database.
Would this be less convenient for the NSA? Sure. But for far less than we’re spending on the current program, NSA and the phone companies could almost certainly put together procedures and staffing that would provide close to the same level of service NSA gets now. We’d once again have true oversight, and since FISA judges are available 24 hours a day, even in an emergency there would be little risk of losing time simply because a warrant is required.
It’s a mystery to me why this hasn’t at least gotten serious discussion. Of all the NSA programs at the heart of the current controversies, this seems like the easiest call to make.
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FISA Judge Reggie Walton Is Skeptical that NSA’s Phone Record Program Has Much Value
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Does Climate Change Make Western Firefighting More Dangerous?
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Tragic death of ‘Hotshot’ firefighting team in Arizona renews debate about global warming’s influence on wildfires. In the wake of the tragic news that 19 heroic members of an elite “Hotshot” firefighting team were killed in Arizona, there’s been renewed discussion about climate change and how it is worsening wildfires. In particular, there’s considerable evidence that western fire seasons are getting longer and more destructive, and that this is tied to more extreme heat and drought. But does the same dynamic make the act of wildland firefighting riskier? There are reasons to suspect that it does. Nick Sundt is a former western smoke jumper—a firefighter who literally parachutes in to combat blazes, often in remote locations, acting as a kind of first line of defense. He fought fires from Alaska to New Mexico for a decade during the 1980s. Now, he’s the communications director for climate change at the World Wildlife Fund. No wonder that he has focused much of his attention of late on how Western fires, and conditions for his fellow firefighters, are getting worse. Federal and state “HotShot” crews, explains Sundt, are composed of highly trained specialists who are at the top of their physical game—for instance, they have to be able to hike three miles in 45 minutes carrying a 45 pound pack. They are dispatched to fight fires that grow beyond the capacity of first arrivers—such as smokejumpers—to combat. What follows is often intense, dangerous labor for 16 hours at a time or even longer. As Sundt explains, members of these teams are “arguably the most physically fit and well organized crews of firefighters” that governments have at their disposal. But that doesn’t mean that they’re ready for every situation. In the case of the Arizona team, the emergency shelters that Hotshots take with them—to protect from heat, and preserve oxygen—appear to have been insufficient, for unknown reasons. Such shelters, it is important to note, are not able to resist direct exposure to flames. With fire dynamics changing and overall temperatures rising, meanwhile, even the best prepared firefighters may be facing greater risks. The first such risk involves a well-documented increase in average temperatures in fire-prone regions—punctuated by heat waves of the sort now underway in the West. Extreme heat is of course a physical danger in and of itself (for a video on heat risks to firefighters, see here or below), as well as a major stressor for firefighters who are often operating in intense conditions, with little sleep for days on end—all the while wearing heavy equipment and carrying gear, tools, and water. “I’ve fought fire in the Mojave Desert in 100 plus temperatures, and you grab a drink, it’s like drinking hot tea out of your canteen,” says Sundt. What’s more, these hotter temperatures make it harder for crews to sleep. Firefighters often work at night, according to Sundt, when weather conditions are more favorable. That means they have to go back to camp and try to sleep during the hottest hours of the day. Meanwhile, even the night shifts aren’t as cool as they used to be. The ‘C-N-A Crew’ would help us do our work at night,” Sundt says—explaining that “C-N-A” stands for “cool night air.” But nighttime average temperatures are also rising. That means fires are more likely to be active, and firefighters less likely to get a reprieve. The other new risk to firefighters? Simply that they’re tangling with a different beast than they may be used to. “Many firefighters have commented that they are facing more extreme fire behavior than they have witnessed in their lifetimes,” remarked Dr. Michael Medler, a former wildland firefighter and now a professor at Western Washington University, in 2007congressional testimony. If fires are behaving in different ways than expected—if they’re larger, if they’re unusually severe—that’s an added risk. Longer fire seasons also expose more firefighters to more potential hazards in general. (For more on how wildfires are changing see our explainer here.) That’s not to say that climate change is the only factor making wildfires worse or seemingly more destructive. Increased development in fire prone areas is also at play, as arequestionable past “fire suppression” practices. But we can’t ignore the climate factor. “Heat stresses firefighters like anyone else,” says Sundt.
