The first storm of the season, Beryl went through the Caribbean hit Mexico and moved north to Houston and across North America. In Houston, 2 million people lost electricity which in a city known for humidity means no air conditioning for a few days. Companies had warnings and the good folks who restore electricity came from the surrounding areas to get Houston back using electricity. To be sure there were many people who suffer from the hurricane.

In an article by Desmond Tiro of the Associated Press, in another part of the world, the rains have been falling. All plants need water to grow but too much will kill the crop or dramatically reduce the yields. In Keyna the rains have been falling for weeks and small farmers crops are being destroyed.

The rains in Kenya have increased the levels of water behind dams, and led the government to order residents to evacuate flood prone areas and bulldoze the homes to those who do not want to leave.

The government of Kenya has estimated that flooding has destroyed crops on less than 1% of the land, however on much of the land of over 100,000 acres it was small farmers doing the work. The farms provide a livelihood to the families and some extra cash to buy things. The excess rains means greater reliance on the government, if it exists.

Similar to every other country in the world, parts of the country receive too much rain, other parts are not receiving enough and when there is too much rain, the water causes erosion and eventually flows to the oceans. If the soil has not used water conservation methods to allow the water to be absorbed by plants into the soil, the problem tends to get bigger.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, weather patterns change and are changing and governments are slow to react. Many years ago, soil conservation was practiced until the desire for greater efficiency using machines was the answer. The greater efficiency meant greater use of fertilizer to allow the plants to grow and it is seemingly a never-ending cycle. With the land, there is some sort of balance which needs to be done or it will get out of whack. Sometimes efficiencies are great things, sometimes they tend to be short term solutions.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.