Weekly Farm News - 10 August 2021

  • Aug 16, 2021
  • By Daniel Goldman
  • 0 Comments
Dear Everyone,

I hope you are all safe and well.

Last week I wrote about the threat to our way of life from climate change and this week our village was surrounded by flames for several days. It was a very frightening experience, and it’s very clear it could have been and very nearly was much worse. If the prevailing winds had slackened it is likely many homes would have been damaged.

We were saved by the wind and the bombeiros, who worked tirelessly, day and night to protect our homes. We are all feeling very grateful for their efforts.

It seems the situation in Greece and Turkey is much worse because they do not have the equipment used to fight the fires here, and they are being engulfed. I’m pretty sure without the helicopters and planes the same would have happened to us.

And this week the IPCC released their most comprehensive and alarming report on global warming, which concludes these fires, floods, droughts and other extreme weather events are going to be the new normal for billions of people on the planet.

 We missed the opportunity to prevent this happening, and the damage is now done and largely irreversible.  

We have 10 years to prevent the very worst impact of global warming,… which could lead to many parts of the planet becoming unable to support human life. The ramifications of that will be catastrophic for humanity as a whole.

I’m feeling very grateful to be here in Portugal and to the Portuguese people who saved our village, and I am going to continue to look for ways we can transition to a way of living that aligns with the changes we need to save the world. I know it sounds dramatic  - but I think it just is that simple.

Thanks for all you support - and more next week about organic veggies and progress on projects etc. promise!

Lots of love,
Peter