What next? Food Security at risk.

Areas suitable for growing premium wine grapes could be reduced by 50 percent - and possibly as much as 81 percent - by the end of this century, according to a study Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper indicates increasing weather problems for grapes in such areas as California's Napa and Sonoma valleys.

The main problem: An increase in the frequency of extremely hot days, according to Noah Diffenbaugh of the department of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University.

Grapes used in premium wines need a consistent climate. When temperatures top about 95 degrees they have problems maintaining photosynthesis and the sugars in the grapes can break down, Diffenbaugh said in a telephone interview.
 
 "The lion's share of the industry is in California, so it's a huge concern from a wine quality standpoint."
-James A. Kennedy, professor at Oregon State University
 
"We have very long-term studies of how this biological system (of vineyards) responds to climate," said Diffenbaugh, and that gives the researchers confidence in their projection. Diffenbaugh is a co-author of the paper.

Scientists and environmental experts have become increasingly alarmed in recent years by accumulating gasses such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a result of the burning of fossil fuels.

A panel of climate scientists convened by the National Academy of Sciences reported last month that the Earth is heating up and "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming." The scientists said average global surface temperatures rose by about 1 degree in the 20th century. While that may not sound like much, many blame it for melting glaciers, weather changes - perhaps even more hurricanes - and threats of spreading diseases.

James A. Kennedy, a professor of food science and technology at Oregon State University, said he was shocked by the report on the potential effects on wine grapes.

"We're definitely, in the wine industry, starting to be concerned about global warming," said Kennedy, who was not part of the research team.

"The lion's share of the industry is in California, so it's a huge concern from a wine quality standpoint," he said. For people in the industry "this paper is going to be a bit of a shocker."

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


Please email this web page to your friends and to people who are concerned about our future and our Grandchildren’s future. Thank you.

Proverb: A good person leaves an inheritance to their children’s children.

What kind of inheritance are you leaving?

Per the Sustainable Industries Journal,
the Pentagon has blocked the construction of 16 Wind Energy sites in the USA.
The military claims the Wind Farms are a threat to national security.
Maybe the Wind Farms are a threat to Big Oil and Big Coal?
Apparently, they believe coal and oil are better than wind power for our children’s health and future.
book: Big Coal, The Dirty Secret, author: Jeff Goodell http://turn.org/article.php?id=526
http://www.awea.org/newsroom/releases/Anti_Wind_Provision_in_Rahall_Bill_052307.html
http://www.christiansforthemountains.org http://www.discoveret.org/tnleaf
http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/people_in_action/2007/01_09/index.html
http://www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower
http://unitedmountaindefense.org
http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxx3TFI75SA
http://www.appvoices.org http://www.coalimpoundment.org http://www.citizenscoalcouncil.org http://www.crmw.net http://www.wvhighlands.org
http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/dirtytruth/report/conclusion.pdf
http://www.ilovemountains.org http://www.stopmountaintopremoval.org http://www.appalachian-center.org

WHY DID GENERAL MOTORS DESTROY ELECTRIC CARS
http://www.saveev1.org http://www.dontcrush.com
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar
http://tothesurface.org/?p=70
book: Internal Combustion; author: E. Black http://www.internalcombustionbook.com

REFINERY REFORM, POLLUTION and DEATH
Does Big Oil have a body bag with your name on it?
Prevent Big Oil and Big Coal from Molesting you and your children.
http://www.refineryreform.org
http://www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower http://www.downwindersatrisk.org
http://www.sunkills.com
http://bulgaria.indymedia.org/newswire/display/14135/index.php
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/37113/index.php
http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=25422
http://www.offshore-environment.com
http://shellfacts.com http://www.greenpointvexxon.com
book: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man; author: John Perkins
book: Secret History of the American Empire; author: John Perkins
book: Internal Combustion; author: E. Black http://www.internalcombustionbook.com
book: Halliburton Agenda, The Politics of Oil and Money; author: Dan Briody
book: Cronies, Oil and the Bushes; author: Robert Bryce
book: Imperial Oil; author: Andy Rowell
book: Big Coal, The Dirty Secret, author: Jeff Goodell http://turn.org/article.php?id=526
book: Globalization and Its Discontents; author: Joseph Stiglitz
book: American Fascists; author: Chris Hedges
book: Tempting Faith, An Inside Story of Political Seduction; author: David Kuo

IS GOD GREEN
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/servegod
http://www.creationcare.org
book: Care of Creation; by R. J. Berry
book: Serve God, Save the Planet; by J. Matthew Sleeth
book: Our Father's World; by Edward R Brown
book: Redeeming Creation; by Fred Van Dyke
book: Earth-Wise; by Calvin B. Dewitt
book: Caring for Creation; Edited by Sarah Tillett
book: A Moral Climate, the Ethics of Global Warming; by Michael S. Northcott
book: For the Beauty of the Earth; by Steven Bouma-Prediger
book: Saving God's Green Earth; by Tri Robinson
book: God Is Green; by Ian Bradley
book: God in Creation; by Jurgen Moltmann
journal: Creation Care Magazine http://www.creationcare.org
Keepers of the Earth.

BUSH SLAMS CHRISTIANS
a Bunch of Nuts
http://madrid.indymedia.org/newswire/display/1493/index.php
http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3348/index.php
http://beirut.indymedia.org/ar/2006/11/5841.shtml

CRIMES AGAINST NATURE
http://valparaiso.indymedia.org/news/2008/05/22672.php
http://kcindymedia.org/newswire/display/74530/index.php
http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2008/05/12568.php

POLLUTION and RACISM, INJUSTICE
book: Confronting Environmental Racism; by Robert Bullard
book: Environmental Injustices; by David Camacho
book: Environmentalism and Economic Justice; by Laura Pulido
book: Pollution and the Death of Man; by Francis Schaeffer
book: From the Ground Up, Environmental Racism; by Luke Cole
book: Struggle for Ecological Democracy; by Daniel Faber
book: No Safe Place, Toxic Waste and Community Action; by Phil Brown

STOP CLIMATE CHAOS and the DESTRUCTION of the POOR
http://www.itdg.org/?id=stopclimatechaos http://stopclimatechaos.org http://campaigncc.org

DICK CHENEY MADE MILLIONS WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN
http://nhindymedia.org/newswire/display/5723/index.php
http://arkansas.indymedia.org/newswire/display/22308/index.php
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2008/05/29503.php

GLOBAL WARMING DESTROYS MAPLE SUGAR INDUSTRY
http://hm.indymedia.org/newswire/display/13657/index.php
http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/65426.php
http://www.vpirg.org/globalwarming/index.php
http://www.dps.state.vt.us/vem/emd/Appendix/appendix_3_05.pdf
http://www.ecostudies.org/press/Chronogram_Nov_2007.pdf

COLLAPSE OF INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE, correcting the problems.
http://www.energybulletin.net/22584.html
http://www.acus.org/docs/051007-Hirsch_World_Oil_Production.pdf

PLANET DIVERSITY AND GLOBAL FOOD DISASTER
http://wmass.indymedia.org/?q=node/227

THE MELTING RUSSIAN TUNDRA IS RELEASING METHANE
http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/display/4484/index.php
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2908.htm
http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/display/4460/index.php

GLOBAL WARMING IMPACTS on ARCTIC ECOSYSTEM
and the DESTRUCTION of Native Alaskans and artic people.
http://www.montreal2005.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=985F2458-1

GLOBAL WARMING is a massive THREAT to BIODIVERSITY and WILDLIFE
http://conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/programs/climatechange

DO WE HAVE TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION?
Are your politicians taking Bribes - campaign contributions - from Big Oil and the Drug Companies?
Is your Congressman a Drug Pusher for the Pharmaceutical Companies?
Halt the incestuous relationship of sleazy politicians in bed with Big Oil.
http://www.publicintegrity.org
http://www.campaignfinance.org/states

stop ELECTION FRAUD, support Honest elections.
Protect your business from the Oil Pirates and Robber Barons.
Stop the Oil Barbarians from Ravishing your Family and community's financial budgets.
Do not allow your congressman to be a George Bush Lap Dog.
Tell Big Oil and King Bush - We want our democracy back - Let My People Go.
Bush@Enron=Bankruptcy.com
Please help groups working for HONEST elections.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org
http://www.investigatethevote.org
http://www.verifiedvoting.org
http://www.votersunite.org
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
http://www.solarbus.org/election/cd/test/videos.html
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Texas_redistricting_scandal
http://www.citizensact.org
state info: http://manila.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=31260
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/121775.php

LEAGUE of CONSERVATION VOTERS
Please help set up and support
LOCAL community and city Chapters where you live.
Thank you.
USA: http://www.lcv.org
http://www.voteenvironment.org
http://www.fscvl.org
AL: http://www.alaleavs.org
AK: http://www.acvoters.org
AZ: http://www.azlcv.org http://www.azlcvedfund.org
CA: http://www.ecovote.org http://www.clcveducationfund.org
CO: http://www.coloradoconservationvoters.org http://www.ccvef.org
CT: http://www.ctlcv.org http://www.conservationeducation.org
FL: http://www.floridalcv.org
GA: http://www.protectgeorgia.org http://www.gavoters.com
ID: http://www.conservationvotersforidaho.org
IL: http://www.lcvillinois.org
ME: http://www.mlcv.org http://www.protectmaine.org
MD: http://www.mdlcv.org http://www.marylandconservation.org
MA: http://www.mlev.org
MI: http://www.michiganlcv.org http://www.michiganlcvedfund.org
MN: http://www.mnvotercenter.org
MO: http://www.movotesconservation.org
MT: http://www.mtvoters.org
NE: http://www.nlcv.org
NV: http://www.nevadaconservationleague.org
NH: http://www.voteconservation.org
NM: http://www.cvnm.org http://www.cvnmef.org
NY: http://www.nylcv.org
NC: http://www.conservationcouncilnc.org
OH: http://www.ohiolcv.org
OR: http://www.olcv.org http://www.olcveducationfund.org
PA: http://www.votecleanpa.org
SC: http://www.conservationvotersofsc.org
TN: http://www.tnconservationvoters.org
TX: http://www.tlcv.org
VT: http://www.vacv.org http://www.vcef.org
VA: http://www.valcv.org http://www.valcvef.org
WA: http://www.wcvoters.org http://www.weave.org
WI: http://www.conservationvoters.org http://www.conservationvotersinstitute.org
WY: http://www.wyovoters.org http://wcvedfund.org

