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¶ … turning on the taps and nothing comes out. It wasn't like that yesterday, but today, there's no water. Maybe they're doing work on the pipes and you missed the memo, right? You call the city, and ask when it will come back on. They tell you it won't. There's no more water. They're going to truck some in so people have something to drink while they pack, but that's it, the water's gone and it's time to leave. This isn't a fantasy situation. It has actually happened throughout human history, usually when we do not have the technology to manage our water supplies. The problem is that today, even with all we know about water management, we are still facing this very situation in our lifetimes, in major cities.
California has had a drought for the past four years. Even before the drought, the state was using water at an unsustainable pace. It gets a lot of its water from the Colorado River, which is highly stressed, and from underground aquifers. Those aquifers are almost dry, and they take millions of years to replenish, and the Colorado River cannot give up any more water -- it hardly ever arrives at the ocean as it is. So where will the water come from to supply California? And where will we get food from, if we can't get it from California anymore?
This is in one sense a very simply problem -- California does not have enough water and the outcome will very soon be catastrophic. The state is likely to continue guzzling water at unsustainable rates until it simply cannot do so any longer -- that is to say when the last drop is gone taps are literally dry. In another sense, it is very complex problem because there are a number of critical water users, because so...
The first is water usage. There are 39 million people in California, making it the most populous state in America. It is also a major agricultural heartland, sustainable or not, and that complicates the usage problem because so many people rely on California's agricultural product, which so happens to be a major water user. The dairy industry is the biggest user of water, but realistically dairy products are ubiquitous in our society. Even if everybody stopped drinking cow milk and started drinking almond milk, almonds come from California and take a lot of water to produce.
So while demand is very high, and a seemingly intractable problem given the population of the state and its water usage patterns, the supply is also a problem because California has relied on non-renewable water sources, and is at capacity for the renewable ones. There are no easy solutions.
The first part of the solution is therefore to admit the problem -- as of yet serious acknowledgment of the need to change the patterns of consumption has not occurred. The solution has to mean restructuring agriculture towards products more suited for the climate -- the drought will end eventually but this is desert climate for the most part, not suitable for water-intensive crops or dairy cows. The second part of the solution is twofold. First, new short-term sources of water need to be found. This will…
4). Likewise, in the same article, Kay Martin of the Ventura County, California public works agency is quoted as saying, "From a macroeconomics or macro-environmental perspective, it just makes sense." The need to build an infrastructure for production of bio-fuels creates economic opportunities. Of course, not everybody is so enthusiastic. To grow corn, diesel tractors are required to plant, fertilize and harvest it with substantial coal-fired electricity needed for the
S., experts estimate the genuine number of incidents of abuse and neglect ranges three times higher than reported. (National Child Abuse Statistics, 2006) in light of these critical contemporary concerns for youth, this researcher chose to document the application of Object Relation, Attachment Theories, and Self-Psychology to clinical practice, specifically focusing on a patient who experienced abuse when a child. Consequently, this researcher contends this clinical case study dissertation proves
status of federalism within the U.S. It is the thesis of the paper that the President, the Courts and Congress have assumed influential and significant roles in the shaping of federalism in recent decades. Initially, a conceptualization of federalism will be offered as established by the founding fathers. Current literature will then be used to identify factors associated with and the role assumed by the presidency, the Courts and
Role of Nurse Leaders in Disaster Planning Politics of the Hospital and Disaster Planning The politics in hospital settings surrounding nurse leaders and any functional change is likely associated with the hierarchy of the hospital systems, where individuals in administrative positions and doctors limit the input of nurse leaders in making change. This can be associated with nurse leaders reluctance to provide input based on the hierarchy, the exclusion of most or
finance and financial entrepreneurship. The basis of the article is on a discussion that was held on this subject among four leading lights of financial entrepreneurship in the United States - Michael Milken, Lewis Ranieri, Richard Sandor and Myron Scholes. These people are famous in their own right and have had a sizeable role in financial entrepreneurship in the U.S. over the last 20 years. We have first discussed
Pedagogic Model for Teaching of Technology to Special Education Students Almost thirty years ago, the American federal government passed an act mandating the availability of a free and appropriate public education for all handicapped children. In 1990, this act was updated and reformed as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which itself was reformed in 1997. At each step, the goal was to make education more equitable and more accessible to