This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
California Is Turning Back Into A Desert And There Are No Contingency Plans
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
Once upon a time, much of the state of California was a barren desert. And now, thanks to the worst drought in modern American history, much of the state is turning back into one. Scientists tell us that the 20th century was the wettest century that the state of California had seen in 1000 years. But now weather patterns are reverting back to historical norms, and California is rapidly running out of water. It is being reported that the state only has approximately a one year supply of water left in the reservoirs, and when the water is all gone there are no contingency plans. Back in early 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state, but since that time water usage has only dropped by 9 percent. That is not nearly enough. The state of California has been losing more than 12 million acre-feet of total water a year since 2011, and we are quickly heading toward an extremely painful water crisis unlike anything that any of us have ever seen before.
But don’t take my word for it. According to the Los Angeles Times, Jay Famiglietti “is the senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech and a professor of Earth system science at UC Irvine”. What he has to say about the horrific drought in California is extremely sobering…
As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We’re not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we’re losing the creek too.
Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins — that is, all of the snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined — was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America’s largest reservoir.
Statewide, we’ve been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley. Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.
Are you starting to understand why so many experts are so alarmed?
For much more from Famiglietti, check out this 60 Minutes interview.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, essentially the entire state is suffering drought conditions right now. And as you can see from the map below, most of the state is currently experiencing either the highest or the second-highest classification of drought…
Nearly 40 million people live in the state of California at the moment.
What are they all going to do when the water is gone?
In some rural areas, reservoirs are already nearly bone dry. And in other areas, the water quality has gone way down. For example, in one Southern California neighborhood black water is now coming out of the taps…
Residents of a Southern California neighborhood are concerned about the fact that the water flowing out of the taps in their homes is the color black. That’s right; the water coming out of their faucets is indeed black — not gray, not cloudy — but black. Inky, opaque black water that the water company says is okay to drink.
Those who live in Gardena, California, are understandably skeptical when asked to consume water that strongly resembles crude oil or something emitted by a squid. The water reportedly also has an “odor of rotten eggs or sewer smell,” according to one resident.
Perhaps you don’t care about what happens to California.
Perhaps you believe that they are just getting what they deserve.
And you might be right about that.
But the truth is that this is a crisis for all of us, because an enormous amount of our fresh produce is grown in the state.
As I discussed in a previous article, the rest of the nation is very heavily dependent on the fruits and vegetables grown in California. The following numbers represent California’s contribution to our overall production…
-99 percent of the artichokes
-44 percent of asparagus
-two-thirds of carrots
-half of bell peppers
-89 percent of cauliflower
-94 percent of broccoli
-95 percent of celery
-90 percent of the leaf lettuce
-83 percent of Romaine lettuce
-83 percent of fresh spinach
-a third of the fresh tomatoes
-86 percent of lemons
-90 percent of avocados
-84 percent of peaches
-88 percent of fresh strawberries
-97 percent of fresh plums
Without the agricultural production of the state of California, we are in a massive amount of trouble.
And of course there are other areas all over the globe that are going through similar things. For instance, taps in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo are running dry as Brazil experiences the worst drought that it has seen in 80 years.
The world simply does not have enough fresh water left at this point, and that is why water is being called “the new oil”. The following comes from CBS News…
It’s been said that the wars of the 21st century may well be fought over water. The Earth’s population has more than doubled over the last 50 years and the demand for fresh water — to drink and to grow food — has surged along with it. But sources of water like rainfall, rivers, streams, reservoirs, certainly haven’t doubled. So where is all that extra water coming from? More and more, it’s being pumped out of the ground.
Water experts say groundwater is like a savings account — something you draw on in times of need. But savings accounts need to be replenished, and there is new evidence that so much water is being taken out, much of the world is in danger of a groundwater overdraft.