(Note: you can save this web page to your hard drive. Then you can open the saved file on your hard drive and click on the links to access the web sites)

ENEMIES of DEMOCRACY
http://romania.indymedia.org/ro/2006/09/1607.shtml
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/1146425.php
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?issue_ID=2013
http://www.journeytoforever.org/fyi_previous3.html#070701
http://www.psrast.org/indmanipsci.htm
http://www.purewatergazette.net/enemiesofdemocracy.htm
http://www.prwatch.org
book: Trust Us, We're Experts; author: Sheldon Rampton

Vice President Dick Cheney, British Petroleum, Halliburton and Russian Black Gold
http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2005/11/siberian-shadowlands-part-1.html
http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2005/11/siberian-shadowlands-part-3.html
http://www.unknownnews.org/041004a-te.html
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/dpc_hearing062705.html

DICK CHENEY DISINFORMATION
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/25/1443241

ELECTION FRAUD
http://romania.indymedia.org/ro/2006/09/1607.shtml
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/1146425.php

ARE AMERICANS STUPID?
Why be stupid?
http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/18295.php
http://valparaiso.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/8723.php
http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/38087/index.php

GAS PRICES SURGE. BUSH - Not My Fault.
http://www.ntimc.org/newswire.php?story_id=4900
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/347833.shtml
http://worcester.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/4725.php

SHELL OIL SLAMS IRISH PEOPLE
http://worcester.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/4761.php
http://www.stlimc.org/newswire/display/2378/index.php
http://arkansas.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20182/index.php

GENERAL MOTORS and the NAZIS
War Profits at any cost - Auschwitz - Death Camps
Is there any difference between the Neo Nazis and the American Neo Conservatives?
Are you driving a Hitler Car?
book: Internal Combustion; author: E. Black http://www.internalcombustionbook.com

NAZIS IN THE AMERICAN MILITARY
Defense Fund for Freedom from the Extremist - please donate.
Keep the Nuts away from the Nukes - Book of Revelation.
George Bush and the End of the World Death Cult society of america - KKK
http://indymedia.nl/nl/2007/08/46724.shtml
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/315034/index.php
http://perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=106843
http://imc-yucatan.espora.org/news/2007/08/1296.php

KEEP OUR COUNTRY STRONG LIKE A ROCK!
Please support LOCALLY generated and LOCALLY owned renewable energy systems. Thank you.

MORE JOBS and ECONOMIC GROWTH
Per the Wisconsin Energy Bureau, locally generated renewable energy (solar water heating, solar pool heating, solar building heating, passive solar buildings, solar daylighting, solar electric, wind energy, micro-hydro, earth energy, organic vegetable diesel fuel, solar-hydrogen fuel cells, wind-hydrogen fuel cells, wave-hydrogen fuel cells, tidal power, Geothermal Hydronic heating and cooling, organic farming and gardening, creates THREE TIMES more jobs and economic growth in local economies than using imported fossil fuel or energy from other regions.

RENEWABLE ENERGY - ENERGY CONSERVATION
Three Times More JOBS - Real Economic Progress
solar energy, wind energy, micro-hydro, ocean energy, tidal energy, river energy, energy conservation, earth energy
http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/198675/index.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/03/18/18378731.php
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2007/03/125432.shtml

SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY TRAINING for WOMEN
http://solarenergy.org http://www.solarliving.org http://awea.org http://www.bwea.com http://www.windpower.org
http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu/programs/nc_solar_in_schools.cfm
http://www.fsec.ucf.edu http://www.slosustainability.com http://www.journeytoforever.org
http://www.permaculture-magazine.co.uk http://www.grisb.org http://www.cat.org.uk http://www.permaculture.org.uk
http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com http://www.cobcottage.com http://www.networkearth.org
http://skytube.net.nz http://www.kalwall.com http://www.daylightingtraining.org http://solaskylights.com.au http://bomin-solar.de http://www.naturallightsolutions.co.nz
http://www.adobebuilder.com http://www.hybridadobe.com http://www.adobebuilding.com
http://www.eartharchitecture.org http://www.adobeasw.com http://www.gadhiasolar.net
http://www.calearth.org/apprent.htm http://www.monolithic.com http://www.tri-steel.com http://www.portlandpermaculture.com
http://www.hlf.org.np http://www.solare-bruecke.org http://www.barefootcollege.org http://www.aidg.net http://www.appropedia.org http://web.mit.edu/d-lab
http://thealgebraproject.org http://chessintheschools.org http://chesskids.com http://besome1.com http://www.remember.org/onemove http://gokgs.com http://msgo.org http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo
http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=25107
http://www.yesmagazine.com/article.asp?ID=576 http://www.carbon.org http://www.ncfi.org.uk http://www.squarefootgardening.com
http://phillyimc.org/en/2007/02/36740.shtml
Organic Farming Training: http://www.wwoof.org
book: Super Power Breathing for Super Energy and Longevity; by Paul C. Bragg http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com http://www.refineryreform.org http://www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower http://www.plants-for-people.org/eng/health/g.htm
Free organic gardening-farming Catalog: http://www.acresusa.com/other/freesample.htm

CHILDREN
book: Nurtured by Love, The Classical Approach to Talent Education; by Shinichi Suzuki http://azsuzuki.org/readlist.htm
Co-Operative Games http://www.familypastimes.com
The Algebra Project
http://thealgebraproject.org http://chessintheschools.org http://chesskids.com http://besome1.com http://www.remember.org/onemove http://gokgs.com http://msgo.org http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo
Academic Success
http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/miracleschool.html
http://www.moscowfood.coop/books/wilson.html http://www.organicconsumers.org http://www.localharvest.org http://www.squarefootgardening.com
http://india.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/211309.shtml
http://www.chattanoogahealth.com/PrintArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2138
http://www.feingold.org/PF/wisconsin1.html
http://www.rachel.org/bestPrac/detail.CFM?bestPrac_ID=3
Health
http://www.wellbeingjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=1
http://www.wellbeingjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=33
http://carbs.com/articles/your-school-lunch-program-flunking-or-honor-roll.html
http://www.grist.org/advice/books/2000/08/24/agent/index.html?source=daily
http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa6.cfm
book: The Mozart Effect for Children; by Don Campbell http://growingyourmusician.com/booksforparents.html http://mozarteffect.com

From a child is beautiful, Anything.
Quote - Book of Jewish Values; by Joseph Telushkin; Day 166

VICTORY OVER ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER - ADHD
http://victoryoveradhd.com http://www.organicconsumers.org/afc.cfm
book: Victory over ADHD; by Deborah Merlin
book: Bragg Healthy Lifestyle; by Paul C. Bragg
book: Healing ADD; by Daniel G. Amen
book: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life; by Daniel Amen
book: Raw Kids; by Cheryl Stoycoff http://www.livingnutrition.com
http://www.bibleplus.org/health/ms_lupus.htm
http://ritalindeath.com
http://www.feingold.org
http://www.foodrevolution.org/askjohn/43.htm
http://www.yesmagazine.com/article.asp?ID=576
Whole Body Nutrition: http://designednutrition.com http://designedclinicalnutrition.com
historical info - book: Back to Eden; by Jethro Kloss http://www.lotuspress.com
book: Thom Hartmann's Complete Guide to ADHD; by Thom Hartmann
book: Empty Harvest; by Bernard Jensen
journal article: Feed Your Brain; by Jurriaan Kamp http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/46/feed_your_brain

Proverb: Good Food is Good Medicine. <> Garbage in, garbage out.

DIET DRINK POISON
http://www.bibleplus.org/health/ms_lupus.htm
http://www.foodrevolution.org/askjohn/43.htm
http://www.killercoke.org
http://www.organicconsumers.org/BTC/cocacola082405.cfm
book: Seeds of Deception; by Jeffrey Smith

