What Last Year’s Volcanoes Mean to this Year’s Crop
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
Now it’s not like me to quote the New Testament, but given what is likely to happen to the crop this coming year, I need to make an exception. What was the last really, and I mean REALLY bad crop year? Was it 1988? Nope. 1976? Wrong again. The “Dirty Thirties”? Not even close. The last time we had a crop SO tiny that it literally shook the very foundations of civilization itself was 1816…. And it’s about to happen again for the same reason.
Before I explain why we are about to experience epic an cataclysmic famine of biblical proportions, let me bring to light a few details on what happened in 1816 and why we are about to see the same thing. The year 1816 is referred to as “The Year Without a Summer”. Snow fall all year in the New England States, frost ruthlessly attacked the Southern States, and crops didn’t grow. The same thing happened all around the world.
People in Northern Europe abandoned their homes and walked south towards the Mediterranean, begging for food the whole way. Food riots broke out across Europe, and the only food riots to ever hit North America happened along the Eastern Seaboard. Switzerland lost scores of people to malnourishment, and people turned to lawlessness to fend for themselves.
Why did 1816 not have a summer? It was frigid in 1816 because a gigantic volcano blew ash into the air in April of 1815… the preceding year. When did that big volcano in Iceland stop air travel last year? April. To top it off, 2010 was one of the biggest years for volcanic activity ever recorded. From Iceland to Italy to Antarctica, to islands everywhere, 2010 saw volcanoes spewing ash into the stratosphere.
Do we have evidence that this year is starting out like 1816 did? Are ya kidding me? Last week leading up to the superbowl saw Dallas, TX locked in a winter wonderland that ND would be proud of. Bolivia… that’s right, BOLIVIA lost millions of tropical reptiles, fish, and birds to the never-seen-before arctic temps that struck it. Half of all the world’s butterflies died last week in the tropics thanks to the temperature plunge.
What is going to happen to ethanol production if the corn crop is an absolute failure? Nothing according to current law. Over 13 billion gallons of ethanol must get blended in 2011 to satisfy the mandate. This means that the ethanol industry gets the first four billion bushels of corn grown, and the livestock sector gets whatever is left. This is incredibly scary to people like myself who depend on the ethanol industry’s long-term viability.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but a person needs to do their own research on this subject.
Check out;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_eruption_of_Mount_Tambora
http://bigthink.com/ideas/26416
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100827/full/news.2010.437.html
