Ridiculae: Climate Change Threatens Cranberries

Next installment of the Rud Ridiculae series.

By Rud Istvan

Once you know the messaging methods climate alarmists use, they become very predictable and easy to ridicule.

Weather events become climate. Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry…it is all evil anthropogenic CO2 caused climate change.

Alarmists invariably also have climate change threaten important seasonal customs. Since this week is Thanksgiving in the US, it has to be threatened by climate change. And right on cue, we learn from (among others) WaPo, NatGeo, YaleClimateChange, CBS, and Yahoo News that indeed it is; climate change threatens the traditional Thanksgiving New England cranberry garnish.

National Geographic’s illustrated article is captioned, “Climate Change is coming for New England’s cranberries”. It says hotter summers and wimpier winters are the culprits. Ah, good old anthropogenic global warming (aka AGW).

On the other hand, Daily Progress’ says that colder winters are the culprit. Which explains why anthropogenic global warming morphed to climate change.

WaPo says the problem is late spring frosts and mild fall harvest conditions. Who knew CO2 could shift the seasons, miraculously overcoming the enormous inertia in Earth’s orbital tilt? Alarmists claim to rely on ‘climate science’. Dodgy ‘science’.

Yale says the culprit is shifts in precipitation, both too much and not enough. Cranberries, you see, need the Goldilocks climate before AGW.

Whatever the details, just remember climate change is bad for cranberries.

A quick google of the topic turned up no less than 11 different November 2021 articles/videos about climate endangering cranberries on just the first page of the search results. In the first two pages, it also turned up 7 similar articles from November 2020. Cranberry alarm has become a Thanksgiving tradition!

I got curious as to how long cranberry alarm has been annually trotted out around Thanksgiving. Well, at least since 21 November 2012 (I did not bother to dig further back in the google search results), where an organization named ecoRI News (at ecori.org) wrote about cranberries being hit by ‘climate whiplash’. It said cranberry bogs need acid peat soils, abundant fresh water, and sand—true, and Cape Cod has them in abundance. But bogs are geography, not climate, related. Then the article said cranberries also need winter, spring, summer, and fall—all four of which New England also has in abundance. Not clear what the dreaded cranberry ‘climate whiplash’ exactly is; ordinary whiplash comes from car wrecks, which most climate change ‘science’ certainly resemble.

Or, as my favorite old Richard Lindzen slide showed 13 years ago, you cannot discern climate change in Boston, Massachusetts—near Thanksgiving’s ground zero exactly 400 years ago. But you can sure discern its seasons. So the Massachusetts’ ‘climate whiplashed’ cranberries remain thankfully plentiful.

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bill Johnston
November 26, 2021 6:20 pm

I survived the great cranberry/cancer scare of the late 50’s. I can survive this also.

Carlo, Monte
November 26, 2021 6:29 pm

Just think of the cranberries while plonking down your $120 Gs for that brand-new electric battery Bidenmobile, it won’t hurt so much.

Let’s go Brandon!

lee
November 26, 2021 6:34 pm

Double posted

[fixed~cr]

Rud Istvan
Reply to  lee
November 26, 2021 6:41 pm

In part. I called Charles about,the,problem, but he was rightfully otherwise preoccupied. Enjoy it anyway despite the multi paragraph repeat goof.

Grant
November 26, 2021 6:43 pm

And in two weeks it’ll be about trouble coming for Christmas trees.

Rud Istvan
Reply to  Grant
November 26, 2021 6:49 pm

Already started. But I wait for their Crescendo, to publish another Ridiculae.

another ian
Reply to  Grant
November 26, 2021 6:51 pm

Won’t the reindeer be under covid quarantine this year?

chickenhawk
Reply to  another ian
November 26, 2021 7:28 pm

They’re a victim of climate change too, and will be served with the last of the cranberry relish.

Tom Abbott
Reply to  another ian
November 27, 2021 4:33 am

The reindeer should be quarantined. I hear they are especially susceptible to the new Xi-Omicron variant of the Wuhan virus.