utilizing ORGANIC GARDENING in SCHOOLS-UNIVERSITIES
for improving Academic Performance and social development
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/schools.php http://www.schoollunchinitiative.org http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/cla_lessons.html http://www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/rsl-guide.html http://www.calhealthyschools.org http://www.organicconsumers.org
http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/kit_lessons.html http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/garden/pubs/index.html
http://growinghope.net http://www.communitygarden.org.au http://seattletilth.org http://urbanharvest.org http://cityfarmer.org http://farminthecity.org http://csafarms.org
http://www.ncfi.org.uk http://www.seedinternational.com.au/Schools.html
http://www.goodgrub.org/youth http://www.utafoundation.org/Sunshine/home.htm
http://www.communitygarden.org/learn http://www.jhsph.edu/clf/PDF%20Files/Toolkit.pdf http://www.thewatershedproject.org/default/?q=resources
http://www.journeytoforever.org/edu.html#garden http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/nutrition/healthy01.asp
https://secure.bioneers.org/product/books/ecologicalliteracy http://www.nwf.org/backyard/resourceconservation.cfm
Organic Farming Training: http://www.wwoof.org
book: Growing Communities: How to Build Community Through Community Gardening; by Jeanette Abi-Nader http://www.communitygarden.org http://public.gripserver4.com/garden/html/learn
book: Learning About Lifecycles Using An Organic Garden; by Allan Randall http://www.green-shopping.co.uk
book: How to Grow World Record Tomatoes; by Charles Wilber http://www.acresusa.com
book: Worms Eat My Garbage; by Mary Appelhof http://www.wormwoman.com http://www.vermico.com
book: Four Season Harvest; by Eliot Coleman http://www.fourseasonfarm.com
book: Growing Naturally: A Teacher's Guide to Organic Gardening; by M. Brown
book: Let's Grow!: 72 Gardening Adventures with Children; by Linda Tilgner
book: Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World; by Michael Stone
book: Permaculture Teachers' Guide; by Andrew Goldring http://www.green-shopping.co.uk
book: Manual For Teaching Permaculture Creatively; by Robin Clayfield http://www.eco-logicbooks.com
book: A Child's Organic Garden, Grow Your Own Organic Vegetables; by Fryer Bradford
book: Digging Deeper: A Comprehensive Guide to Integrating Youth Gardens into School and Communities; by Kiefer and Kemple
book: Organic Gardening, The Natural No-Dig Way; by Charles Dowding http://www.charlesdowding.co.uk
book: No-Did, No-Weed Gardening; by R. Pioncelot
book: The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden; by Ruth Stout http://www.emilycompost.com/books.htm
book: Tips for the Lazy Gardener; by Linda Tilgner http://www.countrysidemag.com
book: Heirloom Vegetable Gardening - Heritage Seeds; by William Weaver
book: Ultimate Fruit and Nuts; by Susanna Lyle
book: An Earth Saving Revolution, Vol. 1, Vol 2; by Teruo Higa http://www.emshop.co.nz/em-products-books_videos.html
book: Rebel Farmer; by Sepp Holzer
book: Permaculture, Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability; by David Holmgren
book: Gaia's Garden; by Toby Hemenway
book: The Natural Way of Farming; by Masanobu Fukuoka
book: Seaweed, A User's Guide; by Sonia Surrey-Gent http://acresusa.com
book: Square Foot Gardening; by Mel Bartholomew http://www.squarefootgardening.com
book: Cinder Block Gardens, book; by Lynn A. Gillespie
book: Practical Guide to Container Gardening; by Susan Berry
book: Soul of Soil; by Grace Gershuny
book: Great Garden Formulas; by Joan Benjamin
book: Super Nutrition Gardening; by William Peavy
book: Carrots Love Tomatoes, Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening; by Louise Riotte
book: Great Garden Companions; by Sally Jean Cunningham
book:  Sprouts The Miracle Food; by Steve Meyerowitz
book: Windowsill Gardening, Year-Round Indoor Gardening Projects for Kids; by Klutz http://eco-artware.com/books.shtml
Vertical indoor Garding: http://www.vertigro.com http://www.omegagarden.com http://www.aerogrow.com
High School Science Garden, Solar Energy, Farmers Market: http://www.growingedge.com/magazine/back_issues/view_article.php3?AID=170320
Roof Top Gardening - Balcony Gardening: http://www.rooftopgardens.org
book: Harnessing the Earthworm; by Thomas Barrett http://www.wormbooks.com/all.books.htm
book: Allergy-Free Gardening; by Thomas Ogren http://www.allergyfree-gardening.com
book: Food Not Lawns; by Heather Flores http://www.foodnotlawns.com
book: Designing And Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally; by Robert Kourik
book: Complete Book of Edible Landscaping; by Rosalind Creasy
book: Edible Flower Garden; by Rosalind Creasy http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/edibleflowers.html http://www.plantea.com/edibleland.htm http://www.landofvos.com/articles/kitchen8.html http://www.ibiblio.org/permaculture-online/artedibl.html
book: How to Make a Forest Garden; by Patrick Whitefield http://www.ecobooks.com
book: Edible Forest Gardens; by Dave Jacke http://www.edibleforestgardens.com
book: Raw Food Made Easy; by Jennifer Cornbleet
book: The Raw Gourmet; by Nomi Shannon
book: Amaranth to Zai Holes, Ideas for Growing Food Under Difficult Conditions; by Laura Meitzner http://echobooks.org
book: Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms; by Paul Stamets
book: One-Straw Revolution; by Masanobu Fukuoka
book: Perennial Vegetables, From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro; by Eric Toensmeier
book: New Seed Starter's Handbook; by Nancy Bubel
book: Autumn Nature Activities for Children; by Marie Louise Kreuter
book: Sharing Nature With Children; by Joseph Cornell
book: Earthwise: Environmental Crafts and Activities; by Carol Petrash
book: Bread from Stones; by Michael Olson http://www.acresusa.com
book: Natural Soap Book; by Susan Miller Cavitch
book: Solar Food Dryer; by Eben Fodor
Solar Cooking: http://www.solarcooking.org
bring sun light indoors to classrooms for growing food and plants: http://www.sun-dome.com http://www.sun-tek.com http://www.kalwall.com http://www.led-grow-master.com http://www.skytube.net.nz http://www.sunscope.com http://www.huvco.com http://www.tubular-skylight.com
Organic insect repellant - Garlic Barrier: http://garlicbarrier.com http://ghorganics.com http://biconet.com http://organiclandscape.com http://foxfarmfertilizer.com
Organic Weed Killer - 25% Acetic Acid eliminates Weeds: http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=468&bhcd2=1162226528
http://www.milkyspore.com/burnout.htm http://garden-ville.com http://greenergyinc.com http://groworganic.com http://ehabc.org http://hotpepperwax.com
http://www.organiclandcare.org http://www.mcs-global.org http://www.panna.org
http://maineindymedia.org/newswire/display/4466/index.php http://phillyimc.org/en/2007/02/36740.shtml
Free organic gardening-farming Catalog: http://www.acresusa.com/other/freesample.htm
MORE INFO
http://uruguay.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/44217.php http://ambazonia.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/1186.shtml
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/14175/index.php http://india.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/211309.shtml http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/12625.php

To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves. Gandhi

For more information, please contact local gardeners and farmers who specialize in Organic gardening, Permaculture gardening, Biodynamic gardening, Japanese Kyusei Nature gardening - Shizen Nouhou, Biointensive gardening, Heirloom gardening-Heritage Seeds, Agroforestry gardening, Organic Hydroponics gardening and Gardening Therapy. Gardening is micro-climate specific. These means that local gardeners might know of gardening techniques and resources which are helpful for the location you live in. Keep researching, reading, refining your gardening methods and experimenting with different growing techniques. Eco Gardening technology is changing and improving all the time. Also, as the climate changes, you may need to learn other gardening techniques for various climates.
http://www.localharvest.org

School Gardening - Science and Academic Success
and school Farmer Markets GENERATING REVENUE
http://www.growingedge.com/magazine/back_issues/view_article.php3?AID=170320

STARTING a FARMERS MARKET
At your School, Church and Elsewhere
book: New Farmers Market; by Vance Corum
book: Legal Guide for Direct Farm Marketing; by Neil Hamilton
book: Grassroots Marketing; by Shel Horowitz
book: Backyard Market Gardening; by Andrew Lee
book: MetroFarm; by Michael Olson http://www.metrofarm.com
book: Micro Eco-Farming; by Barbara Berst Adams http://www.microecofarming.com
book: Growing and Selling Fresh-Cut Herbs; by Sandie Shores
book: Sharing the Harvest; by Elizabeth Henderson

FOOD COOPS
~How to Set Up a Food Coop at schools, churches etc
book: Food Co-Ops for Small Groups; by Tony Vellela
book: How to Start a Food Co-op; by Karen Zimbelman
http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/cg_special.html#howtostart
http://www.vegfamily.com/articles/coop-food-buying.htm
http://www.foodcoop500.coop
http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu
http://www.coopdirectory.org/bp003.htm
http://www.flatbushfoodcoop.com/wtsacoop.html
http://www.foodcoop.coop
http://www.go.coop
http://www.flatbushfoodcoop.com/coops.html#cooperative%20organizations
http://www.coopdirectory.org/#What%20is%20a%20Co-op?
book: Consumer Food Cooperatives; by Ronald Cotterill
~Coop Directory
http://www.coopdirectory.org
http://www.localharvest.org
http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop
~Help Book Online: Common Ground Food Co-op helpbook.prairienet.org/fs010235aa.php
~Journals:
Cooperative Grocer http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop
New Sector, Community and Co-operative Enterprise http://www.newsector.co.uk
Cooperative Business Journal http://www.ncba.coop
~Food Securtiy
http://www.copac.coop/idc/fao-idc2000.htm
~Food Share Programs
http://www.sacfoodcoop.com/pages/community/comm_prog.htm
http://www.sacfoodcoop.com/pages/community/comm_don.htm
~School Tours to Food Coops
http://www.foodcoop.coop/index.php?page=school_store_tour
~Cooperative Development Services
http://www.cdsfood.coop/food/faq
~Federal Grants for Community Food Project, Food Coops
http://www.foodsecurity.org/funding.html
http://www.davisfood.coop/dccf.html
http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/articles/index.php?id=689
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/in_focus/hunger_if_competitive.html
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/communityfoodprojects.cfm

BUYERS CLUBS
Creating Buyers Clubs at schools and churches
http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com

PLEASE SEE PART 2 OF 4 BELOW

By any measure, California wines rank among the best in the world. But a 2-degree rise in temperature could make Napa Valley chardonnay a thing of the past.

A couple more degrees and Napa would no longer be prime territory for wine of any kind. And warmer grape growing regions such as the Livermore valley could be knocked out of the premium wine game entirely.

"It's clear that there's the potential for really substantial problems, and almost certainly going to be some change," said John Williams, owner and winemaker at Frog's Leap Winery in Napa Valley.

Among the issues Williams could face are warmer winters that hinder bud development, changes in rainfall patterns and increasing pressure from pests that thrive in hotter weather. But uncertainty about the timing and severity of those challenges makes it hard to plan.

"YOU CAN'T PREPARE FOR IT," HE SAID.

