This blog is about confusion and how to find clarity to move forward as a good average person (I think of myself as one of those) coping with gardening in an ambiance of drought and climate change. There is just so much truly confusing complexity about climate change that it is easy to be influenced by the most persuasive argument – even if it lacks any substantial data. The Genetically Modified Organism (GMP) debate really highlights this since there is at least as much emotion as data and the pro and anti sides are diametrically opposed. In my mind there are at least two issues here, both of which require sorting out: 1. Will GMOs feed the world or subtly poison us all, and 2. Will the development and use of herbicides in GMO fields have bad effects in their own right.

I thought I was on solid ground in my belief that reforestation and planting trees was a good thing. And then I read an editorial by Nadine Unger, a professor of atmospheric chemistry no less, and she says not so fast. There are conditions when trees contribute to warming and not simply “eat up” fossil fuel emissions. She wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on September 20, 2014. Please feel invited to confuse yourself http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/opinion/to-save-the-planet-dont-plant-trees.html?_r=0

As with almost all of these dilemmas, some action must be taken even in a home garden. The scale of a home-sized garden helps me with clarity. IPM is the clear solution to the relatively modest undertaking of my backyard – but I can't pretend that I am doing what would feed the starving masses. So, I have to respect the scale and do what is going to work in a home garden. Likewise the tree dilemma. I can plant the few trees I like for shade, foliage, flowers or all of the above without worry that I am warming the world up. Though here too, I could let myself get caught up in whether it is the best way to use our precious water. My trees, all 20 of them, are already established, however, and I don't plan on putting in any more for a while.

I would say the important guiding principle is scale and saying “wait a minute” to the emotionality of debates – especially the ones with not scientific data. Without being able to pull back and give myself a good talking to about what makes sense for me within my framework, or scale, I run a greater risk of moving forward in confusion – which is bad enough – or a false sense of certainty. Certainty is not the same as clarity – and that is the topic for another blog.