Richard Page
Reply to  Tom Abbott
November 27, 2021 5:18 am

Nonsense – Santa and his elves are super-spreaders!

Reply to  Grant
November 27, 2021 12:08 pm

It’s a little known fact that the secret to Rudolf’s glowing nose is his love of cranberries.
No cranberries, no Rudolf’s nose to guide Santa’s sleigh through the Man’s CO2 caused fog.
Think of the Children!!

November 26, 2021 6:59 pm

Massachusetts Cranberries United States Department of Agriculture
NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE
NEW ENGLAND FIELD OFFICE
53 Pleasant Street, Rm 3450 Concord, NH 03301-9902

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Pam Hird
August 13, 2020 202-615-9845

USDA Forecasts Record-High Cranberry Production
in Massachusetts in 2020
CONCORD, NH — Massachusetts cranberry growers are expected to produce a record-high cranberry crop this year, according to Pam Hird, State Statistician of the USDA’S National Agricultural Statistics Service, New England Field Office. Up 11 percent from 2019, cranberry production is forecast at 2.40 million barrels, compared to 2.16 million barrels last year. As of August 2, sixty percent of Massachusetts’ cranberry crop was rated in good to excellent condition.

United States 2020 total cranberry production is forecast at 8.97 million barrels, up 13 percent from 2019.

Wisconsin production is forecast at 5.50 million barrels, up 18 percent from 2019 as growers reported more favorable growing conditions than last year.

Ron Long
Reply to  Doonman
November 27, 2021 2:37 am

Funny how pesky facts keep showing up.

Reply to  Ron Long
November 27, 2021 2:14 pm

It would seem that all the past and passed “tipping points” didn’t tip over the bowl of cranberries?
It would seem that the only thing that changes with “Climate Change” is the the tipping point.
PS The multiple past projected “C” in CAGW by (fill in the date) have also passed with barely a ripple.

Reply to  Doonman
November 27, 2021 7:19 am

And it gets even better Doonman!
2021 edged out 2020 as another new record year for cranberry production:

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=102649

Cranberry yields have doubled over the last 40 years.

https://qz.com/1246514/the-us-china-trade-war-has-turned-cranberry-farmers-into-an-unlikely-pawn/
https://theatlas.com/charts/B1banH9oG

This is not surprising. Cranberries come from……….A PLANT. The most important process used by plants/crops to grow and produce is……… PHOTOSYNTHESIS!
I noticed that none of the articles mentioned the massive benefits bestowed to all crops from increasing CO2 as atmospheric fertilizer.

The Physiology of Cranberry Yield

https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=cranberry_factsheets

“In the process of photosynthesis light
energy is captured and then used to attach one
molecule of CO2 from the air onto a 5 carbon sugar
which is immediately split to produce two 3 carbon
sugars. When carbon dioxide is in short supply the
photosynthetic rate is reduced. A carbon dioxide
response curve looks very similar to the light
response curve. At low concentrations of carbon
dioxide photosynthesis is limited by CO2. As the CO2
concentration increases photosynthesis is limited by
having enough 5 carbon sugars to act as acceptors of
CO2. As the concentration of CO2 in the environment
has increased rates of photosynthesis of many crop
plants have increased.”

Screenshot 2021-11-27 at 08-56-55 The improbable story of the cranberry’s path to global domination.png
Reply to  Doonman
November 27, 2021 7:31 am

It appears that the main problem with climate change is that it’s greening plants to death (-:

Fake beer crisis/Death by GREENING!      
         
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/69258/

Doug Danhoff
November 26, 2021 7:00 pm

I have always believed that alarmism is hubris and intended to convince all that we don’t need a God …we the al powerful human race can destroy climate ( not possible) and we can fix it again ( you can’t fix what isn’t broken ).
You may disagree, but this is my take ….I’m sure others have there own .
These alarmists are perhaps not able intellectually to grasp the obvious 60 year and 100 year cycles so obvious in shaping climate. Along with the influence of other shorter cycles, and very much longer cycles , Paleo climatologists and paleo geologists can read the past of climate, and much of the future . But alarmists can’t even see the basic problem of their hypothesis…..The fact that CO2 changes FOLLOW temperature changes, buffered by the oceans .
of course they see this …But fame and fortune is imagined to be forthcoming. In reality ridicule is what they receive

Gregory Woods
Reply to  Doug Danhoff
November 27, 2021 1:39 am

Some alarmists are just useful idiots, while many have a different agenda: Political and Ideolgical – they can’t be bothered with facts and reality….