Although grapes may feel the heat first, they won't be alone. Many of the state's signature crops -- avocados, oranges, almonds -- will face serious declines in yield by midcentury, according to computer models that project climate changes.

Agriculture is the industry whose fate is most closely linked to climate, and California is by far the biggest agricultural producer in the country. In a warming world, California's agricultural riches are among the most vulnerable in the country, so farmers and economists are starting to pay attention to the prospect of climate change.

The state grows more than half of the nation's fruits, nuts and vegetables and is virtually the sole source of more than a dozen crops, including nectarines, raisins, artichokes and olives.

No other state comes close. According to the most recent agricultural census, in 2002, the No. 2 state, Texas, did not bring in even half of the $26 billion grossed by California farmers and ranchers.

Other states may escape relatively unscathed, and some studies show that the uptick in temperature and longer growing season predicted by climate models could actually be a boon to agriculture in the northernmost states..

But California's climate is already close to ideal for many of the fruits and vegetables for which it is famous, and even the most optimistic predictions show California on the losing end of the warming stick.

"At the current crop mix that we have, we're pretty much at the optimum, so changing that would push us over the peak of that curve," said economist Olivier Deschenes of UC Santa Barbara.

In a study forthcoming in the American Economic Review, DeschÆnes and Michael Greenstone of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimated the economic impact of global warming on U.S. agriculture by analyzing how random year-to-year variations in temperature and precipitation affected profits in the past. They then used a climate model to project those effects into the future..

They calculated that global warming will result in a 4 percent, or $1.3 billion, increase in agricultural profits for the country during the next century. But those gains were not evenly spread, and California may see an annual loss of 15 percent, or $750 million, by the end of the century..

One of the biggest reasons for this is the state's precarious water situation..

Unlike the eastern half of the United States, California's agriculture is largely dependent on irrigation. About 90 percent of California's crops are produced on irrigated land..

Some climate models project the state will get more rain during the growing season, but this increase will be far outweighed by a decrease in winter snow..

California doesn't have sufficient reservoir capacity to sustain agricultural water needs through the dry season, so storing water as Sierra snowpack is critical. A good snowpack ensures water will be available in the summer and fall when irrigation demand is still high and reserves from rainwater are low..

Currently, 80 percent of water used in the state goes to agriculture. With reductions in snowpack estimated from 30 percent to 90 percent by 2100, agriculture could take a big hit depending on how dwindling water resources are allocated among cities, farmers and the environment..

"I cannot emphasize enough how critical a factor that is for California's agriculture," said ecologist Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University. "It doesn't matter how fast or slow a plant can potentially grow. In California, if you don't give it sufficient irrigation water, it's not viable as a crop."

To make matters worse, the bulk of the state's agricultural profits come from perennial plants that live for 30 years or more and are not easily or inexpensively swapped for more heat- or drought-resistant crops, or moved to cooler locations.

Climate scientist David Lobell of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory led a study published in the journal Agricultural and Forest Meteorology in November that used past yields of six of the state's most lucrative perennial crops to calculate the potential impact of future warming predicted by more than 20 different climate models. Five of the six crops suffered significant yield losses by midcentury in nearly all of the models.

"It's not good news," Lobell said. "I was a little surprised at how unlikely it is for climate change to have no effect or a positive effect. Even the most conservative models show some decline."

Avocados, grown mostly in Ventura and San Diego counties, could see yields drop as much as 40 percent. The Central Valley's almonds and walnuts and the San Joaquin and Coachella valleys' oranges and table grapes could decline as much as 20 percent.

One potential mitigating factor that Lobell's study did not take into account is the positive effect that higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide can have on plant growth.

Plants use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis to convert solar energy into plant material and fuel. Early research suggested that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere would substantially increase plant growth. But more recent research has shown a much smaller benefit, on the order of a 10 percent to 20 percent increase in growth by the end of the century with twice as much carbon dioxide as was in the atmosphere before people began producing industrial greenhouse gases.

"If the negative impact of climate was 10 (percent) to 20 percent, it's possible that it would come out in the wash, that they would more or less even each other out," Field said. "But if the impact of climate is really substantial, such that you can't grow crop 'A' in place 'B,' then it doesn't really matter that in some places crop 'A' was growing 10 percent better.".

FARMERS GET SQUEEZED

Some California crops are already feeling the heat.

Farmers in the middle of the country may be able to adapt fairly quickly to rising temperatures by switching to more heat-tolerant crops. But California won't be nearly as agile..

Much of the state's agriculture involves long-lived plants such as grape vines and avocado, peach and nectarine trees. It can take as many as eight or 10 years for some of these plants to mature and begin bearing a full load of fruit. So switching to warmer-weather fruit such as oranges or lemons is no small endeavor.

"That's a huge difference between California agriculture and everywhere else," Field said. "We're overwhelmingly dependent on perennial crops. It means across all our crops, we are automatically more vulnerable to climate change."

This could prove to be a major problem for farmers such as Len Delchiaro who can't afford to uproot his 70 acres of cherry trees in Brentwood and wait six or seven years with no income before a new set of trees begins to bear fruit.

The biggest threat to Delchiaro's orchard is a decline in "chill hours," or hours below 45 degrees. Cherry trees need from 900 to 1,200 chill hours during which they go dormant, a process that enables normal bud and blossom development. Any temperature spikes above 65 or 70 degrees during the winter can also adversely affect dormancy.

Warmer winters, particularly a rise in nighttime low temperatures, have caused Delchiaro's trees to blossom several weeks late and weakened the buds so that they can't hold on to the fruit.

"When you don't have enough chill, you may have a good blossom, but the tree's not strong enough to sustain the fruit," he said. "So then you have a large drop-off where you lose immature fruit."

Delchiaro, who has been farming cherries in Brentwood for more than three decades, has seen his crop yields drop from 60 percent to 70 percent the past two years..

Years with too few chill hours are a normal part of a naturally fluctuating climate, and Delchiaro is happy with a cold winter so far this year, but he believes warmer winters have been more common in recent years

"It's been more noticeable over the last five or 10 years we're getting less and less chill," he said, noting that urban encroachment could also be a factor.

With the cost of labor increasing, crop yields declining and the price of cherries static, farmers like Delchiaro are getting squeezed.

"WE'RE KIND OF IN A VISE," HE SAID..

Still, he plans to hang in there with his cherries. "It's just something that we know. We're geared to it," said the 56-year-old farmer. "I'm at a point in my life where I don't want to have to wait seven, eight years to change."

A rise in average temperatures isn't the only problem farmers may face in a warmer California. Brief bouts with extreme weather such as heat waves or sustained heavy rains can cause serious problems for some crops. And climate models suggest that extreme weather could become increasingly common as temperatures climb.

Farmer Ruth Hartnett has been growing a variety of fruits and nuts and raising various livestock on nine acres of Grand Island in the Sacramento River near Rio Vista. This summer's heat wave claimed three of Hartnett's turkeys, and has her pondering a warmer future in which extremes become the norm. She says many farmers in her area have been struggling with the unusual weather, causing some of them to rethink their crop choices as they brace for more of the same.

This year at least three pear orchards in Hartnett's neighborhood were plowed under to make way for hardier crops such as citrus fruits or, in one case, a housing development.

"The weather has gotten so strange, and crops are so unreliable, especially when it comes to fruit, that these farmers just bulldozed their orchards," she said.

Some farmers, including Hartnett, are convinced that global warming is at least partly to blame for the peculiar weather. Although some are biting the bullet and switching crops, others are contemplating quitting the business altogether, and a few are thinking of relocating.

"If we're going to get this kind of heat in this area, there are farmers who are seriously considering moving north. Maybe Canada, maybe Alaska," said Hartnett.

For now, Hartnett is considering somewhat less-drastic steps such as replacing a few pear trees with citrus trees, but she counts herself among those who could be persuaded to hit the road..

"We seem to be at a tipping point. People are looking toward economic survival," she said "The undercurrent is, 'How do I not lose my shirt and everything I've ever worked for?'"

WINES ON THE MOVE

Many crops will be affected, but the state's prized wine industry may be the proverbial canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change. Grapes, particularly those used for premium wines, require a delicate balance of climatic conditions..

"Wine grapes are especially vulnerable because they have a sensitive temperature range in which they can grow," said Stanford University ecologist Kim Nicholas Cahill, who studies the effects of extreme heat on grapes.

Although wine grapes might not suffer major declines in yield, quality rather than quantity is the issue with this crop.

Too hot, and grapes may ripen too quickly and produce flabby wines with too little acid and too much alcohol. Too cold, and a wine's character will tend toward less desirable green flavors such as grass or bell pepper.

The Napa Valley region is blessed with a 64 degree average temperature that falls smack in the middle of the comfort zones of many popular varietals, including merlot, syrah and cabernet sauvignon..

But Napa just barely tags the range for chardonnay grapes, which thrive in 57 to 63 degree temperatures. A small bump up in the average growing season temperature, even just 1 degree, could push Napa into questionable territory for chardonnay.

Of course, this same small bump in temperature would nudge the valley closer to the ideal climate for zinfandel grapes. But a few more degrees could be a disaster for Napa. And some of the state's warmer wine-growing regions, such as Santa Barbara and Paso Robles, might be lost altogether.

"You add another couple of degrees onto warming in Fresno, and it will become real challenging to grow anything other than table grapes or raisins because you can't produce premium high-quality wine in that hot of a climate without technology we really don't have today," said climatologist Gregory Jones of Southern Oregon University in Ashland.

Jones is part of a team that used a computer climate model to look at the future of the U.S. wine industry in a warming world -- and it is bleak.

According to the study, published in July in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 60 percent of the best terrain for premium grapes will be lost by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated. And the picture is particularly grim for California, currently responsible for 90 percent of the country's wine grape production.

Most of the remaining top-quality acreage will shift northward to the Pacific Northwest. California will retain and possibly gain a little bit of territory along the coast, but the inland vineyards, including those in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, will be lost.

