What is the west going to do about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People will have to move away. But it's going to be painful for a while until they realize that's the solution.

No. It will all be fine. This has happened before and the raion comes back and thing get back to normal. This is not the new normal.

You say that like you know for sure, but there are signs that this is the new normal. I don’t know why some of you believed that global warming would never cause any long term changes even though that’s exactly what scientists have said for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been for years. There were early warning signs.
Just like in the DC area. Have you seen the Potomac lately when you cross one of the bridges. It has been running low for years. The downpour of rain doesn't help. It only causes serious runoff.

OMG, you might literally be too stupid to function

The Potomac River in DC is tidal. Say it with me: Tidal. T-I-D-A-L, Tidal!

Do you know what that means?

It means that even if it NEVER rained here again, the level of the Potomac in DC would still look EXACTLY like it does today.


JFC, I can’t believe people are this dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

It's not the most likely outcome. If only it were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

hahahahah. ok. This is actually the least likely outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

hahahahah. ok. This is actually the least likely outcome.

No it is not. There is zero evidence that this drought is caused by climate change. Zero. Climate change is happening and there will be consequences and they may look like this. But this is not it. Nothing in the change so far caused this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to throw a wrench into it, but I'd go the capitalism route: money. There is a price to water and the price goes up until supply and demand are balanced.

Perhaps you have a floor where every individual gets 10 gallons per day for free, but after that we let the market rule.

Either that, or do what we do with all "natural" disasters. Blunder ahead with no guardrails and call for the federal government when bad things happen.

Residential water use in Phoenix, and I'd presume other areas in the west, is basically nothing compared to the alfalfa fields for hay being shipped to Saudi Arabia. Even golf courses don't use enough water to be so alarmist. If they completely turned off water to every residential customer in the Valley tomorrow, you'd barely even notice the tiny blip in usage compared to what's used for agriculture.

Anyone who tries to argue that the solution lies with the individual consumer is either misinformed or a bad faith actor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to throw a wrench into it, but I'd go the capitalism route: money. There is a price to water and the price goes up until supply and demand are balanced.

Perhaps you have a floor where every individual gets 10 gallons per day for free, but after that we let the market rule.

Either that, or do what we do with all "natural" disasters. Blunder ahead with no guardrails and call for the federal government when bad things happen.

I live in AZ. They did that here a few years ago, where you had to pay a fine after a certain amount of water use. The wealthy (people & businesses) decided that the fine was preferable (or cheaper) to replacing their lawn, cutting back their water use, not having a swimming pool, etc.

The rich keep their golf courses and pools, and the poor struggles to wash their kids' clothes without being fined.

Your idea is ...certainly an American approach. Hilarious freedumb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

+1

Western droughts are cyclical. It will probably take decades for the cycle to swing back to a wetter overall cycle, but it will happen.

The problem is you’ve got a generation of people who bleat about stuff happening in their own short timeline of when they started noticing things and extrapolate that forwards, without ever bothering to examine the past. You know, cause that’s for boomers.

A better question is why are so many people living in a desert and then complaining about not having enough water? Uh, it’s because it’s a desert.


Next time you’re in L.A., look at the residential areas and make note of the types of vegetation you see there. Then look at the arroyos and hillsides, and notice the vegetation there. Two totally different ecospheres. One is natural, the other is totally artificial, and totally dependent on supplemental water. If you stopped watering all the lawns and shrubs and trees, they’d all die - because they didn’t exist there in the first place. L.A. should be covered with desert scrub, not grass and trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

+1

Western droughts are cyclical. It will probably take decades for the cycle to swing back to a wetter overall cycle, but it will happen.

The problem is you’ve got a generation of people who bleat about stuff happening in their own short timeline of when they started noticing things and extrapolate that forwards, without ever bothering to examine the past. You know, cause that’s for boomers.

A better question is why are so many people living in a desert and then complaining about not having enough water? Uh, it’s because it’s a desert.


Next time you’re in L.A., look at the residential areas and make note of the types of vegetation you see there. Then look at the arroyos and hillsides, and notice the vegetation there. Two totally different ecospheres. One is natural, the other is totally artificial, and totally dependent on supplemental water. If you stopped watering all the lawns and shrubs and trees, they’d all die - because they didn’t exist there in the first place. L.A. should be covered with desert scrub, not grass and trees.

The drought cycle may be 50-100 years. In the meantime, Lake Mead will be a dead lake. That means that a significant population will have to relocate. There will be no water and no electricity.

The Great Salt Lake drying up will be catastrophic for a different reason. But still bad.

There is plenty of archaeological evidence of civilizations and cultures ending because of lack of water. Including in the western US. Just because we're modern Americans doesn't mean we're immune from that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People might have to finally admit that living a modern lifestyle in a desert isn’t sustainable.

This has been my view for decades. And people still keep going there, wanting green lawns, swimming pools, casinos, etc.
We've effed this up badly.