And if scientists are right, what we are experiencing right now may just be the very beginning of our problems. In fact, one team of researchers has concluded that the Southwestern United States is headed for a “megadrought” that could last for decades…
Scientists had already found that the Southwestern United States were at great risk of experiencing a significant megadrought (in this case meaning drought conditions that last for over 35 years) before the end of the 21st century. But a new study published in Science Advances added some grim context to those predictions.
Columbia University climate scientists Jason Smerdon and Benjamin Cook, and Cornell University’s Toby Ault were co-authors on the study. They took data from tree rings and other environmental records of climate from the Southwest and compared them to the projections of 17 different climate models that look at precipitation and soil moisture. When they made the comparison between past and future, they found that all the models agreed: the next big megadrought is coming, and it will be way worse than anything we’ve seen in over 1,000 years–including droughts that have been credited with wiping out civilizations.
Needless to say, along with any water crisis comes a food crisis.
Virtually everything that we eat requires a tremendous amount of water to grow. And at this point, the world is already eating more food than it produces most years.
So what is going to happen to us as this water crisis gets even worse?
»
- 107979 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
If Cali genuinely goes tits up, they will descend like locusts on Texas (and other states). It is why I left; too damn many people moving in because it ain't totally fucked up (yet).
Regards,
Cooter
too damn many people...
Procreation (copies of one’s self) is the highest form of selfishness and indulgence.
I'll break the bad news to my kids.
"too damn many people..."
Folks ought to stop having babies so that the world will be a better place for wide open spaces.
Actually, there's an easy answer: Just require, for a generation or three, maybe, defer having children until, oh, say, age 30 or 35.
Thus, no restrictions on people's choices.
Might even thus improve the breed.
Problem solved in 40 years.
A requirement which restricts procreation to those of a certain age is a restriction.
I know it ... I'm in the sticks. I live poor, but know most everyone. There has been a massive influx for 2 decades (cost of living is lower on average). As I mentioned in a previous post, a lot of that influx has gone to San Antone, Austin, Dallas ... and they brought the progressive ideas with them. Texas will probably hold it's own, I hope to die a natural death here at some point in the future and receive a proper burial.
Austin used to be cool place, now it's a shithole.
Central planning did this, so only central planning on a massive scale can fix it!
Or so the statist meme goes.
Here's an idea, don't invite people to come & live in an arid region where you have to dam up rivers to create reservoirs during the frequent dry spells (cuz, ya know, the arid part) so they can have the abundant water supply they've come to expect while watching the tumbleweeds roll by!
Sam Kinison, its saaaand ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0q4o58pKwA
Well… here’s an idea..... of bleak satisfaction:
Let’s try stripping away the fantasies of human spirituality, progress, and superiority.
Really? Well no more trips to the doctor for you. Oh, and throw away those glasses while you're at it.
Man is the only animal dumb enough to doubt the value of his own existence. You never see a tiger sitting on a rock letting gazelles pass by unmolested as he murmurs, "No matter how hard I try, I'll never be anything more than a tiger. What's the use?"
Pretty sure human fantasies of "progress and superiority" are going to lead to some spirituality in praying for lots of rain in southern Cal.
They would also like some ice water in hell too but I'm sure that aint gonna happen either.
Pray to your central planning departments and water agencies, they'll save you ;-)
Central planning was not the cause. It was real estate developers and their corrupt politicians, hoping to make big money turning desert (that they bought for nothing) into cites.
When politicians and their cronies get together in order to exploit anything and everything for short term gains that is central planning.
Um, like Las Vegas?
After we Californicate Arizona and New Mexico, you can bet you'll be next.
I call tell you that in North Texas, DFW area, we are having Californians coming by the thousands... as long as they don't bring their liberal policies, higher taxes and "free lunch" for all, they are welcome
Already happening and been happening for a while. The business climate is so bad here...boss is moving his residency to Texas, just purchased a house. Says in 2012 he spent 60% of revenue on various taxes. The parasites are bleeding the producers dry here and forcing them out of necessity to flee the area. I fear the zombie hoards that will result and be very very angry when they can't suck any more blood out of a turnip.