"There's a tremendous amount of culture and value that's associated with the wine industry where it is," Field said. "It would be a heavy price to pay if we had to move out of there.

"If all of a sudden, Mendocino County becomes a better place to grow wine, even if you are producing the exact same wine there, it's not a hundred percent clear that the value will transfer immediately. It may take the world's wine community anywhere from months to decades to learn that now the wines associated with a certain quality are coming from some other place."

Williams at Frog's Leap Winery knows some growers who are hedging their bets by buying property in cooler areas with an eye to growing wine grapes there in the future.

A narrow band along the northern Central coast may maintain a good climate for wine, and farther north the coast could warm up enough to become suitable. But problems with high humidity and excess precipitation will persist along the coast. And climate projections don't take into account the "terroir," or character of the earth; even if an area gains a climate appropriate for wine grapes, it may never produce premium wines.

If carbon emissions continue unabated, the statewide annual temperature could go up 10 degrees. That's roughly equivalent to the difference in average annual temperature between Oakland and Los Angeles.

But if emissions are curbed significantly, the rise could be kept to around 3 degrees. That's something that wine growers might be able to handle by changing their vine-management practices, Cahill said.

The temperatures that the grapes on the vine actually experience can be changed quite a bit by controlling how much leaf cover they have. Many growers in Napa trim the leaves back to give their grapes more direct sunlight, which in turn produces bolder wines, said Terry Hall, communications director for the Napa Valley Vintners.

Currently, growers often thin out clusters of chardonnay grapes to keep them cooler, Hall said, and this practice could be used on other varietals as well if temperatures rise.

"I've seen a lot of interesting innovations in management. People do have some capacity to adapt," said Cahill. "But at the higher end of the (possible) temperature increase, business as usual will definitely be much less possible."

Australia's drought could cut the 2008 wine grape vintage by more than half, industry groups said on Monday, cutting into a A$3 billion ($2.6 billion) a year export business and possibly forcing hundreds of winemakers out of business.

The 2008 vintage is likely to fall to between 800,000 tones and 1.3 million tones, compared with a normal seasonal crop of about 1.9 million tones, according to Wine Grape Growers and Winemakers' Federation of Australia.

"Some growers will not be able to recover, and some vineyards will be lost as a result of the drought," said Mark McKenzie, executive director of another industry group, Wine Grape Growers' Australia.

"We think some 800 growers are in immediate financial peril, with up to 1,000 at risk over time. They are broke," McKenzie said. Australia has some 7,500 grape growers.

In some regions that depend heavily on irrigation water from the Murray Darling river system, in the southeast of the country, water allocations are as low as 10-16 percent of normal allocations, the two industry groups said.

The falling vintage comes after a glut that forced prices to rock-bottom levels and produced a spate of retail stores across Australia selling unlabelled cheap and bulk wine.

"It compounds what is already an extremely difficult financial situation, where prices may go up but growers will not be able to take advantage of that because of the reduced crop," McKenzie said.

Australia's wine exports totaled A$3 billion in the year to July, according to the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation. The United Kingdom and the United States are the largest markets with about A$972-A$974 million of sales each.

Australian scientists have predicted global warming will force wholesale changes to Australia's A$4.8 billion wine industry, threatening the existence of some varieties with temperatures in most wine regions projected to rise by up to 1.7 degrees Celsius (3 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2030.

Earlier on Monday, broker JP Morgan slashed its earnings forecast for winemaker McGuigan Simeon Wines Ltd by 142 percent as a result of a smaller 2008 wine grape crop.

The broker now sees the company reporting an operating net loss of A$1.1 million from a previous estimate of a profit of A$2.5 million.

Australian grape growers reckon they are the canary in the coalmine of global warming, as a long drought forces winemakers to rethink the styles of wine they can produce and the regions they can grow in.

The three largest grape-growing regions in Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, all depend on irrigation to survive. The high cost of water has made life tough for growers.

Some say they probably won't survive this year's harvest, because of the cost of keeping vines alive. Water prices surged above A$1,000 a megaliter last year from around A$300.

 "On the back of three very ordinary years, this year is probably the worst that could have occurred with the drought and the high costs of water," said Michael de Palma, a mid-sized grower in Redcliffe near Mildura in the Murray Valley, one of the country's three big wine regions.

"In this depressed situation, growers have only two choices, stick it out as long as they can or to cut their losses and get out," said de Palma, who is part-way through a weather-influenced early harvest on his 40-hectare vineyard.

Recent rains have bypassed the country's parched inland wine regions, and have fallen half-way through the harvest in eastern Australia, too late to help the berries and instead causing a mildew-like disease.

De Palma, the chairman of Murray Valley Winegrowers, said he would wait to see the results of his harvest before deciding whether to sell up or hold on to his vineyard, which mainly supplies Foster's Group, Australia's largest wine company.

He estimated around 40 percent of grape growers in the Murray Valley who had access to water trading couldn't afford to buy water last year, while most of the others had to borrow to do so, going deeper into debt.

Industry groups estimate up to 1,000 winegrowers out of around 7,000 may be forced to leave the industry this year because their vineyards are no longer financially viable.

"There's a Darwinian economics going on at the moment, and the outcome remains to be seen," said Paul Henry, general manager of market development at Australian Wine and Brandy Corp.

"One might say we're guilty of the charge of being slow to change thus far, but the experience of this harvest will change the outlook for Australian producers."

In some regions, such as the Murray Valley, wine grape yields are down 30-40 percent.

Australia's harvest is forecast to be down on average years, which may cut into exports in the A$6 billion industry.

Wine exports total some A$3 billion. Australia is the number one supplier of imported wine in the United Kingdom with a market share of 23 percent and it is second in the United States.

The smaller 2008 vintage, made worse by a record-breaking heatwave which withered grapes on the vines, is expected to push up prices and spell the end of cheap bulk wine after a three-year glut that produced a rash of no-name brands called "cleanskins."

WARMER AND DRIER

Scientists say Australia's vast inland winegrowing districts face the greatest degrees of warming.

These are the Riverland on the Murray River in South Australia, the Murray Valley, and the Riverina on the Murrumbidgee River in New South Wales.

And it is the grape-growers in these semi-arid areas that already face the greatest hardship, with calls to rural financial counseling services soaring in recent months.

"We believe there are 800 to 1,000 growers predominantly in Murray Valley and the Riverland in South Australia who are going to have to make a decision this year about whether they stay or go," said Wine Grape Growers chief Mark McKenzie.

A landmark study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) found these areas would warm by 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.

Last year was one of the warmest on record for southern Australia, where all of the nation's winegrowing regions lie, as well as one of the driest.

And that is enough to change harvesting times as berries ripen earlier, which can also affect their quality.

"Climate change is the biggest issue we face. Relatively small changes in temperature and precipitation do have reasonably large impacts in terms of wine style," said Winemakers' Federation Chief Executive Stephen Strachan.

"Wine is a bit of a bellwether in terms of some of the very immediate impacts you see from climate change."

According to the CSIRO, grape quality could fall by 23 percent by 2030 because of the climate changes, and suitable land for viticulture could be cut by 10 percent.

By 2050, some 44 percent of current grape-growing areas would be affected, the study found.

The solution may be for cooler climate areas, such as the bayside Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne and the Yarra Valley to the east, to expand the varieties they grow.

The southern island state of Tasmania is also attracting attention as a region that could dramatically boost its grape cultivation, with its mild weather closer to that of New Zealand than the parched mainland.

Indeed, wine-growers in neighboring New Zealand are upbeat about a future that includes climate change, because higher temperatures are expected to make cold areas of New Zealand more temperate and better suited to grape growing.

CHANGING TASTES

Warmer temperatures and less rainfall will also mean changes in the grape varieties the traditional growing areas produce.

"Styles in existing regions will change," said Strachan of the Winemakers' Federation.

"Most regions can produce most grape varieties, but whether they can produce them to quality levels that the market expects is the big question."

While Australia's signature shiraz fares quite well in a hot climate, cabernet, pinot noir and merlot among the reds and chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and riesling among the whites may have a tougher time.

"Merlot is relatively intolerant of water stress, and it doesn't cope well with periods of very high temperatures," said Snow Barlow, a winemaker and the chairman of the agriculture school at Melbourne University, who co-authored the CSIRO study.

Experts say Australian growers need to experiment with tougher varieties from Spain and Sicily. Tempranillo from Spain is one of Australia's fastest-growing varieties, while along the Murray river, the Corsican grape Vermentino is being planted.

"Wine companies build up brands. Whether we can convince the world to take to Australian Sicilian varieties in same way they take to Australian shiraz, that's quite a big commercial question," said Barlow.

Barlow, who owns the boutique Baddaginnie Run vineyard nestled in the foothills of the Strathbogie Ranges in Victoria state, said climate change shaped his decisions on what varieties to plant when he started his vineyard 10 years ago.

Even so, merlot has proved problematic and he did not produce a merlot last year because of poor quality. His $20 merlot has won awards in better years.

Over time, different root stocks that are able to provide good fruit with lower water requirements will become more common.

But it can take months or years to import new varieties through Australia's strict quarantine system, and three to four years to establish new rootstock for commercial production.

For grape growers already deep in debt, that is simply too long to wait.

Global warming is killing vineyards in southern Spain, threatening a 2 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) wine industry and forcing grape growers to move to cooler climes of the Pyrenees.

Winemakers from Europe's largest grape-growing nation are shading vineyards, developing heat-resistance crops and moving to mountainside locations. Temperatures may rise 7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, said Jose Manuel Moreno, professor of climatology at the University of Castilla La Mancha.

Any increase in temperature in Spain may make it impossible to produce wine in lower areas, according to Xavier Sort, technical director of Miguel Torres SA, the maker of Sangre de Toro wine. The average maximum day temperature in Spain during the summer is 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit).