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Does Climate Change Make Western Firefighting More Dangerous?
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Gulf oil wells have been leaking since 2004 hurricane
Gulf oil wells have been leaking since 2004 hurricane
Taylor Energy’s unchecked oil slick.
Oil has been gushing from a group of wells south of New Orleans since a platform at the site was wiped out by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and it appears that nothing is being done to staunch or control the leaking.
Efforts to cap the ruptures appear to have been abandoned in 2011. Instead of working to clean up or stop the spill, driller Taylor Energy Company is now providing the government with daily updates about the resultant slick.
Even those updates appear to be half-baked. A long ribbon of oil can clearly be seen spilling out from the site, but Taylor Energy claims its much smaller than does NOAA.
On June 1, NOAA reported to the Coast Guard that the slick was 20.2 miles long and a mile wide.
That same day, a routine report filed by someone whom activists assume to be a Taylor Energy consultant stated that the slick was 6.5 miles long.
Even if the lower estimate were correct, it should be bad enough to set off alarm bells somewhere in the federal government. But this is the environmentally battered Gulf of Mexico, where petrochemical accidents are an everyday occurrence.
From a post by SkyTruth, a group that uses remote sensing and digital mapping technology to push for environmentalist protection:
NOAA’s slick is more than 80 times bigger than what Taylor reported. And if we assume the slick is, on average, only 1/1000th of a millimeter (1 micron) thick, that amounts to at least 13,800 gallons of oil on the water. Yet the federal government has publicly stated that the leaking wells cumulatively spill only about 14 gallons per day.
From a recent post by On Wings of Care, a nonprofit that flies over sites damaged by the Gulf’s petrochemical industry and publishes photographs of what it sees (like the one above):
As a result of what we showed them about the Taylor Energy slick, the USCG [U.S. Coast Guard] put together a group to work on our information and planned a flight out there themselves …
Why are we so motivated to keep trying to show the public and the USCG the true extent of the pollution out in the Gulf, particularly at this chronic Taylor site? Primarily because ever since we began flying and reporting on the Taylor pollution about two years ago (as regularly as we could afford to do), someone has been filing daily NRC [National Response Center] reports on this site, claiming to be from aircraft sightings, claiming that the pollution amounts to a volume of little more than a few gallons of oil. This is an outrageously innacurate underestimate. All of our videos and photos and our own NRC reports defy such statements, but to date, the USCG, the EPA, and other government enforcement agencies have not acted so as to effect the undertaking of repair or remediation. So the leakage has continued.
A bitter note to end on: The reports filed with the Coast Guard on the spill, both from NOAA and Taylor Energy, contain the following:
Environmental Impact: UNKNOWN
Media Interest: NONE
John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.
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Cigarette Maker Funded Dark-Money Conservative Groups
Mother Jones
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When we use the term “dark money,” we’re usually referring to politically active nonprofit groups—like the kind at the center of the recent IRS scandal—that spend millions on political campaigns yet don’t disclose their funders. Think Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, and pro-Democrat Patriot Majority. Rarely, if ever, does the public learn who bankrolls these organizations.
This week, though, we got one such glimpse. As the Center for Public Integrity reported, Reynolds American Inc., the corporation behind Camel and Winston cigarettes, funded several high-profile dark money groups in 2012. Reynolds doled out $175,000 to Americans for Tax Reform, conservative activist Grover Norquist’s anti-tax group. The company also gave $50,000 to Americans for Prosperity, $45,000 to the US Chamber of Commerce, and $100,000 to the Partnership for Ohio’s Future, an Ohio Chamber-backed group that supported restricting the worker bargaining rights.
Here’s more from CPI‘s Dave Levinthal:
The tobacco company’s donations are just a fraction of the nearly $50 million that those two groups reported spending on political advocacy ads during the 2012 election cycle, almost exclusively on negative advertising. Federal records show that Americans for Prosperity alone sponsored more than $33 million in attack ads that directly targeted President Barack Obama.