Artichokes are a cash crop?
How are they in the Algore(tm) ethanol blender?
Arnold, funny you mentioned artichokes. In the Atacama desert in Chile they have these plants that look like artichokes except they're like 20 FT across.
Thanks .I'll look for it.ald
Here's the problem with avocado. Out here we get 'em on every Goddamned thing under the sun. Burgers with avocado, BLT's become BLAT's, everyfucking salad has avacado, every sandwich has some slices of avocado, which if you don't eat it within 17 seconds turns turd brown, pizza with avocados, avocado dip, mush and miserable squeezable shit on every Goddamned thing including slime next your steak. Nobody cares about almonds or artichokes. It's the Goddamned avocados need to be disappeared. Say, maybe we can offer the stuff up to the Annanuki in exchange for their missing gold? Or deliver it all to Barstow for the fucking bats. And fuck Jerry Brown and his miserable fucking progressive statist assholes. The drought is probably that imaginary pal of the nut cases who claim there's a God punishing California for being satists, but at least it can't be God because God don't exist in California. How's that you fuckers?!?!?!?!? Save you fucking selves this time!
Hah, you've finally exposed yourself Avocado Assassin! Expect the Vegan Vigilantes and the Metrosexual Mob at your door in one minute!
Bwahahahaha!
I sit high upon my parapet with a vat of brown turd colored boiling smelly avocado ooze awaiting their presence charging my door with their pikes of golden dry flax.
God, these Progressives are angry. They stand there for hours in their Birkenstocks, singing, swaying softly, holding their pet Chihuahuas and petting their miniature horse service animals, texting on their energy saving iCrap... It's enough to drive you mad. Mad I Say, the clicking and clacking of the texting!
How were the thoughts of the mental deficient Diogenes preserved for the ages?
(only somewhat more than a passing ephemeral thought)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope
Sorry, I have a book from My Uncle, given to me at age 4 that mentions me and Dio in the same sentence (Ha!) and I can very justly assume that nobody has ever heard of him.
knukles
Californians are doing god's work.
Yeah its Gods work!! Thats it!!
and really, who would miss broccoli?
Are we to be subjected to this miniscule percentage, control the agenda, crap over broccoli?
I've always been fascinated by deserts. On my bucket list is a visit to the Atacama desert in Chile because of the fog that rolls over the mountains on the shore as well as the otherworldly vegatation on the back side of the mountains.
I'm wondering if I will be able to save some $$$ and travel to the San Bernardino mountains and witness the same thing here in North America.
You could save even more money and go to san bernardino proper and see the otherworldly organisms that live there.
Usually, we have to wait for the weekend around here for this sort of thing.
Victorville = Victimville
If you go to Needles or Barstow areas there're plenty of bats and UFOs. (serious)
And you want a spooky place, try the Salton Sea.
Another trip is over lots of the Mohave Desert, there are roads as if it were laid out for a towns, way in the middle of fuck all nowhere.
PS He left off all the cattle, pigs, sheep and creepy crawlie stuff that is made in CA also, including stuff like milk. Prices of AG stuff gonna be goin' up. The impact will be felt greater the further the distance. Luckily, we have farmers markets galore out here where I buy the stuff within 100 miles of picking slaughter, etc., so we never yet had the big price increases that the rest of the country's seen due to the large commercial processing/delivery. What, large companies would screw people. Nah, couldn't happen.
My grand father and uncle used to drive out there to race there at salton sea. That was a cool place in the day
There's a plan in the works to "Save The Salton Sea".
It is drying up because of a lack of agriculture runoff. Getting fresh water to maintain it is very low on the list of priorities for fresh water.
Yet letting it turn to a massive dry lake bed, with all the agri-waste present has its drawbacks too.
You can find a lot on the subject if you search but here's a recent LA Times editorial on the subject that sums where the debate is at this point:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-salton-sea-20150315-stor...
Worked a job near Salome Az , and they were stupid enough to give us a day off per week.