``Agriculture will need to change, and there will be winners and losers,'' Moreno said in a telephone interview. ``Warming will harm plants that last more than one season, such as grape vines, the most.''

Miguel Torres SA, based near Barcelona, is buying fields in the peaks of northeastern Spain, where the weather is cooler, said Sort. Castell d'Encus vintner Raul Bobet has picked a spot 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) high in the Pyrenees for his label.

``There may be a move of wineries into the Pyrenees in the future,'' said Xavier Sort, technical director of Miguel Torres. ``It could be a source for future growth.''

Wine makers must plan for longer to protect their grapes, because vines can keep producing wine for as many as 80 years and will be exposed to several generations of warming temperatures, said Richard Smart, an Australian wine industry consultant who advises on climate change, in a telephone interview.

AT FAULT

``The wine sector itself is at fault,'' said Smart. ``I don't think they have thought about how serious the problem is.''

Heat and sunlight increase sugar levels in wine grapes, which can boost alcohol content beyond what is palatable. Hotter weather may also curb grape acidity, changing the flavor, and unexpectedly rainy and cold seasons can devastate a year's crop.

In Malaga and Cadiz, the most southern wine-growing regions, temperatures can top 40 degrees during the summer months. Spain is the closest major European wine producer to the equator, making it particularly vulnerable to climate changes.

``Climate change is the biggest environmental challenge modern society faces,'' said Jose Ramon Picatoste, an official in Spain's Environmental Ministry, at a conference in Barcelona in March. ``Industries will need to adapt.''

One degree of climate changes makes wine-growing regions in the Northern Hemisphere similar to regions 200 kilometers further south, said Bernard Seguin, a scientist at France's National Institute for Agronomic Research.

HIGHER GROUND

``If you are able to change grape varieties, it's not such a problem,'' Seguin said. ``If you can't, then it does become an issue. To me, it's the most direct and striking example of the warming until now.''

Some producers may benefit from warmer weather, said Carlos Falco, director of Marques de Grinon, a winemaker in the Rioja and Montes de Toledo regions. Hot weather in 2003 led the Priorat and Ribera del Duero regions in northern Spain to get wine scores above 90, according to the Wine Spectator.

Regulators have stuck to practices from the 19th century, when vine diseases in France led vintners to expand into the Rioja region. Watering grapes became legal in Spain in 1996.

While winemakers such as Cordoniu, a producer in the Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions, are adopting automated irrigation techniques, regulators in Rioja still restrict the times when vineyards can be watered.

CRUCIAL PROBLEM

Regulators should loosen rules so winemakers can decide for themselves when to irrigate, said Sanchez, head of the Madrid- based Spanish Federation of Winemaking Associations. His organization is developing heat-resistant grapes in greenhouses.

``The ability to irrigate vineyards is going to be a crucial problem,'' agrees Christian Butzke, associate professor of enology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

``Grapes are the highest value-added commodity that we know of in agriculture,'' Butzke said. ``No other crop can be converted into such an expensive product.'

California will become hotter and drier by the end of the century, menacing the valuable wine and dairy industries, even if dramatic steps are taken to curb global warming, researchers said on Monday.

The first study to specifically forecast the impact of global warming on a U.S. state also shows the snowpack melting in the Sierra Nevada mountains, more frequent heat waves hitting Los Angles and disruptions to crop irrigation.

Researchers from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and elsewhere ran scenarios through new computer models of global warming.

All predicted California's weather would be hotter and drier, but this would be worse if only weak action is taken to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases contributing to warming the planet.

"We are already in a situation where we have seen some warming and we have seen some impacts," said Carnegie's Christopher Field, who led the study.

"If we stay on higher emissions trajectory, there will be consequences over the coming decades that are truly, truly serious and something I think reasonable people would be doing whatever they could to avoid," he said in a telephone interview.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Field and colleagues described the impact based on scenarios devised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

One forecast, the so-called high emissions trajectory, is what Field described as business as usual. "High economic growth, high globalization and a strong emphasis on fossil fuels," he said.

The low-emissions trajectory has slightly lower economic growth with industries shifted from factories toward service industries and information technology.

QUADRUPLED EMISSIONS

Under the highest-emissions forecast, carbon emissions by the end of the century will be 28 billion tons of carbon per year -- about four times the current rate of 6 billion to 7 billion tons a year. The low-emission scenario forecasts the emissions would stay at the current level.

"By the end of the century under the (best) scenario, heat waves and extreme heat in Los Angeles quadruple in frequency while heat-related mortality increases two to three times; alpine/subalpine forests are reduced by 50 percent to 75 percent and Sierra snowpack is reduced 30 percent to 70 percent," Field and his colleagues wrote.

Under the worst scenario, heat waves in Los Angeles are six to eight times more frequent, with up to seven times as many heat-related deaths as now. The Sierra snowpack falls by 90 percent.

This could "fundamentally disrupt California's water rights system," the researchers wrote.

They estimated that the $3.8 billion a year dairy industry and the $3.2 billion dollar grape industry would be especially vulnerable.

California, which has taken stronger action than other states to reduce emissions, for example with strict requirements for vehicles, cannot save itself, Field said.

"California has something like 2 percent of the world's total global greenhouse emissions," he noted.

"Even if California were to aggressively adopt emissions controls, global climate wouldn't respond to that directly. But if California is proactive, that could inspire the rest of the U.S. to be proactive, which could inspire the rest of the world, and you would see a domino effect."

The world is going to heat to such an extent that Burgundy may no longer be able to grow Pinot Noir, a conference heard last week.

Wine character as we know it today is on the verge of radical change, world experts on global warming and vines told the first World Conference on Global Warming and Wine held in Barcelona on March 24-25.

According to authoritative computer climate models, over the next 50 years Bordeaux is set to rise by 1.2C, Napa by 1.2C, Barolo 1.4C, Rioja, where water is already an issue, by 1.3C, Portugal – which is already up 2.9C over the last 50 years - by 2C. The list of 50 locations had been compiled from global research presented by climatologist Gregory Jones from Southern Oregon University.

Led by Bernard Seguin, a global bioclimatologist based at France's national agricultural institute (INRA) in Avignon, scientists defined other regions where temperatures are already near top of the range for the grape varieties that over the past centuries of viticulture have been found to work best there. Drought is also a growing problem.

These include Penedes and La Mancha in Spain, Chianti and Southern Italy, Southern France, Hunter Valley in Australia, parts of Chile and the Central Valley of California.

Southern Hemisphere temperatures in vineyards in New Zealand, southern Australia, parts of Chile and South Africa will rise more slowly due to more water, and less land mass.

The changes in temperature will have a variety of effects on viticulture. Some reds may lose color, some wines will lose varietal flavor, some whites may disappear, said renowned Australian viticulturalist Richard Smart. 'The effect will be profound,' he said.

Smart also drew attention to the dangers of vine infestation as temperatures rose, particularly in the case of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which spreads the fatal Pierce's Disease, and the aphid hyalestes obsoletus, which spreads a phytoplasma disease called Bois Noir. Higher temperatures mean both insects will be able to survive winters and move further. Hyalestes Obsoletus has recently been found in German vines.

The point was made that while it might seem almost trivial to draw attention to the dangers of global warming to the wine industry when so many staple crops were threatened, the vine's extreme sensitivity to climate made it 'the most direct and striking example of global warming' as Seguin put it.

The conference called on governments to take heed of the warning signals and to invest in grapevine breeding programmes to find varieties that will work in hotter temperatures, as well as improved irrigation systems, Greg Jones said.

Above all, the there are no certainties except for the fact of global warming. While we are not sure of the effects of hotter temperatures we know it will have a profound effect on vines.

Jones pointed out that 'although the changes are only a few degrees centigrade, that is all that exists at the moment between the regions.'

Taking the Mean July Temperature of various regions he showed how their viticultural character would change if you add 2degreesC.

Santa Maria, with a MJT of 17.3C would become Napa, at 19.3, St Helena at 21.7C would become Stockton at 23.5C, Healdsburg would become Modesto, and Fresno, Bakersfield.

Global warming is no laughing matter

Moreover, despite former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s reference to global warming as an “inconvenient truth,” according to scientists throughout the world, the truth can no longer be ignored and it most definitely will hurt us.

The earth is indeed getting warmer and the issue of global warming, or, more correctly, climate change, has been brought to the forefront of the public’s attention. Numerous governmental agencies and researchers have published reports on the crisis, making the message difficult to disregard. The scientific projections are dire and threaten to negatively impact the planet as we know it. The wine industry is not immune and several serious consequences are predicted for the wine regions of the world, as climate change jeopardizes their ability to grow quality fruit.

CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH and PROJECTIONS

As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. In this case, it might be interpreted quite literally. Historically, climate change isn’t novel; the Earth’s climate has changed dramatically before as evidenced by reports of thriving English vineyards back in the 1200s (Weise 2006). The difference is that the change is no longer a natural phenomenon. Rather, today’s change in average temperature is primarily linked to human activities, which have resulted in an increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, notably CO2 (IPCC 2001). More specifically, since 1970, carbon emissions have risen 30% over pre-industrial revolution levels, due to the combustion of fossil fuels, along with changes in land use and the release of aerosols into the environment (Pew 2004). Generally, scientists have found that average temperature increased 1oF over the past 100 years (IPCC 2001).

Looking ahead, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s most recent projections predict a shift between 2oC and 4.5oC, with an average global daily temperature rise of 3oC by 2100 (Warren 2006). These newer predictions are more precise than their previous forecast of 1.4 oC - 5.8oC, but are still substantial (IPCC). Data from Jones et.al. show the Bordeaux and Napa Valley regions each increasing by 1.2oC and Portugal increasing as much as 2oC over the next 50 years (2005a). Expectations include hotter summers for Europe and North Africa, along with altered patterns of rainfall (Gilby 2006).