But the money, which Reynolds American says it disclosed in a corporate governance document at the behest of an unnamed shareholder, provides rare insight into how some of the most powerful politically active 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofits are bankrolled.
Reynolds American is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, which makes Camel and Winston brand cigarettes.
“The shareholder specifically requested that we disclose information about 501(c)(4)s, and in the interests of greater transparency, we agreed,” Reynolds American spokeswoman Jane Seccombe said.
Large corporations—tobacco companies or otherwise—almost never release information about their giving to such groups, and it’s most unusual for the groups themselves to voluntarily disclose who donates to them.
After the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which freed corporations to pump vastly more money into American campaigns, businesses faced two options. They could donate to super-PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money but must disclose their donors. Or they could fund politically active nonprofits, which can dabble in politics but don’t name their donors. In the wake of Citizens United, we heard countless warnings about a “flood” of corporate cash into politics through big-spending super-PACs. But that flood never quite materialized: For-profit corporations accounted for just over $1 of every $10 raised by super-PACs in the 2012 election cycle. Instead, it was a small band of millionaires and billionaires that gave super-PACs most of their dough.
What the relatively small Reynolds American Inc. donations suggest is that corporations chose the nonprofit route and so avoided scrutiny of their political giving in today’s big-money era. In this case, Reynolds’ donations were disclosed only because a pesky shareholder asked for them to be. That’s not the case for most corporations, whose giving remains a secret.
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Sunnis Are Awakening Once Again in Iraq
Mother Jones
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Security forces for the Shiite-led Iraqi government raided a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on Tuesday, igniting violence around the country that left at least 36 people dead.
The unrest led two Sunni officials to resign from the government and risked pushing the country’s Sunni provinces into an open revolt against Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite. The situation looked to be the gravest moment for Iraq since the last U.S. combat troops left in December 2011.
….”A minority of hard-liners are using these protesters as human shields and have infiltrated these demonstrations. They want to drag the country into a civil war between the Sunni and Shiites,” said lawmaker Sami Askari, who is close to Maliki. “The majority of Iraqis reject this.”
But even as Askari and others vowed to stave off disaster, the government appeared hobbled by mistrust. Kurds have boycotted the Cabinet along with most Sunnis. The Sunni education minister, Mohammed Tamim, resigned Tuesday after trying to broker a peaceful resolution between the protesters and security forces in the hours before the early-morning raid. The minister of technology, Abdul Kareem Samarrai, also resigned.
This is all Obama’s fault, amiright? George Bush—currently enjoying a sudden resurgence of love from conservatives this week—was right on the verge of working everything out and bringing peace and harmony to Iraq when Obama was elected and ruined everything. That’s the story I’ve been hearing for the past couple of years from the neocon rump, anyway.
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What We Know About the Boston Marathon Explosions
Mother Jones
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This explainer is being regularly updated; click here for the latest post or jump to these recent updates:
Watch video of the first and second blasts
Map: Where the explosions occurred along the marathon route
Full transcript and video of President Obama’s press conference
Three confirmed dead
On Monday, two blasts were reported near the finish line of the annual 26.2-mile Boston Marathon, resulting in at least two three dead and scores 132 injured, according to the Boston Police Department and news reports. The explosions—the first of which was on the north side of Boylston Street—occurred roughly three hours after the winners crossed the finish line. “There are a lot of people down,” runner Frank Deruyter of North Carolina told the Associated Press shortly after the explosions. The cause of the blasts were not initially known.
Here’s video of the incident, via MSNBC:
Here are two photos from the scene (warning: graphic):
David L. Ryan/Twitter
Jackie Bruno/Twitter
Here is the initial update from the Boston Marathon, via Facebook:
From the Boston Herald:
“I saw two explosions. The first one was beyond the finish line. I heard a loud bang and I saw smoke rising,” said Herald reporter Chris Cassidy, who was running in the marathon. “I kept running and I heard behind me a loud bang. It looked like it was in a trash can or something. That one was in front of Abe and Louie’s. There are people who have been hit with debris, people with bloody foreheads.”