My only experience with the desert, and I fell in love. Indian Wells, Patton Tanks, Gold mines and in the summer, very friendly people.
oh, cold beer, did I mention that already?
Yup, I love AZ. I think I'm a desert rat at heart.
Sorry.
You'll need moar than $$$.
San Berdoo mountains are just south of me, about three miles away.
Can we blame Putin for that?
CIA Accuses Russia Of "Manipulating The World's Weather"http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-17/forget-hacking-cia-accuses-russ...
sure, why not?
"Can we blame Putin for that?"
Psaki can. She just needs a prepared script.
I'd hit that just to see those big ol tittahs flop around...
free those rascals!
They've been screaming about drought in California since I was a kid. Somehow the tap never runs dry and all the golf courses are still green.
If you're afraid of a little drought, move. The rest of us don't give a fuck
all the golf courses are still green
Ding ding ding, we have a winner!
Yes - and you can study God's will by reading stories in a book written by people who didn't even know where the sun was at night.
put a new boarder fence before they all come east
"Boarder" fence. I suppose that's really what it really is. Funny.
Mesoamerican civilizations were felled by droughts lasting not just decades, but centuries. The drought California is experiencing is pretty normal, people shouldn't be surprised. It's just that we have such short lifespans that these events seem unusual.
Many other civilizations worldwide have fallen from related reasons, cyclical and permanent weather changes plus growing beyond their nature resources´ sustainable capability. War, one of the major factors, is not topping the charts.
Sadly laughable in a sad and laughable way. How long agao was Cadillac Desert written? Anybody who has being paying even a micron of attention has known this has been in the making for decades. The low resevoirs are nothing. It's the aquifers, the ones taking decades or centuries to replenish that are the problem. People were freaking in the seventies, then it rain, freaked in the what was it now, 80's or 90's, that's right Tahoe was super low and the predictions were it would take nearly forever for it to come back. Then two decent winters and bingo, rim job. And everyone forgets, and goes about their business. But meanwhile.....what once was grazing goes to almonds in the foothills, and what once was desert is now golf course...and on it goes. And there's been no drilling regs. And now that there will be, everyone's been drilling just like they know there will be. If you wanted to make maoney the last five years, forget the fucking market or gold. A drill rig was worth a mint.
It's biblical. Reminds you when they misbehaved and were smitten. That follwoed with much teeth gnashing and promises to be better. Then as soon as things were, it's all back to normal, and everyone forgets. My how human, and my how potentially lethal.
Cali? no regs?
Liked most every thing else you said though.
Believe it or not, regulation of ground water drilling in the Golden State has been comparitively lax since the state's inception
I installed synthetic grass and river rock in my front yard to do my part to conserve water
Now my gardner has to powerwash my lawn and rocks once a week to keep them clean
Everybody will have to move back East, except for defense workers and Silicon Valley peeps. Their factories, their offices and their homes will get the little water that's left.
The freeways will be a dream.
I worked a 'tween job in Fresno at a retail plant nursery.
The Universal response I got from the customers when I told them I was from Maine, was that when they went to the east, they felt anxious and claustrophobic because of all the trees surrounding them.
(not working anymore on getting rid of my axent, it barely shows up in my keyboard yappin'.)
Please move to the NE especailly to the un-consitutional state of CT. Stay the fuck out of FL! we have far too many gun rights for you liberitards, Millions of concealed carry permits, 30 round mags, and alot of rednecks.
Already have too many JEW York license plates on the slow ass driving snowbird assholes...
I'm staying in California, even if it means extracting water from fallen allies Dune-style. Hey, no matter what, the land you're born in will always mean something important to you.
Imagine SO. Cal. on horseback in the late 1800s - freakin' awesome. I lived out there many years ago (1970s and 80s), some of the nicest country I ever saw. Been back to visit about 2010, didn't recognize much of anything. Tragic. Brother said you can't readily even get to the beaches anymore. When I was a child, many of the valleys still had large parcels, farming, some citrus groves, ranches, etc... Humans got stupid for money and built concrete structures instead - paved paradise as the lady said :-( Hell bent on trashing Oregon too.
