This article from the Environment News Network, is worthwhile even if for nothing other than its final line:
"I think that water will be as valuable as oil eventually," the duke said. "But for now, we have to do what we can to plan ahead and conserve for the future."
Too many people. Not enough planet. Not enough water on the planet.
We could begin RIGHT NOW to conserve water, to provide free birth control, to provide serious sex education, to provide tax breaks for people who limit the size of their families. Or, we can wait until the problem gets even worse and then let only the rich people breed. I fucking hate the fucking fundies with their intense mania to make everyone breed all the goddamn time.
Water Wars. Coming soon to a planet near you.
4 comments:
I meet with some FDL folks locally a couple of times a month. Last meeting we hit on this topic and quickly realized the seriousness of this issue. There are a lot of rumblings on the internet about the root cause of the mid east conflict and much speculation that it is water rights. Thanks for posting this.
Yes, of course one of the underlying causes of the ME conflict is water rights. The Dead Sea is disappearing because of dams on its source river, and water levels in Lake Kinneret are down as well.
And that's in a fairly arid region. I live in the middle of the largest watershed in North America (the Great Lakes system) and it's getting contentious here, because lake water levels just keep falling and falling...
Goddess, they've already begun...it started with Enron's efforts to corner the market in water in india and bolivia...
but it goes back evern further...true story: i happened to be in Taos one summer afternoon about 1963 and witnessed a (non-fatal) gun battle between two old vecinos over the mis-appropriation of water in the ditch...blew out a window in the pharmacy...
it's comin, fer sher...
i love our confederates on the blog, but i do wish folks would stop having kids who are gonna grow up to have to fight these wars...cuz you KNOW there's never gonna be a reversal in the current trends: no money in it, innit?
Well I spoke with a geologist on this topic and the way he sees it: Wells aren't drilled for maximum sustainability, but for maximum profitability and We do have enough water for everyone, the problem is to regulate throughput and direction.
Of course the WTO trying to push for an ultra-liberal (as in "let the companies do what they want and supress possible government intervention") agenda, I'm not so sure this issue will be properly taken care of.
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