The Future is Drying Up

Source: New York Times

In the Southwest this past summer, the outlook was equally sobering. A catastrophic reduction in the flow of the Colorado River — which mostly consists of snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains — has always served as a kind of thought experiment for water engineers, a risk situation from the outer edge of their practical imaginations. Some 30 million people depend on that water.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21water-t.html?hp

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Gobal warming will destroy our children and our children's children, our friend's children, our neighbors children. Yet, the religious right is torn between voting for candidates whose main concerns are abortion rights and gay marriage. They are in complete denial about the state of our planet (the ONLY thing that sustains us) and yet they blindly go along as if global warming doesn't exist.

This is nothing less than a crime against humanity.

Where is the gutsy candidate that is going to expose them for what they are: the portion of our species that is hell bent on destroying life on earth.

All global warming will do is redistribute and increase the fraction of our children that will be destroyed, and perhaps hasten the date
that some of them will be destroyed.

As bad as global warming is, it's not going to destroy the human race. Just make it very nasty for us for a long time.

on the White House roof and gutted the alternative energy program. We all knew global warming was real. The religious right was his base. They have fought it tooth and nail. Here we are. Nasty future? You bet. Plants, fruits, animals, all at risk. Tourist attractions that are people's financial security are all at risk.
How pathetically sad that this issue isn't the number one issue on everyone's mind.
And for the religous crazies who accept it: is this what their God wants them to do to His children?

These people have some serious thinking to do - if they can get out of the church long enough to do some thinking.

Reagun is still thought to be a god to the conservatives. Bring back Goldwater, at least he had integrity.

He imposed the national 55MPH speed limit to curb gas waste.

(relatively speaking, of course...)

advocating conservation.

As soon as Reagan moved into the White House, all was forgotten. It was as though it had never happened.

advises not doing anything about global warming?

quite a lot could have been accomplished by now.

What would we do, if 60 or 70 or 80 percent of the species we depend on for food, suddenly became extinct? How would we cope, if the atmospheric temperatures began to sore well into the triple digits, perhaps 150 to 160 degrees?

Sudden and radical changes in the chemistry of the earths atmosphere have happened before, during the history of life on this planet, and each time, it has resulted in mass extinctions. We are not special. We are subject to the same forces that shape all lifeforms that are a part of our biosphere.

There are yet unmanifested changes on the horizon, so be patient, they're coming. And judging by the current trends in world events, very few have any intention of taking them seriously. Even on a progressive website, one finds denial and a refusal to accept the gravity of the potential consequences associated with global climate change.

I'm not very optimistic about our future.

An oil executive said that he and other oil tycoons are buying any and all water sources and water distribution facilities they can get their greedy hands on. They want to privatize water because they know that the next wars, after the oil wars, will be water wars. We'll end up paying ten dollars per gallon of H2O.

One in a childhood squabble. The other in reaction to a fresh drunk in a bar.

But when I think about the shortsighted fundy bastards that help promote the - Don't worry about those "LEFT BELOW", Jeebus will take care of his own- and trying to accelerate the "End Times" all in the name of GREED and POWER, I don't think Jeebus will have too many left to collect when the day gets here; not if I have anything to say about it.

I've got land, food, access to water. If any one of those freaks comes knocking on my door with their hand out, my dogs will be eating Fundy Chow for as long as it takes to clean the bones.

Maybe I'll take up my paternal forebearer's tradition and eat their fucking hearts.

Okay...impotent rage off....too much to do today....

My Favorite Master Artist: Karen Parker GhostWoman Studios

their religious end-times and a man-made disaster of Global Warming --
I think some of the religious leaders -- not the most fanatically right-wing -- are working on this --

People don't realize that the buying up and privatization of underground water sources has been "flying under the radar", so to speak. From what I've read, Texas water in particular is in danger of becoming totally privatized. The rich are buying up water rights like the coal and oil barons were buying up mineral rights years ago. The MSM has completely ignored this story but Americans better watch out -- it won't be long before a cup of water will cost you your soul.

Florida. Azurix? I think that was the name of it.

I read about it quite a while ago. At that time, the attempt had failed. For all I know, it has since succeeded.

south america..the company was trying to privatize water.. Carlos Menem was involved somehow,IIRC..


Evil people think ahead..a long way ahead.. and the carefully plot their strategy.

If not, Bechtel was involved in some other water privatization in South America.

I believe Bechtel got kicked out of some water privatization in South America about a year ago.

Water should not be privatized.

but the acres & acres of business park lawns, which are frequently watered between noon & 4pm, outrage me, & I do mean acres & acres. What the fuck are we thinking wasting our precious resource to water these areas that absolutely no one ever uses? :banghead: We drive by & think how pretty it looks. HELLO????? How close to having our facets go dry will we have to get before people wake up & demand better management of our resources? Perhaps the people in Atlanta can tell us.