Well, you Americans didn't see it, because you conquered such a huuuge PARADISE.
Only two centuries later you are partially beginning to see what your Jewified throw-away-society, called American way of life, with egoism and profit as the only guidance, has been doing.
Other nations have been living for thousands of years on their soil and you destroy a paradise within a few centuries... What a great model for the world and truly exceptional.
I love your nose! ;)
I didn't get to experience it as im a bit younger than most here and from the east coast originally but if you lived in SoCal in the late 70s to early 90s and were into riding dirtbikes- this place was HEAVEN on earth.
All the liberals and fags took over..and now we have California.
I just moved out here for my corporate job. I like it here, but I sure as hell wouldnt buy a house here.
~DipShitMiddleClassWhiteKid
Damn right, we could use a bit of environmental and economic chemotherapy to prune some of the overgrowth here in SoCal.
As a So. Cal. resident, I'm just glad I don't have a mortgage out here right now. Those in deep on a healthy mortgage must be crapping their pants. I can't think of too many things outside of an attack on the West Coast that would absolutely TANK home prices than a complete drought.
I'm sure they are blissfully unaware. The only thing deeper than a California homeowner's mortgage is his denial.
Dust for sale, by owner.
Crapping in their pants? They'll just walk away. You and I will pay to bailout the banks... again. Did you learn nothing?
Feces is processed in the desert suits in the thigh pads. I saw it on Dune. Everyone gets one.
I briefly used to ship yoghurt from NZ to California for the fuckin' cats.
Yep . . . Pet Plus it was called. We had to change the name from King Puss 'cos apparently 'merkins don't like that sort of thing.
I was a bit sceptical of the market myself until they showed me a brochure for Frosty Paws . . . friggin' ice cream for pets.
But then I clicked . . . California , right?
Oh yeah, it's the end of the world...will never rain again, big fucking desert---dead ahead. Any more apocalyptic scenarios we can dream up?
Wait and see, bitchez ...in 5 years California will have so much water.
And winter in the lower 48 will last through the end of March, starting on Halloween.
Maybe. A colder world is a dryer world.
Agreed. Apocalypse now gets headlines and helps drum up support for global warming initiatives that enrich the juiced in.
What we can do right now is buy up land there while people flee on the cheap.
Plenty O'water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1692_Jamaica_earthquake
Maybe we should be asking the government about the ongoing geoengineering programs.
The massive groups of "trails" over the pacific to the west of California have been continuous for years.
Is temperature control more important than rainfall?
https://socalskywatch.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/pacific-ocean-grid-lines-...
How is this being paid for? Can we defund?
Think steering the jet stream, weather contracts , and long term real estate acquistion strategies.
Start building those desal plants with all this cheap oil.
SOLAR my man . . . . the sun shines for FREE!
And with relay mirrors circling the earth on the equator, we can have solar 24 hours a day. Just ante up the bucks. Jillions, I think they said.
Here's a fun fact. All that produce and food grown in CA used to be grown in the East and the South.Susidized water and subsidized overtheroad trucking changed all that. Guess what, its all coming back East and South and we'll all be way better off. The trains will run again and the people will work again.
Who are you, George Bailey?
No, I think Warren Buffet?
You are correct. None of it makes any economic sense. Here in Kentucky there is no reason to not have green houses and truck farms. Instead we get green house tomatoes from Canada. How does it make economic sense to transport green house tomatoes thousands of miles from another country that has higher labor costs, when they could be produced locally without the huge transportation costs?
I have a tiny garden in my backyard, I produced so many tomatoes last year I was giving them away to all the neighbors. Green peppers also. I am now considering putting in a small green house. There is no reason to import wooden tomatoes.
