peak water
Maybe it's because I live in California, here near the Pacific edge of the Cadillac Desert, but I've been thinking more about "peak water" than peak oil lately.
Have we already gone past peal water? I'm inclined to think we have, but it just hasn't sunk in yet. That's when I'm not feeling more optimistic, I suppose. If you want to get even more depressed along with me, ponder lack of water and "peak food."
California is in its eighth year of drought. Drought is and has been California's way, that's not the problem. The problem is the continuing development and blatant overuse of water here. Think of Beverly Hills and all the rest of southern California with its huge expanses of water-hungry grass lawn in an arid climate. Out here in the Mojave Desert there are housing developments that require landscaping. 99% of those include copious spreads of lawn, not native vegetation, artfully used. Even in our small town, there has been an influx of folks from the southern and western counties, who have sold their houses at phenomenal prices and built palatial estates up here with (you guessed it) lawns that look like the Midwest countryside. The cities, counties, and the state - none of them pay enough attention to water conservation. We water our streets, boulevards, parking lots, and freeways. How big an adjustment would it take to alleviate that problem?
Have we already gone past peal water? I'm inclined to think we have, but it just hasn't sunk in yet. That's when I'm not feeling more optimistic, I suppose. If you want to get even more depressed along with me, ponder lack of water and "peak food."
California is in its eighth year of drought. Drought is and has been California's way, that's not the problem. The problem is the continuing development and blatant overuse of water here. Think of Beverly Hills and all the rest of southern California with its huge expanses of water-hungry grass lawn in an arid climate. Out here in the Mojave Desert there are housing developments that require landscaping. 99% of those include copious spreads of lawn, not native vegetation, artfully used. Even in our small town, there has been an influx of folks from the southern and western counties, who have sold their houses at phenomenal prices and built palatial estates up here with (you guessed it) lawns that look like the Midwest countryside. The cities, counties, and the state - none of them pay enough attention to water conservation. We water our streets, boulevards, parking lots, and freeways. How big an adjustment would it take to alleviate that problem?