Rich Davis
Reply to  Gregory Woods
November 27, 2021 10:38 am

Imho most of the people alarmed by Climate Change ™ are innocently deceived. Some are idiots I’m sure (useful or otherwise), but most are better described as intellectually lazy.

It is human nature to follow the herd, to support the consensus. There’s a network effect that has been carefully cultivated. It takes effort to delve into climate controversies and to what end? Until there are some tangible material impacts, why should the average joe bother with it? Doing so only risks social isolation for no apparent benefit. We go along to get along.

Some people very much aware of human nature have done a very effective job selling Climate Change ™ so far. They have built a consensus, enforced it with ostracizing of any dissent, and are skillfully filling the human need for religion and ritual in a world that has mostly been stripped of traditional religious practice.

Maryland Serf
Reply to  Doug Danhoff
November 27, 2021 9:25 am

You can’t subjugate the masses and create an army of true believers without first creating an “existential threat” to rally against.
The boogie man comith!

November 26, 2021 7:11 pm

Well right then, if the cranberries are going to be lower standard, then let’s not buy them anymore. The Cranberry Committee should be informed of this:

https://www.uscranberries.com

I actually cooked a large leg of lamb roast this year so didn’t bother with them anyway.

Bye bye cranberries it was good knowing you.

dk_
November 26, 2021 7:16 pm

Wasn’t it strawberries, just a couple months back?

John Hultquist
November 26, 2021 7:30 pm

Are cranberries grown in New England?
Okay, Massachusetts, but a much greater amount come from Wisconsin.
While they are sort of a neat crop, I wouldn’t eat them. A slingshot is a better tool for getting rid of them.

John MacDonald
Reply to  John Hultquist
November 26, 2021 11:04 pm

Our tasty cranberries came from Canada this year, where surely there are 4 seasons. And organic bogs, too.

Reply to  John MacDonald
November 27, 2021 2:21 am

I thought that most of Canada had just two seasons, Cold And Wet With Bugs, and Winter.

stewartpid
Reply to  Oldseadog
November 29, 2021 1:22 pm

My father would always joke that we had 9 months of winter and 3 months of poor sledding. Canadian summers are wonderful since we suffer so much before we experience the brief relief from snow & cold. Actually I was just reading in the sun for about an hour … +9 in Calgary.

Doug Huffman
Reply to  John MacDonald
November 27, 2021 4:13 am

Commercial volumes of cranberries are not grown in bogs but in carefully constructed vine fields that can be flooded for harvest.

Graham Balderson
Reply to  John MacDonald
November 27, 2021 5:00 pm

I was told that Canada only had two seasons, winter and road repair season.

Pamela Matlack-Klein
Reply to  Graham Balderson
November 28, 2021 4:36 am

No, that is New Jersey!

4E Douglas
Reply to  John Hultquist
November 27, 2021 9:07 am

Extensive Cranberry country around Bandon to Port Orford, Oregon too..
I was told 20years ago to expect the climate of oh Santa Barbra in ten years.
As if it were a bad thing. Still hasn’t happened yet.

Michael S. Kelly
Reply to  John Hultquist
November 28, 2021 11:00 am

While they are sort of a neat crop, I wouldn’t eat them. A slingshot is a better tool for getting rid of them.

I don’t like them either, except in juice form. My wife, who won’t eat any fruit or vegetable whatsoever, nevertheless likes cranberry juice. However, it has to be mixed with vodka, Cointreau, and a little bit of lime juice – i.e. a Cosmo.

Does anyone know what has happed to white cranberry juice? It is nowhere to be found anymore. I ask because her favorite is the White Cosmo, which uses white cranberry juice and clear, cranberry infused vodka.