There is no economic reason vegatables have to be produced in California or Canada or Mexico for use in the midwest. They could be produced locally cheaper and reduce the use of energy to transport them. We have the technology, have had it for decades as others have stated here. Government substities, direct and indirect, created much of the situation. The result is good looking but bad tasting produce of little nutritional value.
the drought is all Pete Wilson's fault, who is also responsible for ENRON
California Uber Alles !!
They are about to have a "Holiday in Cambodia".
If they stop spraying Chem Trails and using HAARP
HAARP WEATHER CONTROL could be part of NWO DEPOPULATION PLAN, here's the science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TdIkI1ory8Yes, but we will spend $100B on high speed rail.
I want a bullet train to Bishop
This is amazing.
I scrolled thru two pages of comments and didn't find even one coherent remark.
Having once lived in CA, I vaguely knew from osmosis that agriculture used the bulk of water.
That's right, not the city and suburban yuppies that everyone loves to hate.
It took me all of 20 seconds internet searching to find this:
--------------
"Let’s put water in California into perspective:
80 to 85% of all water in California is used by agriculture
We urban users consume about 10% of our water.
Of the 350 crops grown in California, the one that is exported most are almonds. Second is rice. Rice uses a prodigious amount of water to grow. The only crop that uses more water than rice in California is alfalfa. And guess what, alfalfa and rice are some of the largest crops in California.
Do we need all that rice? Interestingly, about one third of all rice produced in the U.S. is exported, mostly to Japan and Korea. Ninety percent of the world’s rice is produced in Asia. Only 1.4 percent is grown in the United States.
Here is a crop that we don’t really need in the United States, of which we export a significant percentage, and it uses a disproportionate amount of our precious water. I say we should stop growing rice in California and focus on more useful"
-------------
clueless people shooting your mouths off about the CA drought, are your observations about the economy and politics also this far off the mark?
Yeah in about 50% of ZH articles the comments get taken over by the dumb- fuck jagoffs. There is not even any amusing cynicism in the comments to this post.
Worker bees can leave
Even drones can fly away
The queen is their slave
welcome to fight club
A 4,5 and a 0,5 year guy commiserating about how lame the comments are and lack of insight it provides.
You two should get a room.
You are the perfect example of our comments. You all ain't been here as long as we has rebuke. Wow very original.
Four fifth of all U.S. rice is grown in California, using up over 500,000 acres mostly in the Sacramento Valley. Ninety-one percent of the world’s rice is grown in Asia. The U.S. produces just 1.4 percent of the world’s rice and four-fifths of that is produced in California
And my 20 seconds turned up this:
Arkansas ranks first among the six major rice-producing states, accounting for approximately 48 percent of the U.S. rice production. Rice production is concentrated in the eastern half of the state, stretching from the Louisiana to the Missouri borders. The top five rice-producing counties are Arkansas, Poinsett, Cross, Lawrence and Lonoke. Arkansas rice is known for its versatility and can be used in a wide variety of cuisines. It is enjoyed in the United States and throughout the world.
From Consumer Reports:
White rice grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas, which account for 76 percent of domestic rice, generally had higher levels of total arsenic and inorganic arsenic in our tests than rice samples from elsewhere.
You forgot to mention the low taxes.
"So what is going to happen to us as this water crisis gets even worse?"
TerminusBurger or Crispy Soylent Green
So are you saying California will run out of beer? Yeah right.......Not!
The Spanish who settled Los Angeles and San Diego, building missions and grazing cattle around about. Somehow cattle could move about and find enough to eat, they were killed for their hides, which were loaded aborad ships and sent around the horn back to the east. Before railroads, before the gold rush. The sailors from the ships reported these areas to be rattlesnake infested deserts. The cattle roamed vast areas to chew on scrub, they were fit mainly for hides, not much else.
The growth took place in thei once a mellennium wet period. The trouble with people is that they think todays conditions were always todays conditions, and will stay todays conditions. Not so in the US SW. The area is a desert, and will return to desert. Drilling ground water, and taking from the Colorado river has it's limits. We have never, as Americans, dealt with a weather related disaster such as this, are we ready for a 500-1000 year drought?