In response to this news, New York City counterterrorism units have been dispatched. “We’re stepping up security at hotels and other prominent locations in the city through deployment of the NYPD’s critical response vehicles (CRVs) until more about the explosion is learned,” New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said in a statement Monday afternoon. Washington, DC, and Los Angeles security have also been put on high alert. The White House is in contact with state and local authorities in Boston and Massachusetts. “Our prayers are with those people in Boston who have suffered injuries. I don’t know how many there are,” Vice President Joe Biden said while on a conference call about gun legislation, when he was informed of the blasts.
More from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency:
If you are trying to reach friends or family and can’t get through via phone, try texing instead (less bandwidth)
— MEMA (@MassEMA)
RedCross Safe and Well is active. Individuals can register themselvs as safe or search for loved ones at redcross.org/safeandwell
— MEMA (@MassEMA)
If you are concerned for a friend that ran the #BostonMarathon today, you can see their last check-in here: raceday.baa.org/individual.html
— NowThis News (@nowthisnews)
An intelligence official told the AP that two additional explosive devices were found at the Boston Marathon, and were being dismantled.
Via the New York Times, here is a street map of where the explosions occurred:
UPDATE, Monday, April 15, 4:40 p.m. EDT: Via NBC News broadcast, Alasdair K. Conn, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a press conference that the hospital is treating six severely injured patients who required immediate resuscitation. They have 19 patients in total; 5 are “pretty badly off,” according to Conn. “This is like a bomb explosion we hear about in Baghdad or Israel,” he continued.
UPDATE 2, Monday, April 15, 4:44 p.m. EDT: Here is video of the second blast along the marathon route:
Here is footage of the initial blast near the finish line, via Boston.com
UPDATE 3, Monday, April 15, 5:02 p.m. EDT: Edward Davis, Boston police commissioner, said at a press conference today:
At 2:50 p.m. today, there were simultaneous explosions that occurred along the route of the Boston Marathon at the finish line. These explosions occurred 50 to 100 yards apart. Each scene resulted in multiple casualties. At this point in time all the victims shave been removed from the scene, we have sent officers to hospitals to be in touch with family members and possible witnesses. We immediately activated a system of response that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and federal government has in place for these types of incidents…We have at this point in time determined that there has been a third incident that occurred. An explosion that occurred at the JFK library. This is very much an ongoing event at this time. We are not certain if these incidents are related, but we’re treating them as if they are.
There were no injuries at the JFK library that the police know of, per commissioner Davis.
If you are trying to locate someone, call: 617-635-4500. If you have any information about the explosions, call: 1-800-494-TIPS.
UPDATE 4, Monday, April 15, 5:22 p.m. EDT: A law enforcement official tells the AP that cellphone service was shut down in the Boston area “to prevent any potential remote detonations of explosives.” (However, some are casting serious doubts on this story, given reports of functioning cellphones and other factors.) The FAA announced a ground stop for Boston’s Logan airport.
UPDATE 5, Monday, April 15, 5:25 p.m. EDT: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has released the following statement:
This is a horrific day in Boston. My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured. I have been in touch with the President, Mayor Menino and our public safety leaders. Our focus is on making sure that the area around Copley Square is safe and secured. I am asking everyone to stay away from Copley Square and let the first responders do their jobs.
UPDATE 6, Monday, April 15, 5:47 p.m. EDT: Amtrak issued the following statement via Twitter, regarding the Boston Marathon explosions:
At this time all Amtrak trains are operating as scheduled. We will provide an update if this changes. We are increasing security at stations & track right-of-ways. We ask passengers to … report anything suspicious to 1-800-331-0008 or 911.
UPDATE 7, Monday, April 15, 6:16 p.m. EDT: President Obama held a press conference on the explosions, starting at 6:10 p.m. ET. “We still don’t know who did this or why, but make no mistake, we’ll get to the bottom of it,” the president said.
Obama: “Boston is a tough, resilient town and so are its people.”
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe)
Here is the full text and video of Obama’s statement; the speech lasted about three-and-a-half minutes:
Good afternoon, everybody. Earlier today, I was briefed by my homeland security team on the events in Boston. We’re continuing to monitor and respond to the situation as it unfolds. And I’ve directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect our people, increase security around the United States as necessary, and investigate what happened.