Especially the lawns. Even though I live in the Great Lakes region, I refuse to waste water on my lawn. I let it die when it doesn't rain.

See: "Who Killed the Electric Car?"


Right now in mid-October we're still in the high 70's here in NJ ---
October, in more normal times, would have brought temperatures of 50 degrees or less --

I'm surprised that we still haven't air-conditioned the schools here!!
Tough on the kids ---

trying to destroy humanity. Isn't this a crime?

and it is going to be 75 today. *sigh*

they refuse to use trolleys -- or buses for commuters to get to and from the railroad --
they want to build huge new two and three story parking garages -- though it's pretty much been defeated; but they'll be back!!!

Anyway, after Al Gore's movie came out one of the members contacted me saying they wanted some citizen advice cause they were going to start a Environmental Panel for the Town under guidance of the Town Council. But the interest wained very quickly. I responded, but they never got back in touch . . . and idea seems to have died out.

I'm looking for some one to go down with me to the meetings and get some of this on record--
I hate to do these things alone!!!

With the housing market collapsing, the US economy threatening to enter a recession, and Americans having the lowest rate of savings since the Great Depression, who can afford to buy millions of electric cars, even if they can market them cheaply enough? Hell, the Prius has been out for over 5 years now, but we don't see 100% of the cars on the road as hybrids right now even though they get substantially better mileage than almost any car out there today. The best solution is to replace cars with mass transit and walkable, sustainable communities as much as possible, rather than continue to support the spread-out, suburban/exurban lifestyle Americans have become accustomed to.

We needed to start working on this problem a decade or two ago to have a chance of preventing massive global displacement and hardship of population centers. As it stands now, even our best efforts to mitigate climate change will only help to take the edge off the pain, not prevent what will cause the pain itself.

The planet is dying -- if we can spend money on "illegal" war . . .
shirley we can raise a corporation to build electric cars --
and subsidize both ends of it --

the manufacture and the purchase ---

Take the cars with the LEAST mpg off the roads first --- the cars that pollute the most ---

Replace 20% of the cars every year --- 5 years from now, no more gas-guzzlers


Actually, we needed to acknowledge that burning fossil fuels makes us all ill FIFTY YEARS AGO!!!

And -- the effects you are feeling are delayed 50 years -- 1957 ---
think of how many cars and how many years of gas-guzzling we're not feeling yet!!!

that can just get around 10mpg. Not very many people own them either. Aside from all the soccer moms and yuppies who own Suburbans and Expeditions, theirs a great number of poeple with jobs that require big powerful vehicle to pull and haul loads of stuff and people. I have a job during the summer that requires my truck, its a 01 Dodge Dakota, 4x4, 4 door with a 4.7 v8. It averages around 16mpg and the best it got on the highway was 21mpg. When not working I'll use it to haul the dirtbike to other places and ride around with friends.

and certain exceptions we could all agree upon . ..

don't you think --- ????

If auto makers can make an electric vehicle thats usefull to me, looks good, handles great, RWD for a car (come on, we car nuts dont want a shitty FWD) and 4x4 for a truck with 6000+ pound towing capacity, then I'll gladly purchace it! For now, I'm sticking to the truck, and my 01 Trans Am as the main vehicle when not driving. The T/A gets WAY better gas milage than the truck BTW and an awsome car to drive! The current hybrids just dont appeal to me at all. Lexus has a high performance hybrid car(forgot what model it was), its actually pretty nice car, but wait... it hardly gets any better mpg than my car, WTF??

who controls the wealth and resources of the nation ---
Why should a few private families own our OIL?

And, if their policies are suicidal -- what does that mean to you?

The Colorado River is amazing and what's been done is so destructive ---
it's made Nevada as I recall?

And provides water for California -- !!!

How quickly can we get rid of patriarchy, organized patriarchal religions, capitalism . . .
Manifest Destiny, Man's Dominion Over Nature ---

These suidicidal concepts will take all humanity and our planet -- !!!

T e r r o r i s t s


Each time they speak
They terrify millions
Each time they hate
They terrify millions
Each time they denigrate science
They enable the planet's destroyers furthermore

I got a lot of idiot family members who are STUPID enough to believe that JC and his SONSHINE BAND areright now at the Howard Johnson's on Alpha Centauri. When JC finishes his clam roll and HoJo Cola, He's gonna climb into his Ford Explorer and head for Earth where he'll rapture all the rich white ¢hri$tian$ into the trunk of his SUV and then he will drive off for the Pearly Gates.

They have been uttering the same rapture bullshit for the past 25 + years. Jesus is just around the corner. I remind them that JC remembers how he was treated when he was here before and JC really doesn't want to come back for an encore where Robertson, Dobson, Gay Paul Crouch and Lindsay Roberts' blond teen stud put him on another cross and pound the nails again.