Plenty of water. Costco has a good selection.
You are correct. Read 2 Years Before the Mast. Sounds like Cali is returning to it's natural state.
You still work at the McDonalds in Dana Point?
I hope the drought doesn't affect the quality of McWater.
Those numbers seem grossly exaggerated:
You worry to much. Don't worry, when things get bad like a earthquake people will move. Until then, have a cold beer.
Dayuuum, no water no Beer, Yikes, end of the world....LOL
Yeah, I don't buy those numbers either.
Drought, earthquake, fire......fall into the Pacific, whatever....just do it already. I am sure the rest of us will get by without all the artichokes, cauliflower and asparagus.
News flash to everyone . . . you can grow ALL of the mentioned produce, except for the citrus fruits and avocados, in almost every part of the country. As far as extended growing seasons there are lots of areas of the country along the southern border (e.g. Texas) where the growing seasons are very similar to those in the central valley of Cali, where most of the produce is grown. This appears to me to be a case of putting all of our eggs in one basket and if the drought is going to have that big of an impact on the future availability of these kinds of produce we need farmers to start growing the same in other regions of the country . . . .
To protect big corporations, the Fed and most states have made everything against the law. You can't grow food and sell it to your neighbors. They'll come and shoot your family dog.
Here is a get rich quick scheme but also has a dark side. Finance some massive desalinization plants on the California coast. Take the sea water and convert it to fresh water. Make sure there is a law that exempts the fresh water from end use testing for radiation levels. Float some bonds and sell the fresh water, at a premium, for irrigating (contaminating) like hundreds of thousands of acres of California farmland. Grow lots of crops.
Cash Out!!! Go public!! Get out of dodge and sell the whole deal to a hedge fund or one of the big banks.
Ooopss problems..... Declare a national emergency as contamination are recorded coast to coast in fruits and veggies. Have the taxpayers bail it all out. There is an easy Trillion or even more here, probably much more. Lots and lots. The Greenies can then refocus from Global Warming. This will keep them in tall cotton and rhetoric for 50 years at least.
No indictments. Tout the new state of the art "decon technology" for radiation remidiation that has been pioneered in California. Sell systems.
Get outa town. Change the venue. Enjoy margaritas on the beach with Juanita and Gisella. Chill out. Laugh. Kick some mp3s, entertain some politicos. Try to dream about what the future might be. What the next killer biz is.
Nah, high speed rail that no one will use
since it goes nowhere, is way more important
than food. That's what grocery stores are for,
right?
Looks like the desert part of California is doing pretty well.....
Got 30+ inches of rain in my little part of California. Ground is so muddy need to where my rain boots. Not telling any other Californians where I live either. If 90% of the population left for parts unknown I wouldn't cry a tear. Please take Pelosi back to NJ where she came from. Don't let the cactus hit you in the butt when you are leaving either.
That's not a lot of rain in one year.
Gott liddle spot in da medowlands next to Hoffa.
Do not ship freight collect.
Pelosi is from Maryland, the state that used to be decent before it became urbanized.
Instead of building a keystone pipeline, build a pipeline from east coast to send the snow to california. That will be a recovery
build a pipeline from east coast to send the snow to california
Send SNOW through a pipeline? What a genius!
They can always BLOW the SNOW through the pipeline.
The Rhyme of the Ancient Commentator
I'm thinking of Psaki, Haft and Noodlewoman
The best contingency plan would be to fence cali off and not let anyone leave while the water runs out.
Contingency for the rest of us to be happier with out them that is.
Cry me a river, California
I thought we could just switch HAARP on and take care of this.
.
No worries here, I'm only three counties away from being in an abnormally dry county. They'll have a jug or two of Alhambra there.
Invest in nuclear power and desalination. California is gonna need it.
Invest in nuclear power and desalination.
Why take the chance of fucking up the environment with nuke plants when most of Cali has PERFECT conditions for solar energy generation?