The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight. And Michelle and I send our deepest thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims in the wake of this senseless loss.
We don’t yet have all the answers. But we do know that multiple people have been wounded, some gravely, in explosions at the Boston Marathon.
I’ve spoken to FBI Director Mueller and Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano, and they’re mobilizing the appropriate resources to investigate and to respond.
I’ve updated leaders of Congress in both parties, and we reaffirmed that on days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats — we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.
I’ve also spoken with Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino, and made it clear that they have every single federal resource necessary to care for the victims and counsel the families. And above all, I made clear to them that all Americans stand with the people of Boston.
Boston police, firefighters, and first responders as well as the National Guard responded heroically, and continue to do so as we speak. It’s a reminder that so many Americans serve and sacrifice on our behalf every single day, without regard to their own safety, in dangerous and difficult circumstances. And we salute all those who assisted in responding so quickly and professionally to this tragedy.
We still do not know who did this or why. And people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. But make no mistake — we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this; we’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.
Today is a holiday in Massachusetts — Patriots’ Day. It’s a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great American city of Boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation. And it’s a day that draws the world to Boston’s streets in a spirit of friendly competition. Boston is a tough and resilient town. So are its people. I’m supremely confident that Bostonians will pull together, take care of each other, and move forward as one proud city. And as they do, the American people will be with them every single step of the way.
You should anticipate that as we get more information, our teams will provide you briefings. We’re still in the investigation stage at this point. But I just want to reiterate we will find out who did this and we will hold them accountable.
Thank you very much.
UPDATE 8, Monday, April 15, 8:00 p.m. EDT: The New York Times is reporting three other unexploded devices, including one in Newton, which is on marathon route. CNN is reporting 132 bombing victims so far, and at least 10 amputations. Doctors are reportedly pulling ball bearings out of victims. One of the two three confirmed dead is an 8 year old boy. One bit of good news: The runners representing the families of the Newtown, Conn. mass shooting—including Laura Nowacki, whose daughter survived the shooting—are safe.
Boston is such elite race, 90% runners are sub-4-hrs. Sparing thousands from attack. In NYC bombs @ 4-hr mark woulda been more deadly.
— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol)
UPDATE 9, Monday, April 15, 9:00 p.m. EDT: There are now three confirmed dead. The FBI has taken the lead role in the investigation.
UPDATE 10, Monday, April 15, 9:15 p.m. EDT: Did you see this amazing picture taken by Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki? He’d just finished running the marathon himself:
Police react in aftermath of explosion #bostonmarathon #boylstonst (John Tlumacki photo) twitter.com/BGlobeSports/s…
— Boston Globe Sports (@BGlobeSports)
Now there’s a story about the runner on the ground, Bill Iffrig, who got up and finished. John Eligon, one of the writers of the lede New York Times piece, had also just run the marathon and somehow managed to file this story.
UPDATE 11, Monday, April 15, 9:15 p.m. EDT: A group called the NYC Light Brigade projected various NYC Loves Boston signs on the side of the Brooklyn Art Museum:
thank you NYC light brigade #brooklyn #boston #home twitter.com/bright_moments…
— bright moments (@bright_moments)
Continued:
Charts: How Foreign Firms Flood America With Guns—and Get Rich Doing It
Mother Jones
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In 1791, America’s founding fathers enacted a constitutional right to bear arms, in part to help citizen militias protect the homeland against foreign invaders. Some 300 years later, foreigners have become some of the Second Amendment’s biggest beneficiaries and shrillest advocates. The vast majority of the millions of guns we import each year—think Beretta, Glock, Taurus, and other name brands—come from countries with far stricter gun control laws than we have in the United States.
Every time another mass shooter unleashes a torrent of bullets in a school or theater, the world puzzles over America’s permissive approach to gun ownership. A story following up on the Sandy Hook massacre in Austria’s largest daily, Krone, noted the apparent link between “lax weapons laws” in the United States and our “high rate of gun killings, compared to other western nations.” But the newspaper didn’t mention how Austrian gun makers profit from and help perpetuate those lax weapons laws. In 2009, a whopping 67 percent of Austria’s gun exports went to the United States. Here’s the breakdown for our top 10 foreign suppliers.
Excerpt from:
Charts: How Foreign Firms Flood America With Guns—and Get Rich Doing It
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Lockheed Martin Has Crazy-Fast Quantum Computers And Plans on Actually Using Them
Close up of a processor for a D-Wave quantum computer. Photo: D-Wave Systems Inc.
Lockheed Martin, a U.S. aerospace and defense company (and all-around inventor-of-the-future) will be the first company in the world to wrangle quantum computing out of the realm of research and into commercial scale usage, says The New York Times.
Starting from an early quantum computer built by Canadian firm D-Wave that the defense contractor bought a few years ago, Lockheed Martin will ramp up the technology to become “the first company to use quantum computing as part of its business,” says the Times.
Quantum computers are a fledgling, finicky technology that should be able to crunch through complex mathematical equations “millions of times faster” than today’s computers.
Ray Johnson, Lockheed’s chief technical officer, said his company would use the quantum computer to create and test complex radar, space and aircraft systems. It could be possible, for example, to tell instantly how the millions of lines of software running a network of satellites would react to a solar burst or a pulse from a nuclear explosion — something that can now take weeks, if ever, to determine.
Whether Lockheed Martin’s venture pans out, the move heralds an ongoing shift in the quantum computing world. Just a few days ago, the founders of BlackBerry announced that they are opening up a $100 million research facility focusing on quantum computing.
The Times says that the large-scale application of quantum computers could bring the digit-crunching prowess of the technology to bear on a huge number of important problems:
Cancer researchers see a potential to move rapidly through vast amounts of genetic data. The technology could also be used to determine the behavior of proteins in the human genome, a bigger and tougher problem than sequencing the genome. Researchers at Google have worked with D-Wave on using quantum computers to recognize cars and landmarks, a critical step in managing self-driving vehicles.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Quantum Computing Now At Least Vaguely Plausible
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Lockheed Martin Has Crazy-Fast Quantum Computers And Plans on Actually Using Them
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How the USDA plans to plant around climate change
How the USDA plans to plant around climate change
A few weeks ago, the Department of Agriculture released a pretty devastating report on just how bad climate change is going to suck for things we plant in the ground in America. Short version: T minus 25ish years until we hit Armageddon-like scenarios for agriculture and forests.
That might sound hopeless, but Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is not discouraged. The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Switchboard blog reports on a followup speech Vilsack gave this week, saying the USDA will help farmers adapt to climate change and become part of the climate solution.
“We’re going to be very aggressive in this effort because we understand and appreciate, after the floods of 2011 and the drought of 2012, that folks need this assistance now,” said Vilsack. “And by doing this, by taking these actions, we can help to mitigate and help to manage risks.”
From the Switchboard blog:
Amongst other things, the agency plans to ramp up its efforts to encourage sustainable farming practices, both to help farmers be more resilient to climate impacts and to mitigate climate change by reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon sequestration. …
Specifically, USDA points to best management practices such as conservation tillage, cover cropping and greater crop diversification, as well as more efficient irrigation as a key strategy to adapt to the intense rainfall and severe drought episodes that are expected to accompany climate change. In his speech, Secretary Vilsack said his agency will take steps to encourage multi-cropping, such as planting two types of crops in an area, planting cover crops between growing seasons and integrating livestock into cropping systems.
That’s encouraging news, since farming systems that are more ecologically integrated can help farmers better conserve their lands and protect water resources in times of drought.
What’s not encouraging? Well, let’s start with crop losses, billions of dollars of them, detailed here by the USDA:
Click to embiggen.
Also not encouraging: The USDA will face $2 billion in sequestration cuts basically any minute now. The cuts will hit meat inspectors hard, potentially leading to meat shortages. Farm Service Agency employees and food assistance for the poor will also be cut back.
Let’s hope Vilsack’s climate action plan can survive on a slimmer budget.
Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for
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