Scientists advise that if greenhouse gas levels are stabilized to 400 parts per million, some of the temperature increase can be avoided (Warren 2006). In fact, the IPCC forecast notes that the rise could be held to 2oC, if greenhouse gases remained at current levels (ibid). However, studies have found that proposed efforts to reduce in greenhouse gases would likely result in a fall in real wages (ibid). Yet, even remaining at current emissions will have an impact. Field, et.al. specifically measured the effect of climate change on California and looked at both best (current level emissions) and worst (quadrupled emissions) scenarios (Fox 2004). Even in the best case, Field expected a fourfold increase in the frequency of heat waves and extreme heat in places such as Los Angeles, with mortality figures increased double to triple the number seen today (ibid).

IMPACT ON THE WINE INDUSTRY

While these temperature changes seem small, their affect on the viticultural industry will be significant. Grapes are particularly sensitive to heat and need to stay within a narrow temperature band to produce quality fruit. Thus, as explained by Bernard Seguin, “‘One degree increase in temperature is very important’” (Voss 2006). Moreover, Jones contends that, “…climate arguably exerts the most profound effect on the ability of a region or site to produce quality grapes and, therefore, wine” (2005a).  Consequently, discussions of impact have centered on quality as “…even tiny changes can be the difference between a $200 Cabernet Sauvignon and cooking sherry” (Weise 2006).

According to Jones’ study, all regions are experiencing growing season warming (2005b). For some regions, the initial changes have been helpful. Cooler climates, such as the Mosel and Rhine regions, have benefited from the increased temperature, with vintages improving with warmer weather (Just-drinks 2003). In concert, Ashfelter and Storchmann expect the value of Mosel Valley vineyards to increase 20-50% over the next several decades as the temperature rises 1-3oC (Holzer 2006). Excellent vintages in Bordeaux and Champagne have been other indicators of this positive outcome (Weise 2006).

Conversely, warmer climates have suffered from the additional heat, which has been especially true for areas currently at the high end of the spectrum for growing conditions such as La Mancha; Central Valley, CA; and southern France (Buckley 2006). Many wines from these warmer areas have shown an imbalance in alcohol and acidity (Just-drinks 2003). There is also concern regarding changes in flavor profile, along with imbalances in tannins, sugars and aromas, which will ultimately impact style and wine quality (Gilby 2006).

Richard Smart expects a loss of color in red wines and of varietal flavor (Buckley 2006). Similarly, Hans Schultz has predicted an impact on flavor development, due to the combination of increased solar radiation and temperature (2000). Already, in the Napa Valley, the average alcohol level has increased from 12.5% in the 1970s to 14.8% in 2001 (Rademakers 2006). Also, a reduction in the ageing potential for wines made from these stressed vines is likely, further impacting quality (Gilby 2006). Equally important, CO2 increases might alter the texture of oak wood, thus changing the character of wines aged in barrel (Jones 2005b).

Consequently, White et.al. warn that the grape growing industries in Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara may not exist in the future, predicting that as much as 81% of California acreage will be rendered unsuitable for premium grape growing as climate change continues (2006). Overall, White suggests that as the area of production contracts and shifts, a change to higher yields of low quality will ultimately produce lower-quality and lower-priced wines, with the highest-quality, highest-priced wines declining greater than 50% (ibid). Furthermore, declines in these premium regions may also negatively impact local culture and tourism (Teague 2006).

Another growing problem is drought, which reduced the 2005 harvest for the Torres wine company in Spain (Kakaviatos 2006). Predictably, there is anxiety regarding the availability of water (Voss 2006). With temperatures increasing more in the coldest areas than in warmer ones, stress on the polar ice caps is calculated to reduce the Sierra snow pack by 30-70%, which could “fundamentally disrupt California’s water rights system” (Fox 2004). In Australia, there is concern that the mainland would receive lower rainfall (Warren 2006). Not surprisingly, it has been suggested that water may be the next “investment frontier” (Voss 2006).

The resultant warmer winters and early arrival of spring can also be problematic, especially if a hard frost follows early spring budding (Voss 2006). Further, there is a real danger of vine infestation, particularly from Glassy Winged Sharpshooters, which spread Pierce’s Disease, and the pest hyalestes obsoletus, which is responsible for Bois Noir (Furer 2006). These vine diseases already pose a threat, but with milder winters, insects are living longer and migrating farther distances, thus, increasing both the perimeter of affected areas and the population of insects available to perpetuate disease (Buckley 2006).

RESPONSE OF THE WINE INDUSTRY

Given the evidence, climate change clearly must be addressed. Individual growers can and have modified their viticultural practices to adapt to the changing conditions. In Spain, Miguel Torres has begun using irrigation, which wasn’t done ten years ago (Kakaviatos 2006). Similarly, a Napa Valley grower admitted that irrigation was now a common part of his daily practice (Goldfarb 2006). However, in addition to the expense of such systems, the ability to irrigate may be curtailed by the rise of salinity in freshwater (Furer 2006).

Other viticultural proposals have included a switch in trellis systems to those that shelter the grapes from the intense heat, as well as using date palms to provide additional shade (Goldfarb 2006). Likely, vinification practices may change as well, with a need for more frequent acidification and less use of malolactic fermentation. As Europe continues to get warmer, it will have to reconsider “tradition-bound rules against irrigation” and other appellation laws to permit changes in practice. (Rademakers 2006).

The switch to different grape varieties, especially those better suited to warm weather, has also been proposed (Goldfarb 2006). Ashenfelter and Storchmann further recognize the need to breed more heat-resistant grapes, which has not yet been undertaken (Holzer 2006). Likewise, speakers at the World Conference on Global Warming proffered two solutions: to invest in grapevine breeding programs and in improved irrigation systems (Buckley 2006).

Unable to stand the heat in hotter regions, some producers are getting out, making the decision to buy land elsewhere. Specifically, Miguel Torres has begun to head north in search of land in cooler regions (Kakaviatos 2006). It would seem he is not alone. As Richard Smart suggests, “For wineries, it will boil down to real estate issues…The smart ones will move quickly and buy cheap” (Voss 2006). Among areas to explore, it is expected that places such as Maine and Northern Europe, which were previously too cold to successfully ripen grapes, will emerge (Walker 2006). In Southern England, the total acreage of vineyards has increased considerably and areas for quality Australian Cabernet Sauvignon have been moving south (Rademakers 2006).

Facing the future, vineyard owners will need to examine key decisions and their financial consequences. Costs associated with replanting new varieties will be significant; but buying new land and replanting will be even greater. Moreover, individual growers may have less capital available to make such purchases and take on risks and could be reluctant to uproot themselves and their families. But, those who wait may find changes in land value to their detriment. Reinterpreting Ashfelter and Storchmann’s vineyard valuations, it is likely that the value of premium vineyards will depreciate if they can no longer produce quality fruit. Thus, some may find that they can’t sell their land at the high price they paid for it. Finally, research programs on irrigation methods and breeding heat-resistant grapes must be undertaken, but funding for these programs is more liable to come from large corporations and institutions since individual growers can’t afford these efforts on their own. Overall, multinational drinks companies would seem to be in a better position than individuals to make the major changes required such as divesting of existing properties and investing in new land, new technology and new plantings.

CONCLUSION and PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Research clearly indicates trouble ahead for all of Earth’s inhabitants, with far-reaching repercussions that will impact life on the planet. Agriculturally-based business, including the wine industry, will be forced to respond. Unfortunately, solutions such as replanting, land purchase and viticultural research, are quite costly and may drive smaller producers out of business. Reducing the industry to multinational drinks companies may impact diversity and regional style, which are already at risk due to climate change.

There are also important implications for terroir. The expression of terroir has been linked to Europe’s stress and relief cycles as opposed to the irrigated New World (Gilby 2006). Accordingly, if there are no relief cycles, irrigation use expands or both, this expression may no longer exist. Furthermore, as growers seek to move to cooler areas, the temperatures may be more hospitable, but other climatic elements and soil types may ultimately affect the quality of the wine. Moreover, while adaptation comes more easily for New World wine regions, it may be harder for Old World regions to respond appropriately with changes to their viticultural laws.

Finally, it is imperative that climate change be viewed through a wider lens. Manipulating vines or grape varieties to adapt to the changes ignores the larger problem. Solutions that seek to reduce emissions, and thus mitigate those affects, should be considered, despite their immediate economic impact.
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Appenzeller, Tim and Dimick, Dennis R. “Signs from the Earth.” National Geographic Magazine, September 2004.

Furer, David. “Why the Wine Industry Should Care About Global Warming.” Wine Business Monthly, July 2006.

“Global Warming a Threat to Wine Industry. Wines and Vines. September 15, 2004.

Goldfarb, Alan. “Global Warming Turns Up the Heat in Napa Valley Vineyards.” AppellationAmerica. August 9, 2006.

Holzer, Jessica. “Wine Warming.” Forbes. August 11, 2006.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Climate Change 2001: Synthesis Report – Summary for Policymakers.” 2001.

Jones, Gregory. “How Hot Is Too Hot?” Wine Business Monthly, February 2005.

Kay, Jane. “Scientists fear that rising temperatures.” San Francisco Chronicle, July 11, 2006.

Montaigne, Fen. “EcoSigns: No Room to Run.” National Geographic Magazine. September 2004.

Pew Center on Global Climate Change. “Understanding the Causes of Global climate Change.” Fact Sheet 1: Attribution, 2004.

Schultz, Hans R. “Climate change and viticulture: A European perspective on climatology, carbon dixdie and UV-B effects.” Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. Volume 6, number 1, 2000.

Warren, Matthew. “Science tempers fears on climate change.” The Australian. September 2, 2006.

Weise, Elizabeth. “Wine regions feel the heat.” USA Today. June 1, 2006.

White, Michael A., Diffenbaugh, N.S., Jones, G.V., Pal, J.S. and Giorgi, F. “Extreme heat reduces and shifts United States premium wine production in the 21st century.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(30), 11217-11222, 2006.