Cali is heading east.
There will be millions of Jeff Spiccoli's everywhere...
Uh oh.
m
Ever actually been to California? (Using 'Cali' is kind of a tell that you haven't).
Surfer stereotypes are so Lo-Information.
Actual surfers here are generally more like straight FBI agents than the Sean Penn cartoon, at least the surfers over 18.
Rice should have never been made in California.
Everything flows from that.
Capitalism is too short term to act as an efficient asset allocator over decades.
Question: Is California suffering a drought, or a [fairly rapid] reversion to the long-term mean? I wouldn't be surprised to learn it is the later.
If so, the last time California was at the mean, the population was probably 100x smaller. At which point, the current quantity of rainfall and ground-water would be adequate.
I wonder what percentage California's overall weed production is.
Whatever it is, it could be higher if they had more water.
.
40 million less untermenchen is a good thing.
40 million less untermenchen is a good thing.
Man, I wish somebody would hurry up and figure out how to get salt out of ocean water. I know it's one of Man's Last Mysteries, but dang, that'd be a cool technology to have.
Man, I wish somebody would hurry up and figure out how to get salt out of ocean water.
The technology is called "reverse osmosis" or "distillation" and has existed for decades (centuries in the case of distillation). All either of these technologies require is energy and money to build the plants. California just happens to have excellent conditions for solar power. What they need to to NOW is start building desalinization plants powered by solar energy fields based in the Mohave desert. All it takes in money . . . . .
"What they need to to NOW is start building desalinization plants powered by solar energy fields based in the Mohave desert. All it takes in money . . . . . "
But, high speed rail is so hip and cool. & the public service unions will have $100K a year jobs with early retirement.
Everybody like to ride the choo choo up and down the thoroughfare going to and from the place the choo choo goes to and from and no where else.
Property values of businesses and hipster condos near choo choos go up too!
All it takes in [sic] money . . . . .
Ah, but, what IS money? Really? Seriously, no sarcasm, intended.
Money is a proxy for human labor. Including the machines controlled by them, provided that energy from stored sunshine is available. The ideal form of the stored energy is gasoline and/or diesel fuel derived from crude oil.
By the way, lawful money is defined as a dollar equalling 392-1/2 grains of silver. Federal Reserve Notes are Unconstitutional toilet paper.
Then, the customers need to be able to afford to pay for the water with said money. Because, despite what many may believe, TANSTAAFL--there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. [A tip of the hat to Robert A. Heinlein.]
Yes, all it takes is money...
Ah, but, what IS money? Really? Seriously, no sarcasm, intended.
I should have said "All it takes is currency" rather than using the term "money" (e.g gold and silver). When we use currency rather than money to support an effort like building desal plants, regardless of the energy source used, the US government could create the needed funds out of thin air - just like they did to bail out the banks in the last "financial crisis". The main problem with that type of plan is that it would never happen unless the bankster ass-holes get their cut somehow . . . .
.Gov could also take a route similar to what Lincoln did during the civil war (green backs) or what Kennedy did in 1963 (silver certificates/United States Notes) and just create currency as needed without the involvement of a private banking enterprise (i.e. interest), but look where that got both of them. I'm sure that Obummer, or whoever gets selected in 2016, doesn't have the balls to try something like that. More realistically, their masters would never allow it.
Also - sorry about the typo (in/is) - I honestly try to avoid stupid little things like that . . .
Yes, but high speed rail is so much more
hip. Agriculture is SO like yesterday.
No contingency because the world is going go collapse long before California runs dry.
It's gonna be so dry you'll have to make 2 pots of coffee just to get a cup to drink
So lets see......
Pushing water down into geological formations is how fracking works....
Pushing water down into geological formations is known to cause earthquakes....
i think poeple in Orange county should buckle up, pushing water down there lubricates faults and.....
Squid
Pipeline from the Great Lakes.
Pipeline from the Great Lakes.
About 25 million people say "fuck you" to that idea . . .