They have been uttering the same rapture bullshit for the past 25 + years.

More like the last 2000 years. Jesus has been "just about to return" the entire time. These people are simply crazy and will end up destroying us all. In God's name, of course.

especially JC.

You can read up on global dimming, weather control or even (gasp!) CHEMTRAILS (please, Mods, move this QUICKLY to the tinfoil forum before SOMEONE has a cow or fears that DU might look KOOKY to the wingnuts!!!!)

In light of Kay Bailey Hutchison's 2005 bill to establish a department of governmental weather control and the ever-growing body of first-hand observation that jet aircraft are DELIBERATELY producing "clouds" over a good portion of the Earth, it's about time that the Chemtrail Deniers got off their High Horses and looked up.

If we are serious about droughts, let's stand those spray jets down for ninety days and see if we don't get some rain!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_theory

http://educate-yourself.org/ct/

I've heard concern over the number of contrails, but was not aware of the chemtrail aspect.

laid down in advance of a low pressure front that is forecast to bring substantial rain, then that rain somehow doesn't materialize, or is greatly reduced. I think in part we're seeing a covert attempt at global warming remediation, the likes of which Edward Teller advocated. Only problem, such geo-engineering almost always results in unintended consequences.

One factor that makes me take chemtrails seriously is that they are somewhat rare in my part of New England. If they were merely the normal condensation trails from commercial aircraft, wouldn't most parts of the US have nearly continual contrail cover?

they also put down chemtrails to aid communications

The Senate actually wrote legislation on it -- but hard to find -- it's not a usual number.

If anyone wants it, ask Kucinich -- he worked on this for 6 or more years trying to get them to
identify the chemicals being used.

It seems they pretty much think they were experimenting with various chemicals, planes and methods and then were able to farm it out to private industry????

Still I'm not sure they ever found out what chemicals are being used ---


But Senate did confirm it's about "weather modification" --- !!!!

Don't put it all on the right, relilgious or otherwise. We are all complicit in screwing up the planet and not seeing the urgency in fixing it.

Blaming the wingnuts just gives us more excuses for not doing enough.

complicit. Every person who voted for Gore and Kerry is not complicit. This anti-global warming fanaticism started with the wingnuts and was carried forward by President Ronald Reagan (and he was elected twice.)

Every person who voted for Reagan and Bush Sr. (who called Gore names about Global Warming) is complicit.

And I think its time to start telling the truth. Because these are the same people who are saying now "Well, it won't be so bad." or, "There's nothing we can do."

I think statements like this are akin to self-destruction.

Too bad Al Gore had to be trashed and slandered first by the corporate media when it counted.

Thanks for the thread Captain_Nemo

Kicked and recommended.

There are many instances of societies collapsing from the consequences of environmental change, some of which were due to natural changes and some of which were due to humans interacting with the environment, e.g. overgrazing, soil erosion, deforestation, etc. Jared Diamond's book Collapse is a good place to start.

There is little evidence for the leaders of societies being able to foresee collapse or to identify and implement change to either avert or adapt to environmental change. In fact, the initial stresses make those in power more conservative and less adaptive than before. Efforts that are undertaken are typically misdirected strategies to increase existing approaches. This is because adopting more innovative approaches to change would entail risk to the position of those with political or economic power in the society.

We will not do anything dramatic enough to change the course that has been set. The question will be is whether the effects will be as calamitous as predicted.

Lawns are evil. Kill your lawns!

There is a huge drought going on in the area surrounding Lake Superior, and it has been dry around Michigan and Huron as well.

Only 2% of the water in the Lakes turns over every year. That means that the quickest way to dry up the Lakes is to export the water to Denver.

There are lots of half-dead cities and towns in the Great Lakes watershed with plenty of water, so long as you clean it up after you use it. There are lots of cheap houses and places waiting to be reclaimed.

It's easier to bring the people to the water, the old fashioned way, than to bring the water to the people.

I have little sympathy for businesses who moved to the Sun Belt from the Rust Belt and now expect the Rust Belt to give up its huge water resource.

Lake Huron is down 2ft just this year.

Graduate Students Association Teaching Assistant strike.

They lay down in front of the Teamster trucks bringing in supplies. Then others crawled on top of the hoods, grabbed the wipers and chanted "GAO On STRIKE."

Eventually, the Teamsters decided that the students were serious, and refused to cross their picket lines.

The big U caved within two days to what were entirely reasonable requests from the TAs.

which kept the American public from understanding the seriousness of Global Warming ---


In fact, despite being called out by the Royal Academy of Science a few months ago --
ExxonMobil is still at it!!!

Tens of millions paid for fake organizations, lies, distortions --

And . . . it worked -- !!!

A great plan for suicide!!!

It's alarming to me that sustaining life itself is barely an issue during this election YET AGAIN.

