NationStates Jolt Archive

2nd Dust Bowl to accompany 2nd Great Depression?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday because of three years of below-average rain and snowfall in California, a step that urges urban water agencies to reduce water use by 20 percent.

The drought has forced farmers to fallow their fields, put thousands of agricultural workers out of work, and led to conservation measures in cities throughout the state, which is the nation's top agricultural producer.

Agriculture losses could reach $2.8 billion this year and cost 95,000 jobs, said Lester Snow, the state water director.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/28/national/main4835584.shtml

The dustbowl was in the midwest, caused by drought and poor farming techniques. Farming is far more sustainable now, even if there was a prolonged drought there wouldn't be the same effect.

2nd Dust Bowl to accompany 2nd Great Depression?



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/28/national/main4835584.shtml


I do not think this is nearly as bad the 'the' depression.

Grapes of Wrath.

I <3 Henry Fonda/Steinbeck

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More desalinization is the answer to this problem. You can only pull so much water out of the ground before the well runs dry and you can only dig so many wells before the aquifer is depleted.

People are stupid. Lake Mead's water level has been heading south for years, but the Vegas Valley's growth has continued. I tell you, you'd take water conservation less seriously too if you heard city officials tell you to use less water one minute and telling people to move there the next. If the water shortage is as bad as they said, why would they want to make it worse by adding more thirsty mouths?

It's not like nobody saw this (California's water-related state of emergency thing) coming. The whole region's been experiencing less precipitation lately. And traditional food crops aren't exactly cacti when it comes to water usage. But they wouldn't want to displease their god, the Dollar. After all, there's only a recession because the greenbacks haven't recieved their virgin sacrifices lately.

People are stupid....

The US populace always seems to prefer a feelgood message to a realistic warning. How else do we explain Reagan being elected.

There may be a large decrease agriculture in California but there probably won't be a second dustbowl California's soil for one is not as thin as in the midwest, it has more clay; also consider the techniques that are used to prevent soil erosian and depletion that are used (you know the kind that could halt and possibly even reverse desertification in Northern Africe but we never try hard enough to make possible there). There will very probably not be another dustbowl.

More desalinization is the answer to this problem. You can only pull so much water out of the ground before the well runs dry and you can only dig so many wells before the aquifer is depleted.

I don't know how well that would work in California because their coastline is so valuable. Don't really want to screw that up unless there's no other option. (And dumping lots of hypersalinated water just off the coast would kind of screw it up.)

I don't know how well that would work in California because their coastline is so valuable. Don't really want to screw that up unless there's no other option. (And dumping lots of hypersalinated water just off the coast would kind of screw it up.)

Or you could just sell the salt. People use salt for stuff.

I don't know how well that would work in California because their coastline is so valuable. Don't really want to screw that up unless there's no other option. (And dumping lots of hypersalinated water just off the coast would kind of screw it up.)
Fuck that. The Earth has been here for four and a half billion fucking years and we've only been here for what, the last hundred thousand or so? And we've only been industrialized for about 200. Over 90% of all the species that have ever been on this planet are gone and disapeared long before we were even on the scene. Stop crying about how this is going to screw up some obscure sub-species of algea that gives you a bad rash and clogs the gills of fish because people are more fucking important that that green shit was, is, or ever will be.

You gotta set priorities. Your own species before all others. Food before entertainment. Do ya get me?

I don't know how well that would work in California because their coastline is so valuable. Don't really want to screw that up unless there's no other option. (And dumping lots of hypersalinated water just off the coast would kind of screw it up.)

There are already plans in the works. My father, who works for a construction management firm, has said that his company has already had plenty of opportunities for such plants. And I've already heard of one at least at the planning phase near Los Angeles.

As far as dumping the saline, I heard they would pump it via piping out to sea and allow it to bubble to the surface.

Or you could just sell the salt. People use salt for stuff.

Somewhere cold and icy so they could put it on their roads.

Fuck that. The Earth has been here for four and a half billion fucking years and we've only been here for what, the last hundred thousand or so? And we've only been industrialized for about 200. Over 90% of all the species that have ever been on this planet are gone and disapeared long before we were even on the scene. Stop crying about how this is going to screw up some obscure sub-species of algea that gives you a bad rash and clogs the gills of fish because people are more fucking important that that green shit was, is, or ever will be.

You gotta set priorities. Your own species before all others. Food before entertainment. Do ya get me?
Let's not forget that despite our industrialization we're not anywhere near existing apart from local ecologies. We still depend highly on local ecologies, in fact, and mindlessly destroying bits and pieces could upset the whole thing, seeing as how we still don't understand how everything relates. Nothing exists in a vacuum; everything in an ecology is connected to everything else. What if we were to destroy something crucial that everything depends on and not even realize it till it was too late?

Given your propensity for overreacting, please don't interpret this as being Luddite-ish. It's not. I'm simply suggesting that we exercise caution and perform more research into everything we do rather than going around willy-nilly like short-sighted idiots. We have the ability to think long term. We should use it rather than creating even more problems.

The dustbowl was in the midwest, caused by drought and poor farming techniques. Farming is far more sustainable now, even if there was a prolonged drought there wouldn't be the same effect.

Which makes me wonder. Coulnd't solar power (expecially thermal power) be used to desalinise ocean water and pump it where it's needed?

Fuck that. The Earth has been here for four and a half billion fucking years and we've only been here for what, the last hundred thousand or so? And we've only been industrialized for about 200. Over 90% of all the species that have ever been on this planet are gone and disapeared long before we were even on the scene. Stop crying about how this is going to screw up some obscure sub-species of algea that gives you a bad rash and clogs the gills of fish because people are more fucking important that that green shit was, is, or ever will be.

You gotta set priorities. Your own species before all others. Food before entertainment. Do ya get me?

Chill. Have a cookie. And recognize that when I said "valuable" I'm not talking exclusively about the sand-and-surf crowd. Coastal waters are used for a lot of things. I understand that for some people, growing rice in the desert is the highest priority. There are, however, other places to grow rice.

There are already plans in the works. My father, who works for a construction management firm, has said that his company has already had plenty of opportunities for such plants. And I've already heard of one at least at the planning phase near Los Angeles.

As far as dumping the saline, I heard they would pump it via piping out to sea and allow it to bubble to the surface.

Interesting. I would guess that that's water destined for faucets, not for agriculture, as LA's population has a pretty pressing water need. Piping it out is still dumping it, but it would mainly affect open-water species that way. Whales and dolphins can suck it. (Plus the Navy is bubbling their brains anyway, so it's not like they're going to stick around.)

Could it be?

Food production, the basic foundation of every economy, goes Pete and the rest of the economy suffers as a consequence :eek: