Grapes of Wrath

Fish kills? I was cruising around looking for news this morning, and I kept coming across stories about fish kills. Apparently, in many parts of the country dead fish are washing up on riverbanks and beaches wholesale. Here are just a couple of these stories, one from Texas

Thousands of dead fish are washing ashore along the Texas coast from the Colorado River to Galveston Island and Parks and Wildlife biologists suspect low oxygen levels off shore may be to blame.

— and here’s the situation in Iowa

In Iowa, about 58,000 fish died along a 42-mile stretch of the Des Moines River, according to state officials, and the cause of death appeared to be heat. Biologists measured the water at 97 degrees in multiple spots.

If you do a news google for “fish kill” you get recent news stories from all over the country about fish dying in rivers, big and small; ponds, lakes, and oceans. Fish kills are nothing new, but usually they happen more randomly.

OK, one more

In Illinois, heat and lack of rain has dried up a large swath of Aux Sable Creek, the state’s largest habitat for the endangered greater redhorse, a large bottom-feeding fish, said Dan Stephenson, a biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

“We’re talking hundreds of thousands (killed), maybe millions by now,” Stephenson said. “If you’re only talking about game fish, it’s probably in the thousands. But for all fish, it’s probably in the millions if you look statewide.”

And it struck me that if ever a situation deserved a biblical write-up, America in the Age of Global Climate Change is it. Something like,

“And the LORD saw the children of Columbus fouling their green land with many carbon emissions; and He brought forth scientists to preach to the people to change their ways. And some heeded the scientists and the prophet Al Gore and wished to reduce their carbon footprints and develop alternative energies. But many others were deceived by the Koch demons, and they laughed at the prophecy and chanted, drill baby drill. And, verily, the LORD sent a mighty heat wave, and drought, and boiled the fish in the rivers and burned the corn in the fields, and threatened the children of Columbus with rising food prices. Yet the evil children turned up their air conditioners and refused to notice the signs.”

Stuff like this happens over and over again in the Bible. You’d think people who claim to read the Bible would notice the pattern.

8 thoughts on “Grapes of Wrath

  1. When you can easily observe, without instruments, climate degradation year over year; it has become very rapid. We are in a mess and nothing short of a complete overhaul of Gov’t on all levels can save us– in other words, we’re screwed. Simple example: We have droughts most summers. We have used all available surrounding lands for reservoirs. Our town council keeps approving new subdivisions. Where are they going to get the water? Oh, and the GOP swine in the state legislature approved Fracking. That uses a ton of water.

  2. “Look, that’s Paul Ryan walking across that dry river bed!”

    ‘Yes, isn’t he just like Jesus? Oh, and look, he’s casting the first stone at some trollops. He truly is our Messiah!!!”

  3. The Des Moines river is so hot(in the places it still has water) that during our recent cool spell you can actually SEE the heat coming off the water at dawn and dusk.As I said here before our trees started to lose leaves at the start of July. I have never seen anything like it in my life. I spoke to a local who had just turned 100 and can still recall the “dust bowl” she said she had never before seen leaves turning and falling in the summer. I am terrified at what our winter will be like. We have had a water shortage here for the past month, but you would never know it on the “rich” side of town where people water their acre lots every day without a care. Come to the working class side of town, however and you can see reality.Brown, dry dead yards. So dry in fact a neighbor had a fire in her yard after someone discarded a lit cigarette.
    Mitt is here today. If he opens his eyes he won’t be able to miss it. Our fair grounds, which normally looks like a photo in better homes and gardens filled with flowers and plant life, looks wilted.The produce exibits are less in numbers and smaller in size. Our sweet corn(which is our pride and joy) is terrible..ears only half full and it is dry rather than juicy and sweet.In all our crops are dead. Harvest of what can be saved will need to come at least a month early. While you may think we had a early spring, planting does not start early because crop insurance will not cover anything planted before certain dates. Even ADM’s test crops look bad.
    I have a friend who picks up dead livestock for a living. I can tell you that fish are not the only things dying. My friend works 6 hours of overtime a day(making his days 14 hrs instead of 8) and he says he cannot keep up with the demand for his services.On sunday , during a charity ride, he ended up having to leave. In the four hours we were on our ride he got 13 calls for pick up’s.Farmers say their wells have gone dry and companies who bring water cannot keep up the demand.

  4. Some of the young folk ain’t gonna get it unless it’s translated into lolcat.

    Mama Gaia eated teh humanz cuz they wuz doin it rong. Something like that.

  5. From Fox News – and I don’t expect them to connect the dots but I credit them for reporting this..
    HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut’s nuclear power plant shut down one of two units on Sunday because seawater used to cool down the plant is too warm.

    Unit 2 of Millstone Power Station has occasionally shut for maintenance or other issues, but in its 37-year history it has never gone down due to excessively warm water, spokesman Ken Holt said on Monday.

    Water from Long Island Sound is used to cool key components of the plant and is discharged back into the sound. The water may not be warmer than 75 degrees and following the hottest July on record has been averaging 1.7 degrees above the limit, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/13/warm-seawater-forces-connecticut-nuclear-plant-shutdown/#ixzz23TWJ7Oq4

    There’s a lot of stuff related to warmer temps and changes in weather patterns that ought to get noticed. But they are sure Obama is hiding under their bed trying to steal the gun from under their pillow. There is a huge drought – crop yields are down – aquifers are being depleted – fish are dying. The ocean is too warm to cool a reactor.

    New fuel economy standards will require a real increase in the average mileage from 27 where it is today to 36 MPG by 2025. I’m comparing apples to apples – the new standard calculated in a new way will give a declared MPG of 54 MPG, but comparing apples to apples, a 33% increase in mileage over the next decade.

    If we last that long.

  6. Apples here in north central NC are ripening 3 weeks early by variety, and it was two weeks early last year!

    I’m talking 400-500 trees, not just one in the corner of the yard.

  7. This is kind of an ugly thing to say, but others have pointed out that it is fitting that these climate extremes and die-offs are experienced most acutely in the red states. Perhaps that’s what it will take to wake these people up.

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