6 thoughts on “CBS News on California Water Crisis”
Maybe at long, long last we are finally getting to the acceptance part of climate change, Jerry Brown states in the LA Times:
“We’re standing on dry grass,” Brown said. “We should be standing on five feet of snow.” Emphasizing that the drought could persist, Brown said Californians must change their water habits. “It’s a different world,” he said. “We have to act differently.”
Indeed many places around the world are also grappling with severe effects of climate change right now. Yes, California will need to accept and adapt, fortunately the U.S has some fine institutions in place who can help. The Carlsbad Desalination Project is on target and budget (if not ahead) and is anticipated to begin water deliveries to municipalities in San Diego County in late 2015.
Agriculture will need to adapt and work out the economics of using irrigation from desalinated water instead of relying on ground water. It is not pioneering.
“Coping with Drought”
“Scripps Research Helps California Manage Water Resources”
I’ve thought for a while now that the only way American citizens will start to believe the scientists is when they start seeing it at the grocery store.
Unfortunately, the people who are “backpacking the Sierras” are comparatively few in number and already know there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. My son is a guide for an adventure travel company and takes groups to Yosemite a couple of times most seasons. He has been doing this long enough to see Yosemite drying out and is saddened by what he sees. For nearly all of the folks he guides, it’s their first and only trip there, and they have no standard for comparison. How do we wake up the clueless majority?
I am reminded of a picture I took of my wife in 1966 kneeling next to a 3-foot tall plant with ~6 leaves and one big yellow flower. We were on top of the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado—it was the only plant within 1/2 mile or more. If things keep on as they are, there will be lines of people in the Sierra waiting to take similar pictures.
We (as in my family and I) are avid skiers, and we’ve been seeing the wild variability in weather, years of very little snow, years of epic snow, snow-melt-snow-melt, and shutting down early because it’s too warm, for a long time now. The avalanche dangers have gotten out of hand because of the melt snow cycle. Worse than ever before. When I was a kid skiing, snow conditions were an order of magnitude less variable.
Maybe at long, long last we are finally getting to the acceptance part of climate change, Jerry Brown states in the LA Times:
“We’re standing on dry grass,” Brown said. “We should be standing on five feet of snow.” Emphasizing that the drought could persist, Brown said Californians must change their water habits. “It’s a different world,” he said. “We have to act differently.”
Indeed many places around the world are also grappling with severe effects of climate change right now. Yes, California will need to accept and adapt, fortunately the U.S has some fine institutions in place who can help. The Carlsbad Desalination Project is on target and budget (if not ahead) and is anticipated to begin water deliveries to municipalities in San Diego County in late 2015.
Agriculture will need to adapt and work out the economics of using irrigation from desalinated water instead of relying on ground water. It is not pioneering.
“Coping with Drought”
“Scripps Research Helps California Manage Water Resources”
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/coping-drought
I’ve thought for a while now that the only way American citizens will start to believe the scientists is when they start seeing it at the grocery store.
Anyone who has backpacked the Sierra’s can appreciate the many flora and fauna that won’t be finding its way out the other end of this tunnel.
Unfortunately, the people who are “backpacking the Sierras” are comparatively few in number and already know there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. My son is a guide for an adventure travel company and takes groups to Yosemite a couple of times most seasons. He has been doing this long enough to see Yosemite drying out and is saddened by what he sees. For nearly all of the folks he guides, it’s their first and only trip there, and they have no standard for comparison. How do we wake up the clueless majority?
I am reminded of a picture I took of my wife in 1966 kneeling next to a 3-foot tall plant with ~6 leaves and one big yellow flower. We were on top of the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado—it was the only plant within 1/2 mile or more. If things keep on as they are, there will be lines of people in the Sierra waiting to take similar pictures.
We (as in my family and I) are avid skiers, and we’ve been seeing the wild variability in weather, years of very little snow, years of epic snow, snow-melt-snow-melt, and shutting down early because it’s too warm, for a long time now. The avalanche dangers have gotten out of hand because of the melt snow cycle. Worse than ever before. When I was a kid skiing, snow conditions were an order of magnitude less variable.
I remember snow-camping in Sequoia National Park (near the Giant Forest, elevation between 6,000 and 7,000 feet) back in the early 1980’s.
The snow was so deep that we ditched our tent and dug a snow-cave instead.
The cross-country skiing was excellent.
That was late February.
Had we gone up there this year, I imagine that we could have just pitched a tent on bare ground.