"Global warming is on everyone's radar," says viticulturist Franci Ashton of her colleagues in California's winegrowing industry. Small wonder: The quality and taste of wine depend utterly on the soil and climate conditions in which the grapes are grown—a concept known as terroir.

Scientists predict that global warming will bring higher temperatures, more heat waves and less precipitation, changes that could transform the state's $15 billion wine industry. (Wine Institute, 2004)

For example, Ashton's employer, Etude Wines, is known for its pinot noir—a notoriously difficult-to-grow varietal made famous by the movie Sideways. The pinots produced by Etude and other winemakers depend on the climate of Napa and Sonoma's famed Carneros region. It lies just north of San Francisco Bay and benefits from its moderating ocean breezes.

Eventually, says Ashton, places where pinot and chardonnay are currently grown may no longer work because the cool climate they require may no longer exist.

WATER SHORTAGES ON THE HORIZON?

Water has an enormous impact on grape cultivation, and changes to the water supply are a likely consequence of global warming. Water is high on the mind of David Graves, co-founder of Saintsbury Vineyards, which is developing a plan to use recycled water from sanitation districts for its irrigation.

"One of the big problems that might present itself would be volatility of water supply," says Graves. "When I read about things like the drought in the Grain Belt this year, that’s scary. If periods of drought become longer and more severe, that’s where I start to think the recycled water issue becomes a way to have a kind of insurance policy."

Ashton says she and others are also starting to consider scarce water resources. "We're looking into research that could help us become more efficient in our irrigation," says Ashton. "We’re asking 'How much water do we need to maintain our wine quality?' We're worried that our current viticultural practices may become obsolete."

Preparing for drought is a wise business choice. From 1998 to 2004, below-normal precipitation and high temperatures led to the most severe drought in the western U.S. in 80 years and one of the most severe in 500 years. Global warming is expected to bring on more frequent and severe droughts.

INNOVATIVE FARMING TECHNIQUES CUT POLLUTION

In addition to preparing for warmer climes, wineries, like all agricultural businesses, have a unique opportunity to help fight global warming by storing carbon. No-till agriculture eschews traditional practices that disrupt the soil and release its stored carbon into the air as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of the key heat-trapping gases that lead to global warming. More growers are practicing no-till farming, which involves minimal soil cultivation and keeps more carbon in the ground.

"It used to be a lot more common to see clean-tilled vineyards," says Graves.  "Now we have a lot of no-till."

Graves estimates the amount of non-tilled acreage has increased by a factor of 10 in Napa. The practice has many benefits. It's really good on hillsides for preventing erosion. It helps water infiltration because the roots sit in healthier, microbial-rich soils. And it naturally keeps out pests.
 
Fetzer Wineries, in Southern Mendicino County, uses cover crops to attain similar soil improvements. Planted between rows of grapes are red clover, daikon radishes and grasses that set nitrogen into the soil. During the dry months from June to November, the stubble left after mowing provides habitat for spiders and other predators that eat grapevine-eating critters—natural alternatives to pesticides and herbicides.

OTHER WAYS TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

"The wine industry in itself is being pretty proactive about becoming environmentally sensitive and sustainable," says Patrick Healy, Fetzer's environmental manager. A number of wineries, including Rodney Strong and St. Francis, are embracing solar power, an optimum choice for sunny California. Fetzer has a 40-kw solar display on its administration building that powers about three-quarters of the building.

Fetzer is one of the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders. That means the company is working in partnership with the government to develop long-term climate strategies. Additionally, starting in 1999, Fetzer participated in a greenhouse gas emissions study to set benchmarks for heat-trapping pollution ion the industry. To reduce its emissions, Fetzer buys green electricity and uses biodiesel in all its tractors and half its big rigs.

"We have lots of efficiency and conservation goals here," says Patrick Healy, Fetzer’s environmental manager.  As a result, the company says, its electricity emissions are net zero.

In addition to the biodiesel and green energy, the winery avoids using electricity during peak demand hours. From May through usually some time in August, when the crush starts, "we turn off refrigeration between 12 and 6—that's our biggest single energy sink at the winery," says Healy, who adds, "We wouldn't do it if it threatened the quality of the wine at all."

The wine business is on a mission to gauge its emissions of greenhouse gasses as pressure builds from regulators and markets in California and worldwide to emit less of the compounds blamed for global climate change.

Agriculture as a whole is low on the list of economic sectors the California Air Resources Board is targeting initially for mandatory reporting of 2008 emissions starting next year, as part of the phase-in of Assembly Bill 32, called the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

However, local wineries and trade groups in Australia, California, New Zealand and South Africa aren't waiting. The groups, including the San Francisco-based Wine Institute, are backing development of global industry protocols for wineries, winegrape growers and other related companies to determine their total emissions contribution, commonly called a carbon footprint, based on the World Resources Institute's International Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

The Winemakers' Federation of Australia earlier this month released draft protocols and a software tool for measuring direct and certain indirect emissions of these gasses, such as carbon dioxide largely from combustion and fermentation, methane from decomposing waste and nitrous oxide from fertilizer.

Part of the urgency for having these tools in place is not only so the California wine industry can start reducing emissions early to prepare for the emissions cap-and-trade system discussed in AB 32 implementation meetings late last year.

Under such a system, emissions for certain business sectors would be capped at a certain rate per year, so organizations that emit less can sell their allowance for the difference to a company that emits more. Who would be capped, and how the carbon credits would be traded are still unclear, according to Pat Sullivan, vice president of SCS Engineers and one of certifiers for the state-created footprint clearinghouse California Climate Action Registry. SCS has a certifier in its Santa Rosa office.

"Many have a vision about selling all these credits, but if they are in a growing industry they will need the credits," Mr. Sullivan said. "The real value is not in selling credits but in having them themselves."

The Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance has been working with the registry in aligning that group's protocols to determine how large a wine operation's footprint actually is, or how many emissions sources are considered, according to Chris Savage, director of global environmental affairs for E&J Gallo Winery and co-chairman of the Wine Institute's Environmental Working Group.

Another reason for urgency in getting out a carbon footprint calculator for the wine business is to contribute to the United Kingdom's product labeling version of AB 32, Publicly Available Specification 2050, which is set to be finalized in the next couple of months.

In what some think is a sign of what's to come in American food retailing, U.K.-based Tesco, the world's largest retailer, has started a test of printing the emissions footprint of 30 of its private-label products based on PAS 2050. Combine that with the recent move to include a list of ingredients on the label of the Bonny Doon brand, and the next step is obvious, according to John Garn of Graton-based information cartography firm ViewCraft.

"Because Tesco is a direct competitor to Whole Foods, I can assure you that in a year Whole Foods will do the same thing to be competitive," said Mr. Garn.

He was involved with the creation of the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing and consults with wineries and other companies on environmental policies.

North Coast wine companies already are being proactive in calculating their carbon footprints.

The partners of Ukiah's Mendocino Wine Co., which includes biodynamic wine booster Paul Dolan, certified the carbon footprint of their operations early last year via the California Climate Action Registry.

Part of achieving the status of having zero net carbon emissions included the installation of a $1 million solar power system, replacement of electric motors and lights, and investment in Clean Air Cool Planet-approved projects that trap carbon emissions, such as a dairy biogas facility and a forest.

Still to come is a $2.5 million additional solar power project to produce the equivalent of all the winery's needs for a year. Yet the carbon consumption value of vines is a big industry question.

"We have a mitigating factor with vineyards, and we're trying to get our hands around whether it is a mitigating factor for our carbon footprint," Mr. Dolan said.

The San Francisco-based Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance has commissioned U.C. Davis plant physiologist David Smart to spend the next few months looking at how much research has been done on carbon sequestration in vineyards. He has been studying Napa Valley vineyards to compare the amount of carbon vines themselves hold versus how much they transfer to the soil via microbes.

That information will be incorporated into the final version of the global wine industry emissions calculator, scheduled for completion late this year.

The Jackson family is preparing a major greening of their California wineries, tasting rooms, offices, other facilities and supply chain starting early this summer, according to Robert Boller, vice president of production for the Artisans & Estate boutique brand division and head of the green initiatives.

Some aspects already are under way, particularly the use of best-management practices from the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing developed a few years ago by the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

"Individually, all the operations are doing their own things now, and this is a chance to do a big thing," he said. "The owners have put big dollars against it this year."

One example is the goal of certifying all new and remodeled facilities according to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy Efficient Design rating system. That starts with the 7,000-square-foot tasting room for the Murphy Goode brand set to open in Healdsburg in March.

That move is part of three pilot water- and energy-efficiency programs offered by the California Public Utilities Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric Co., including a footprint calculation by Portland, Ore.-based Ecos.

The company convinced a major supplier of its tens of millions of glass wine bottles annually to switch to laser etching of bottle date stamps instead of toxic UV ink, according to Mr. Boller. The company also is persuading wholesalers, distributors and trucking companies to reduce their footprints.

At the Hess Collection, founded by early sustainable farming advocate Donald Hess, President Tom Selfridge recently appointed Operations Director John Bulleri to calculate the emissions footprint of its main Napa Valley winery in American Canyon as well as the winery and 300-acre vineyard on Mt. Veeder.

That, plus a major solar-electricity installation next year and use of goats in mowing weeds on Mt. Veeder, are part of a bid for certification under the Napa Valley Vintners trade group's Napa Green Winery program and participation in the Fish Friendly Farming program.

The California Air Resources Board will be holding its first AB 32 Agriculture Stakeholder Working Group meeting in Sacramento on Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. A webcast of the meeting will be available at http://www.calepa.ca.gov/broadcast/?BDO=1.

To access the wine industry protocol and calculator, visit http://www.wfa.org.au/environment.htm. To contact the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, visit http://www.sustainablewinegrowing.org. For details on the California Climate Action Registry, visit http://www.climateregistry.org.