I’m hosting a guest post today about extreme weather, fact or fiction, by Carolyn Holland. Carolyn is the author of “Seeds of Transition, Book one: The Genesis Project”.

Extreme Weather; Fact or Fiction

Our weather is changing. There aren’t many folks left in the world who will try to deny that. Some will still argue that it is a natural occurrence and that our effect upon the environment has no bearing on climate change whatsoever.  Lately however, I have not heard these folks talking too loudly. Scientific data trumps the state of denial every time. We, human beings are causing the changes.

In our book, Seeds of Transition, we endeavored to send a message, one that we thought was important. Rather than write about what we are doing wrong, how we are bringing about these weather events, we decided to take a more positive approach to the problem and write about what we may do to overcome the challenges presented to us by climate change.

We in no way wanted to imply that efforts to slow the changes or possibly reverse them shouldn’t be made, but realistically, we may not see the results of that type of effort for a very long time. With population on a staggering rise, it is paramount that we learn to adapt to our changing environment so that we can continue on while we are making the needed changes to save it.

Seeds of Transition is full of extreme weather scenarios. Killer cyclones, super cell storms and hurricanes occur throughout. It was our objective to show subtle changes in the where, when and how these events occurred to indicate how different our weather may be in 2057. One example of this was our story about the “early” twin hurricanes, Divan and Earnest that strike the east coast during the month of May and how the residents living in their paths were surprised to be threatened by not only one but two hurricanes so early in the year. The most deadly hurricanes to ever make landfall in the US have come in very late summer, certainly not during the throes of springtime.

In our very near future, it is very possible that what we all know about weather and its seasons will change. Longer, more frequent drought will occur in areas never affected before, storms will threaten new areas, and flood and torrential rain may occur in our deserts…the list of potential scenarios goes on and on. While some of these ideas may sound like wild fiction, they may not be as far from the truth as one may think.

http://thinkprogress.org/tag/extreme-weather/?mobile=nc

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/extreme-weather/miller-text

About Seeds of Transition

Seeds of Transition engulfs the reader with riveting adventure, emotional thrills, and conflict from beginning to end.

As the world’s population approaches 10 billion people severe weather extremes diminish crop and livestock production, driving the demand for and price of food to new heights. The American government, as well as other powerful individuals, turns to the world of academia in search of gifted, albeit unlikely heroes.

Dr. Jarod Farra is one of those unlikely heroes. An assistant professor of agriculture at Cornell University, Farra quickly finds himself at the forefront of both his longstanding dreams, and perhaps, some of his worst fears. Dread of the developing global food shortage and ever- worsening weather extremes cause cultural turmoil, political turbulence, population shifts, and economic havoc. Jarod and a range of characters come together to perform an experiment that will change the world, and provide new hope for generations to come with the most radical agricultural undertaking that society has ever seen.

Author Bio

Carolyn Holland grew up during the 70’s in the coastal wetlands of North Carolina in a small, rural fishing village near Topsail Island. Her love of books developed at a very young age, keeping her up late in the night reading about faraway places and distant times. In summer, every other Thursday would find her waiting on the front porch of their little house for the Book

Mobile as the closest library was 20 miles away. Her favorite genre was historical fiction and in the summer of her tenth year, she checked out Margaret Mitchells Gone With The Wind , Even as a small child she dreamed of being an author someday.

Carolyn recalls that as a child growing up, very little of the families food was purchased at a grocery store and trips into town only occurred about once a month. The summer months were spent maintaining a huge garden and the vegetables grown there were canned and frozen for winter consumption. The family gathered, fish, clams and oysters from the New River for the table year round and raised pigs to eat as well.

To her parents delight, Carolyn proved to be a strong student who loved school and study. Her first year in high school landed her in English class with a teacher whose love for literature greatly influenced her. This teacher, who would forever be Carolyn’s mentor, encouraged her to write. In that same year, for her birthday, her parents bought her a manual typewriter which she used clear into her late twenties writing volumes that she would never attempt to have published and loads of children’s stories for her three children. In the late eighties, Carolyn earned extra money for her family by painting portraits of local shrimp trawlers and coastal wildlife.  Both of her daughters are gifted artists today.

In the mid nineties, Carolyn found herself to be a single Mom of three. She often describes this time as a blur as she often worked two jobs to make the ends meet during those days. Then in 2000, she met and married her husband, James Holland, who was then an active duty US Marine. Very soon after that, James began to encourage Carolyn’s creative nature and she began to explore the world of pottery making. In 2005, she became a pottery instructor with the

ASYMCA aboard Camp Lejeune NC, teaching the art to the wives and children of deployed servicemen. Shortly after meeting James, Carolyn began to write again.

After James retired from the USMC, he and Carolyn started their own small home based business which allowed the couple to spend time together doing the things that interest them

both.  Carolyn has revisited her love of nature and gardening, and since James grew up on a farm in Arkansas, the two have transformed their backyard into a mini farm, complete with

greenhouse and chickens; it is their own little experiment in sustainable agriculture.  She and James take at least two, weeklong primitive camping trips each year along with their dogs and no cell phones to the Uhwarrie national forest. It is here that the couple enjoys experimenting with edible wild vegetation and likes to drink pine needle tea by the campfire on cool nights.

Over the last twenty years she has written many poems and short stories, some of which were gathered from her family and youth, as well as several works of fiction. With a strong, long standing interest in both agriculture and history, she has always been naturally intrigued by the changing agricultural and socio-economic climate and what it means for society as we know it.

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