Shanghai Dan
November 26, 2021 9:03 pm

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

H B
November 26, 2021 10:37 pm

Well if this is the case how the hell did cranberries survive the early Holocene ,
to fruit well they need 90 days or so (depending on cultivar ) where the minimum daily temp drops below 45 degrees F not much risk of that in New England

Rick C
Reply to  H B
November 27, 2021 7:22 am

The biggest weather factor that affects cranberries is winter kill due to low snow cover/extreme cold. In fact this combination affects many perennials. Thus it has ever been.

November 27, 2021 12:46 am

This is true because cranberries have only existed since the little ice age

Tom Abbott
Reply to  Redge
November 27, 2021 4:38 am

Yeah, but now humans are involved with their nasty, excess CO2. Look out, Mama!

leitmotif
November 27, 2021 2:00 am

It was bad enough when they lost Dolores O’Riordan.

H.R.
November 27, 2021 3:05 am

Pretty soon, children just won’t know what snow food is.

That’s not due to ‘Climate Change’, but due to ‘Climate Change’ policies.

Tom Abbott
November 27, 2021 4:46 am

From the aritlce: “A quick google of the topic turned up no less than 11 different November 2021 articles/videos about climate endangering cranberries on just the first page of the search results.”

I think this climate change propaganda is highly organized now.

I see numerous articles concerning climate change every day. If a topic like cranberries comes up as a target of climate change, then you will get a dozen articles written about the same subject on a given day, each with a slightly different take on the subject. The memo had gone out and this was the response.

The Media are trying desperately to influence our thoughts. They are not just trying to convey facts, because they don’t have any facts to convey. It’s all scaremongering. This is what propagandists do.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
November 27, 2021 8:06 am

coveringclimatenow.org pumps out this trash for bottom feeding “journalists” on a daily basis…

dirty dave
November 27, 2021 7:31 am

I don’t like cranberries. Stoke up the coalk stove.

November 27, 2021 8:33 am

All cranberries have going for them, it is a really good thing as well, is their Vitamin C content.
By whatever means, keep some on your kitchen counter, coffee or bedside table and pop one or 2 down whenever you are awake and remember. Ideally at 2hr intervals or less

In the UK right now, Hawthorn berries or Rosehips will do just the same

They will fend off everything from Flu thro Covid to rotten teeth to heart attack.
If all else fails, get some (Vit, C) from Tesco (Walmart)

Pamela Matlack-Klein
November 28, 2021 4:47 am

The popularity of cranberries is based on tradition. Back in the day, before we could get all kinds of delicious out-of-season fruits from the Southern Hemisphere via air freight, cranberries, ligonberries, and retted medlars were pretty much all that was available. Now a visit to the local super market provides an abundance of fresh fruit and veg from around the world, no need to rely on the sour-bitter cranberry for a touch of fruit with the turkey. It is akin to eating haroses at Passover, we eat cranberries to remember the hardship of the early colonists who suffered such privation. They also add a bit of zip to the meat course and color to the table.

Threeper
Reply to  Pamela Matlack-Klein
November 28, 2021 7:23 am

I eat them because I like them. Their not for everyone. Regards.

Threeper
November 28, 2021 6:25 am

Some of this is driven by greed by growers.The climate hokes is the perfect time for them to claim their crop is in trouble from climate change and they can raise their prices and take advantage of consumers. They all do it. It may not be the climate hokes, but its capitalism at its finest. You would hope producers would be honest, but money is the root of all evil. Just look at our politicians. Even that crap rolls down hill to include everyday folks.

November 28, 2021 10:58 am

It’s too late to save the Cranberries, their lead singer died already 🙁

https://youtu.be/G6Kspj3OO0s

November 28, 2021 3:03 pm

Cranberries are nice with meat – e.g. pork meatballs. But the climateers want us to eat less meat; so if that happens, there will be less demand for cranberries.

So maybe climate change is just getting ahead of itself?

ResourceGuy
November 29, 2021 7:43 am

The next wave of greenwashing is the Ag sector. Make way for the subsidy train.