"True to form, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has done her homework on environmental and energy issues. A member of the Environment and Public Works Committee during her six and a half years in the Senate, she has sponsored or cosponsored nearly 400 legislative proposals related to energy and the environment. They've hit on high-profile topics like energy independence as well as less-discussed green issues like toxic exposure, environmental justice, and brownfield redevelopment. While Clinton hasn't been a trailblazer in the fight against climate change, she has been vocal on the need to pursue clean energy and protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Her efforts have earned a respectable grade from the League of Conservation Voters -- a 90 percent lifetime voting score. "


http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/08/09/clinton/

Here is the fact shoeet on her record on global warming.

These links are from GRIST ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS AND COMMENTARY

How the seasonal variations in CO2 concentration create the seasons:

Well, first of all you have to forget all that stuff about the spinning Earth being tilted at an angle of twenty-something degrees to the ecliptic, and cooling during its Northern winters, warming during its summers. Forget about the Sun. Or better still, think of the Earth as being flat.

Think instead about CO2 in the atmosphere. During summer, when plant photosynthesis is maximum, plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, and reduce its levels, and thus reduce global warming, resulting in a subsequent cold winter. During winter, when plant photosynthesis is at a minimum, CO2 levels tend to rise, resulting in global warming - and the subsequent warm summer.

See. Quite easy to explain.

You’ll probably want to know about anthropogenic seasonal variation too. That is, how humans manage to create the seasons. And this happens because, during winter, humans tend to light fires to keep warm, and these fires generate CO2, which causes global warming, and results in warm summers. During these warm summers, humans stop burning fires, and the excess CO2 is absorbed by plants, reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and bringing global cooling, and the subsequent winter.

The result, as I’m sure you’ll see, is that the seasonal cycle of spring-summer-autumn-winter is entirely created by human activity, and if humans would simply stop burning fires in winter, this seasonal variation would vanish, and terrestrial surface temperatures would remain more or less constant.

Convinced? I’m sure you are. If you want to save the world from the endless cycle of the destruction of the creation, all you have to do is to not turn on your heating system when temperatures fall 10 or 20 degrees C below zero. It would also help if you stayed outside, and didn’t wear any clothes, or ate anything. You know by now that it makes no sense to do stupid things like that, right?

concerned with the issues of abortion and same sex marriage when those issues are of concern to all? There are a lot of DUers who would refuse to vote for a pro-life Democrat or a Democrat who didn't support same sex marriage, even if the candidate was great on all the other issues that concern most of us. A lot of people will vote for a pro-war Democrat for president just as long as s/he supports abortion and gay marriage, never mind that the president has very little power to actually do anything about abortion or gay marriage and a whole hell of a lot of power to end the war, most here will vote for a pro-war Dem.

Besides, it's not just the religious right that doesn't believe in global warming. It's not even just the right. A lot of the opposition to global warming is that it's associated with the educated elite. A lot of working class Americans are suspicious of both science and the educated elite because they know the educated elite look down on them.

Read some of your statements again:

"They are in complete denial about the state of our planet (the ONLY thing that sustains us) and yet they blindly go along as if global warming doesn't exist."

"This is nothing less than a crime against humanity."

"Where is the gutsy candidate that is going to expose them for what they are: the portion of our species that is hell bent on destroying life on earth."


Now, try to imagine having such statements applied to Democrats/liberals/progressives/any group you identify with. You've accused them of blind denial and being "hell bent on destroying life on earth." How would you feel if those accusations were leveled at you?

As long as we keep seeing people as enemies, we can't see them as people.


And, really, what the hell do you want them to do? Most people can't afford to buy a new car, much less a new hybrid. Most people can't afford to convert their homes to solar heat. Most people are already saving energy by not keeping their homes really cool in summer or really warm in winter because they can't afford to. Most people can't walk or ride a bike to work or to the store because they live too far away and they can't afford to move closer. Are you really doing anything significant to stop global warming? I doubt it because I don't think any of us can do much. Yeah, we recycle and try to conserve but how much impact does that really have? How do we know our carefully sorted recycling really is recycled and not dumped, anyway?

Instead of blaming people for their minute contributions to global warming, why don't we look at industries that are the major polluters?

Why don't we look at the system? Eisenhower decided on interstate highways instead of railroads. So we have tens of thousands of semis on the roads today, instead of freight trains. People drive on vacation or fly, instead of taking a train, as people did up into the Sixties. It costs as much to travel by train as to fly now, and takes much more time, because the US invested in highways and airline industries, not railroads. People have to drive to work because we don't have public transit in most of the country. How do we change that? Write to our legislators? That's a laugh, isn't it?

I'm not very optimistic about the survival of the country or the planet, and don't know what we can do that will change things. I am sure that railing against other people doesn't help. Getting to know people from different groups shows that we all have things in common and we can build on that. If we don't hang together we will surely all hang separately.