“It’ll be a miracle if it grows,” I muttered.  With house painters coming on Friday, one of the dozen or so hollyhocks lining the southeast side of our house would have to go so painters could reach the siding.  Instead of cutting down this about-to-bloom 5 ft. flower, Karen suggested I transplant it.  While grumbling about the unlikely success of transplanting a flower in this stage of growth during the heat of the summer, I obligingly found a new home for the gangly growth.  Sure enough, by Friday evening the flower’s half-dozen stalks were still erect, but the leaves were completely wilted.

        Throughout history, we humans have presented Mother Nature with many challenges like this transplant attempt.  She’s often proven herself to be quite resilient.  For example, this spring as world commerce and transportation slowed, pollutant levels dropped dramatically.  Fine particulate matter in cities that imposed Covid-19 shutdowns enjoyed reductions of 25–60 per cent compared to the same period last year.  And the skies cleared!  What’s more, it’s estimated that global emissions of the heat trapping gas, CO2, may drop by up to 7% this year as compared to last.  If so, it will be the biggest emissions drop since World War II. 

        Thank goodness, because the blanket of CO2 and other greenhouses gases is now so dense that above the Arctic Circle the residents of Verhoyansk, Siberia recently reported a temperature of 100 degrees F.  That’s not so surprising because the current global CO2 level is 417 parts-per-million.  That’s almost 50% higher than the typical levels since humankind first walked this Earth. 

        In a perverse sort of way, Covid-19 has given us a jump-start on addressing climate disruption by causing an almost miraculous drop in emissions.  Now it’s up to us to continue and even increase the pace of these reductions and do so in ways that promote equitable economic prosperity. 

        Another unexpected miracle revealed itself early Sunday morning – 6 fresh blossoms opened on the transplanted hollyhock.  During the following week a dozen more blossoms have opened in a celebration of survival and floral beauty. Miracles ARE possible!

        We’re on the cusp of a clean energy revolution.  With 21st century technology available to us, it’s time WE become the miracle-makers in building a clean, equitable future.  After all, this bountiful flower garden is the only one we’ll ever inhabit.  It’s where we’re all forever…Earthbound.

        A sorry-looking lot sadly shuffled into the Teardrop Tap.  Slumpy E. Conomy slunk-up to the bar.  “Forty-four million filing for unemployment, businesses closing, rent and mortgage payments falling behind, maybe the worst economic depression since…since the Depression,” Slumpy mumbled to himself.

        Ian Equitties slouched past Slumpy.  “George Floyd, Black home ownership almost as low as when discrimination was legal, Black unemployment rate twice the average,” Ian muttered.  Next, Climie Chanj drifted in, “Atmospheric carbon dioxide almost 50% higher than eons-old averages.  Last time it was this high, trees were growing near the South Pole!”  What a sorry-looking trio!

        Suddenly, a brilliant shaft of sunlight flooded the room silhouetting the most beautiful sight any of them had ever laid eyes on.  “Hello boys,” Hope Blossoms smiled.  “Why so glum?”  One after another Slumpy, Ian, and Climie poured their hearts out. “Cry in your beer if you must, but let me show you a better use of your time,” she winked. 

        Hope told the boys about the Energy District getting organized in Iowa County.  Like the Soil and Water Conservation Districts begun during the Great Depression, energy districts’ two-pronged goal is to grow the local economy while fostering environmental stewardship.  It’s done by working collaboratively with individuals, local businesses and organizations to increase energy efficiency and promote local, clean sources of energy production.  Local wealth is retained, local energy and efficiency businesses grow, and air pollution is reduced.  (Visit DriftlessConservancy.org for more info.)

        On the national level Hope recommended that they urge their congressional representatives to enact H.R. 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.  Fossil fuel producers would pay a fee on the CO2 their products release into the air.  Those collected fees are shared by us all in the form of dividends sent to our homes.  The poorest 2/3s of households are projected to benefit the most.  At the same time clean energy sources become increasingly more competitive, and that drives down the use of dirty fossil fuels.  CO2 emissions stabilize, and we enjoy cleaner air.

        “Both of these paths help the little guy at the bottom of the economic heap.  In turn they create opportunities to lessen troublesome social inequities.  At the same time, fossil fuel use is reduced which lowers the threats from climate disruption.  So finish your beers then pitch in and help build a better world right here, where we’re all forever…Earthbound.”

        Aggie Culture and Kyle Ahwatt had never been rivals before.  In fact, they’d been buddies as far back as the Great Depression when Kyle brought electrification to rural farmers across the country.  Together they helped pull the country out of that depression and into prosperity.

        But the landscape is different today; new opportunities abound.  For example, our country is developing a growing appetite for a rapidly expanding, clean, low-cost source of electrical generation – photo-voltaic (PV) solar energy.  So today many farmers find themselves with the opportunity to use land for food OR for producing electricity.  And there’s the rub.  Aggie Culture and Kyle Ahwatt are now beginning to view each other with suspicion because they both have their eye on that pretty little Corra Opland. 

        Aggie assumed she would always be his.  But now this upstart, Kyle, has been talking with farmers.  He’s come courtin’ for Corra, and that’s up-ending long-standing rural cultural traditions.  You see, both Kyle and Aggie have the mistaken idea that it’s got to be all or nothing when it comes to Corra Opland.

        “Those silly boys!” Corra chides.  “Haven’t they heard about the latest thing?  It’s called agrivoltaics, and it means just what it sounds like.  Both agriculture and clean energy generation can happen on the same piece of little ol’ me!”
  
        Corra invited Aggie and Kyle for a nice cuppa tea so she could explain the whole thing.  “With agrivoltaics,” Corra began, “solar panels are situated on cropland so that farming that same land can jest keep right on a goin’.  The panels might need to be spaced just so, angled differently, or even raised up so livestock can graze underneath.  But a farmer can diversify her revenue stream with all sorts of potential benefits:

• Provide shade for pastured livestock
• Market high-value, shade-resistant crops
• Deep-rooted pollinator plantings build soil nutrients, reduce run-off and host beneficial insects
• Possibilities for irrigation reduction and an extended growing season
  
• Attract sustainability-minded customers
• Reduce energy costs
  

       
        “So you see boys,” she continued, “it don’t have to be all of one or t’other.  It’s a new way of thinking.  We need both food AND clean energy so stop this fussin’.  Let’s partner up and use the fancy technology we have today to build a clean, prosperous and healthy future.  Because this here farmstead is the only one we’ll ever have.  It’s where we’re all forever…Earthbound.”