Running out of water
Fostering Ecological Hope
Today from Margaret Swedish:
This blog is supposed to be about ecological hope, but it’s hard sometimes in the face of the evidence. It’s not the multilayered crisis itself that challenges hope for me so much as the capacity for denial of the human species.
So, water. Parts of the country are running out of it. Has this sunk in, really, truly, sunk in? Millions of people in Georgia have a 90-120 day supply of drinking water — that’s all. No significant rain in sight. The drought is deep and persistent, lakes are drying up, regional squabbles over reservoirs have begun.
And only now are they considering mandatory water restrictions?
Really, what is the matter with us? We like to think, some of us anyway, that crisis will finally bring us to act, to behave differently. Well, here is a crisis. Do you hear any national mobilization about this drought that now covers nearly half the continental US?
The southwest is into its ninth year of drought.
Now, has anyone in the state governments of Georgia or Arizona considered slowing or stopping altogether the unsustainable economic growth and development boom that both these states are seeing?
Has anyone considered the need to live within the limits of the available resources of this precious planet? Of course not. This is America. We can do whatever we want and damn the future!
Which means the future of our children.
Meanwhile, up in the Arctic, well, you know, it doesn’t look so good if you care about life as we know it. Habitats are changing and some of the most marvelous creatures on our planet are now in decline — caribou, polar bears, walrus, and more. This AP article made the rounds yesterday, stirring up almost nothing in the way of public or government concern.
Here’s the link to the article on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website, the agency that did the study.
The first update of a report tracking the state of the Arctic indicates that some changes in that region are larger and occurring faster than those previously predicted by climate models, while other indicators show some stabilizing. The “Report Card” was issued today by an international team of scientists, including a NOAA lead author.
“The Arctic is an extraordinarily interconnected region, so what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic,” said Richard Spinrad, NOAA assistant administrator for oceanic and atmospheric research. “There will be significant environmental effects throughout the globe resulting from changes in the Arctic.”
You might also be interested to know that the NOAA predicts a very warm and dry winter, including the parched southeast and southwest.
Warmer temperatures also mean more evaporation, a particular concern among the Great Lakes, where water levels have dropped as much as two feet in Huron, Michigan, and Superior.
Hello, is anyone paying attention? Our planet is altering its atmosphere in response to human behavior. Meanwhile, our completely inappropriate modes of development, our excessive and wasteful use of water beyond our basic needs, our sense of entitlement when it comes to the ‘resources’ of the planet — as if these resources were mere goods disassociated from life itself — is leading us faster than anyone wanted to believe, including scientists and environmentalists, to the edge of the cliff.
If we do not prepare, it will be too late to adapt when the crisis comes. If you are in Georgia, are you really going to complain about mandatory water restrictions? Really? And if, like the Gulf Coast, we still do not know how to prepare, much less stop the behaviors leading us to disaster, are we going to complain when the crisis comes to our doorsteps?
I just can’t believe, looking at what’s coming, that we seem so unable to alter course. I can’t believe that no one is laying out the challenge in the stark terms it requires. I can’t believe that we are not being mobilized to shift our economy away from growth and sprawl and shopping to one that begins moving us away from disaster towards living within the means of the Earth and its life-giving ecosystems.
Is it a hundred year drought that might go away someday? Maybe. But the depth and persistence of these patterns indicates something more at work. Besides, a century ago, world human population was 1.7 billion. We are nearly 5 billion more than that now making ever greater demands on water, land, and energy even as the Earth is under great distress.
Folks, how far do we want to stretch things? When will our survival instincts kick in and overwhelm the sensory deprivation of this society of affluence, noise, distractions, shopping, and denial?
[tags] drought, water shortages in southeast, changing Arctic habitats, NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate change denial, Great Lakes water levels drop, living within Earth’s limits[/tags]
October 20th, 2007 at 3:49 am
“Running out of water” this article makes me to remember that a sugar factory requires about 16-20 times of the capacity of water while processing the sugar. Similarly an alcohol production unity requires 20-30 times of the capacity, like this if we go on, our consuption is ever increasing, and urbanisation is exploding hyperbolically along with population explosion. We in India have proverb its meaning is that “a fellow who spends more water for his necessities shall never be rich” ” even if he rich becomes poor early”. Probably the westerners who tried to copy India books might have forgotten that there were underground channels which can be built to help the water harvesting (typical example: (1)sarswaty river, was diverted indergroung towards present gujarath from himalayas, (2) the mohejodaro and harrapan culture shows that water channels were built around the cities, similar constructions can be seen around some of the forts which work for double porpuse one water level inside the fort is maintained and works for the safety of the fort). Most of the alcohol or metallurgical units or sugar producing methods never consumed much of the water in India only mineral ore dressing took some water, but they have produced world class monuments that are even today stand as historical importance. Even world has not yet learnt about the best alcohol that available in India, which is made by traditional methods. Most of the ayurveda products use these techniques, water requirement for all these products or operations are bare minimum. The root cause of all these miseries in all over the world is wested interest of the westerners. They are all memebrs of the NATO. They VETO/BULLDOZE OVER other countries.
What else we have to do better leave them as it is otherwise they become crazy, of course already they are half mad, as their minds are totally polluted by race /religion/region feelings, for them others are inhumans.