Casinos in the desert, ha ! Will never happen and, if it does, will never last.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

+1

Western droughts are cyclical. It will probably take decades for the cycle to swing back to a wetter overall cycle, but it will happen.

The problem is you’ve got a generation of people who bleat about stuff happening in their own short timeline of when they started noticing things and extrapolate that forwards, without ever bothering to examine the past. You know, cause that’s for boomers.

A better question is why are so many people living in a desert and then complaining about not having enough water? Uh, it’s because it’s a desert.


Next time you’re in L.A., look at the residential areas and make note of the types of vegetation you see there. Then look at the arroyos and hillsides, and notice the vegetation there. Two totally different ecospheres. One is natural, the other is totally artificial, and totally dependent on supplemental water. If you stopped watering all the lawns and shrubs and trees, they’d all die - because they didn’t exist there in the first place. L.A. should be covered with desert scrub, not grass and trees.

The drought cycle may be 50-100 years. In the meantime, Lake Mead will be a dead lake. That means that a significant population will have to relocate. There will be no water and no electricity.

The Great Salt Lake drying up will be catastrophic for a different reason. But still bad.

There is plenty of archaeological evidence of civilizations and cultures ending because of lack of water. Including in the western US. Just because we're modern Americans doesn't mean we're immune from that.

The difference between us and earlier societies that collapsed due to lack of water resources is the we HAVE the means to cope with it by utilizing technology that already exists (de-sal plants and nuclear power)

But we won’t.


We deserve to fail simply because of that. The people who rebuild afterwards won’t be as stupid as we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People might have to finally admit that living a modern lifestyle in a desert isn’t sustainable.

This has been my view for decades. And people still keep going there, wanting green lawns, swimming pools, casinos, etc.
We've effed this up badly.

correct on all counts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should just make water out of the ocean, would solve all these issues

Desalination through reverse osmosis is very real, and the obvious and ultimate solution. They just have to wait out the environmentalists and the NIMBYs who will throw every wrench they can into the process until the vast majority of people who aren't paying attention are forced to confront the issue.

The ultimate solution is to not use so much water unnecessarily. Yes, desalination can help. But, the oceans have an ecosystem and balance too. You can just start effing with that and not expect to negatively impact the oceans.

You can take a LOT of water out of the Pacific Ocean before you start affecting its ecosystems. I mean...look at it on your kid's globe. It's pretty big, don't you think?

It will rain and the drought will go away. This is the most likely outcome.

+1

Western droughts are cyclical. It will probably take decades for the cycle to swing back to a wetter overall cycle, but it will happen.

The problem is you’ve got a generation of people who bleat about stuff happening in their own short timeline of when they started noticing things and extrapolate that forwards, without ever bothering to examine the past. You know, cause that’s for boomers.

A better question is why are so many people living in a desert and then complaining about not having enough water? Uh, it’s because it’s a desert.


Next time you’re in L.A., look at the residential areas and make note of the types of vegetation you see there. Then look at the arroyos and hillsides, and notice the vegetation there. Two totally different ecospheres. One is natural, the other is totally artificial, and totally dependent on supplemental water. If you stopped watering all the lawns and shrubs and trees, they’d all die - because they didn’t exist there in the first place. L.A. should be covered with desert scrub, not grass and trees.

The drought cycle may be 50-100 years. In the meantime, Lake Mead will be a dead lake. That means that a significant population will have to relocate. There will be no water and no electricity.

The Great Salt Lake drying up will be catastrophic for a different reason. But still bad.

There is plenty of archaeological evidence of civilizations and cultures ending because of lack of water. Including in the western US. Just because we're modern Americans doesn't mean we're immune from that.

The difference between us and earlier societies that collapsed due to lack of water resources is the we HAVE the means to cope with it by utilizing technology that already exists (de-sal plants and nuclear power)

But we won’t.


We deserve to fail simply because of that. The people who rebuild afterwards won’t be as stupid as we are.

Those have their own problems, however. Just because you fail to recognize them, doesn't mean they don't exist. I agree these are PART of the solution but a) not solely the solution and b) not until we find a way to address the pitfalls of those choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been for years. There were early warning signs.
Just like in the DC area. Have you seen the Potomac lately when you cross one of the bridges. It has been running low for years. The downpour of rain doesn't help. It only causes serious runoff.

OMG, you might literally be too stupid to function

The Potomac River in DC is tidal. Say it with me: Tidal. T-I-D-A-L, Tidal!

Do you know what that means?

It means that even if it NEVER rained here again, the level of the Potomac in DC would still look EXACTLY like it does today.


JFC, I can’t believe people are this dumb.

OMG exactly what I thought when I read that post

It’s really hard to take these people talking about weather patterns and droughts in the DC area seriously when they don’t even understand the nature of the river right in front of them. But I’m sure they believe they’re “well informed”