We argued yesterday about how the new regional Climate Change Hubs scattered around the nation would apportion the money attached to this loudly heralded rollout of part of Obama's new Climate Change Action Plan. We hoped the money might come from industry. I had hoped that the money would be used to begin the critical transition from unsustainable agribusiness to the strongly recommended small scale farming urged by the 2013 UN Report Wake Up Before it is Too Late.
Last September, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development brought out an interesting report entitled, "Wake up Before it is Too Late: Make Agriculture Truly Sustainable Now for Food Security in a Changing Climate.” The report said that developing and developed countries alike need a paradigm shift in agricultural development: from a "green revolution" to a "truly ecological intensification" approach.
Well, there is no money. The Hubs will be able to do little more than hand out brochures they already have and hold workshops.
Designation as a regional climate hub may bring added attention to the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station laboratory in Corvallis, but the tag doesn’t come with any fresh funding or additional resources.
“There’s very little new money here,” said Robert Mangold, the research station’s director. “We really don’t have any money to do new research.”
Rather, the station has been tasked with repackaging climate change information it’s already producing in user-friendly ways and getting it into the hands of the people who need it most: the farmers, ranchers and forest managers of the Pacific Northwest.
Actions to combat Climate Change are as empty as last year's campaign promises.