Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Water Shortages

According to this article, many countries and cities are experiencing increasing stress about water supplies.

I've been saying for years, "You can't keep spending water like money." There is a reason why, throughout almost all of human history, settlements have clustered near ready sources of fresh water. We can't live without it. Over the last century, and especially the last several decades, people have settled in places that don't really have enough water to support the booming population; they've avoided the issue by transporting water from elsewhere. Except now, few places want to export water; they need it for their own use.

The result is going to get very ugly, one way or another. People are already killing each other over oil. Oil isn't essential for life, merely for certain ways of life.

Water is life. Protect it, cherish it, conserve it. Catch what you can when it falls free from the sky. Reuse what you can. And never do anything to it that renders it unsafe or unusable for any other purpose. It's not like money you can trade. It is infintely more precious than that.
Tags: economics, environment, politics
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  • 8 comments
jenstclair

jenstclair

June 1 2008, 19:32:52 UTC 13 years ago

That's one of the reasons why I was happy to hear my house had a well and a cistern--in addition to being on city water. So anything I water outside does not cost me a dime. (I also collect rainwater for plants as well.)
gumnut

gumnut

June 1 2008, 20:34:37 UTC 13 years ago

I'm living in the driest state on the driest continent in the middle of a drought. The largest river in Australia is currently in desperate trouble and we've all been on water restrictions for years now.

Unfortunately it doesn't improve the IQ of the average politician and the big business guys are still big business guys who couldn't give a rat's ass about anything other than profits.

Heh, our former (thank goodness) Prime Minister wouldn't even admit that global warming might be a problem. Even when the cold fronts that feed the southern coasts keep missing land they used to rain on and all our parks and gardens turn brown because we can't afford to water them.

Trust me. Keep an eye on Australia, because that's where the water will turn to gold first.

Nutty
(politically challenged)
ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith

June 1 2008, 21:43:30 UTC 13 years ago

The one thing Australia has going for it is population: it's not one of the heaviest populated places on Earth. In some parts of America -- California and the southwest especially -- the problem comes not just from a limited supply of water, but from skyrocketing population as masses of people move into an area that can't really support them. It's resulting in unpleasantness already, and I hope that some people take the hint and move to more hospitable locations.
wyrmwwd

wyrmwwd

June 1 2008, 21:13:28 UTC 13 years ago

Yes, indeed, we think about this a lot. We are moving to a place where all the water is basically STOLEN water from somewhere else. We tried to get our friends to move up here to where we are, but they wouldn't have any of it.
rosaanne756

rosaanne756

June 1 2008, 23:35:03 UTC 13 years ago

I just realized: probably one of the most important things in life is being around the people you love ...

Paris Hilton doesn't think so ... did you see her last video? She is realy NUDE! I saw this video on BBC today!

Crazy people around us!

glitteringlynx

glitteringlynx

June 2 2008, 00:32:27 UTC 13 years ago

Yeah.. we talked about this in university Environment classes a lot. And I started univ in 1999. They already knew at that time that water would cause a world war (all over the place) and that if the US ever were to break the agreement made in 1812, it would be to invade us for water.

Pff.

I'm with the majority of my country. Our water: you cannot has. :X We've been doing conservation efforts that were enforced legally for years now.
ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith

June 2 2008, 00:54:14 UTC 13 years ago

*sigh* You can ask your native peoples what U.S. "agreements" are worth.
glitteringlynx

glitteringlynx

June 2 2008, 01:12:36 UTC 13 years ago

In that area, we weren't much nicer, but we *are* actually willing to uphold those agreements if provable these days. Actually, it's one of those 200 year old agreements that is the crux of a long long disagreement and legal battle in Caledonia here in Ontario.