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Sober Thinking
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#Post#: 36--------------------------------------------------
The Water Thread
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: March 18, 2022, 12:25 pm
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HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-191017143841.jpegWelcome<br
/>to the Sober Thinking Forum.
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This is the continuation of the Renewable Revolution Forum
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/index.php,
with the
same categories and boards arrangement. In order to provide
topic thread continuity, this post will be duplicated in
frequently viewed topic threads along with selected posts from
that topic
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/the-lowest-elevation-fresh-water-lake-in-the-world-the-sea-of-galilee-is-drying-/msg12792/#msg12792<br
/>at the Renewable Revolution Forum
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/index.php.
I will
gradually, as time permits, copy pertinent articles posted
there, update them, and post them here for your convenience.
I have no intention of closing the Renewable Revolution Forum
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/index.php,
so any
links you have to posts, articles and graphics there are valid
for the time being. Nevertheless, I advise you to 🦉 copy
and save any posts, articles and graphics that you wish to
preserve for posting somewhere else on the internet. I am 75
years old. As long as my spirit hasn't permanently left my body,
the Sober Thinking Forum will be kept open.
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418202709.png<br
/>
Although guests are encouraged to post and become members, this
forum is mostly a library reference of important historical
information and timeless articles that you are encouraged to
pass on, with or without attribution.
In addition, relevant recent news will be posted almost daily,
so be sure to 🧐 stop by often.
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-250817121424.gif<br
/>
I have changed the title and the front page background graphic
for two reasons:
1. My purpose, nearly a decade ago, of convincing most reality
based people everywhere that human civilization, in order to
stop and reverse (i.e getting back to 350 PPM of atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide is sine qua non) the multiple extinctions causing
biosphere degradation (i.e. the Sixth Mass Extinction Event now
upon us), must VERY rapidly transition away from Hydrocarbon
Energy Sources to Renewable Energy Sources, has been largely
achieved. I have been one small voice among many that have made
it clear that clean energy must be made available to everyone,
not just the wealthy, if we are to survive Catastrophic Climate
Change.
2. Celebrated social theorist and geographer David Harvey asked,
"Is there a way to capture what (to the detriment of human
civilization) is going on now"?
My answer: YES.
It's the SOCIAL DARWINISM, stupid!
No matter how much progress we make in cleaning up the
biosphere, as long as the egocentric, morally bankrupt, empathy
deficit disordered, Social Darwinist Ideology continues to be
embraced by TPTB, we do not have a snowball's chance in Hell of
surviving our Existential Crisis.
Social Darwinists believe that ethics based principles are
'limitations pretending to be virtues'. To them, ethics are
'feel good illusions' that humans invented to pretend our
species has empathy. To Social Darwinists, empathy is
irrefutable evidence of inexcusable weakness. To them, all who
are guided by ethics are deluded fools that should be eliminated
from the human 'apex predator' gene pool for the "good" of our
species.
The ideology of the Social Darwinist is indistinguishable from
the despicable ideology of NAZI Germany, clearly exemplified in
their brutally enforced morally bankrupt concentration camp law:
“Eat your own bread, and if you can, that of your neighbor.”
Social Darwinism is actually based, not on "survival of the
fittest", but on fear of tomorrow, a morally bankrupt excuse for
rejecting altruism and empathy and embracing a selfish greed
dominated hoarding modus vivendi.
[center]
--- Quote ---
> Every prudent man acts with knowledge, But a fool lays open
his folly. -- Proverbs 13:16
--- End Quote ---
[/center]
[center]
HTML https://i.pinimg.com/236x/5d/52/92/5d5292e6d6d45b36832561f6a2b466d3--proverbs--jpg.jpg[/center]
--- Quote ---
> "One who fears tomorrow does not offer his bread to others.
But one who is willing to divide his food with a stranger has
already shown himself capable of fellowship and faith, the two
things from which hope is born." -- Primo Levi, author of
Survival in Auschwitz
--- End Quote ---
Social Darwinism is the world view that spawned the profit over
people and planet neoliberal ideology. Neoliberal intellectuals
like Friedrich von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman
were all Social Darwinists long before they renamed
laissez-faire liberalism (that had been thoroughly discredited
by the Great Depression) with the catchy title of
"Neoliberalism".
The celebrated social theorist and geographer David Harvey
explains that neoliberal ideology serves the following
principle:
"There shall be no serious challenge to the absolute power of
money to rule absolutely. And that power is to be exercised with
one objective: Those possessed of money shall not only be
privileged to accumulate wealth endlessly at will, but they
shall have the right to inherit the earth, taking either direct
or indirect dominion, not only of the land and all the resources
and productive capacities that reside therein, but also assume
absolute command, directly or indirectly, over the labor and
creative capacities of all those others it needs. The rest of
humanity shall be deemed disposable."
"In human society, the amount of inequity is directly
proportional to the amount of iniquity." -- A. G. Gelbert
Sober Thinking requires that we all recognize the fact that a
society that is founded on altruism, not the "invisible hand" of
greed, is not optional if we wish to avoid exctinction.
Capitalism's "invisible hand" modus operandi is rooted in the
ideology of Social Darwinism.
--- Quote ---
> “Capitalism is the astounding belief, that the most wickedest
of men, will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest
good of everyone.” — John Maynard Keynes
--- End Quote ---
[center]
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The main purpose of the Sober Thinking Forum is to convince you,
regardless of your religious beliefs or lack of them, to soberly
think about these two quotes, embrace altruism, reject greed,
and convince as many people as you can that altruism is not
optional for human society:
--- Quote ---
> "Look at our world, our country, our interactions with each
other……… this is not the mark of a healthy society, and if these
are the self-appointed leaders of this flaming meteor…..it’s
time to move on to new ideas and new people. Let’s relegate
these fools to history. They perpetuate a narrative that it is
right to behave in a strictly selfish, exploitative manner
towards all. We simply can’t survive it any longer. Things will
change because they have to." -- Kathleen Wallace
--- End Quote ---
"Technical knowledge of Carrying Capacity will not save us; Only
a Massive Increase in Caring Capacity will." -- A. G. Gelbert
[move]
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#Post#: 37--------------------------------------------------
ISRAEL’S SEA OF GALILEE AND DEAD SEA ARE DYING
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: March 18, 2022, 12:27 pm
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June 24, 2019
[center]
HTML https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/Story2_Feature_Small-1038x576.jpg[/center]
[center]Photo at top: The Dead Sea, at more than 400 meters
(about 1,300 feet) below sea level, is the lowest point on
earth. The body of water, which serves as one of Israel’s main
tourist attractions, is shrinking due to drought, evaporation
and continual pumping for industry. (Karyn
Simpson/MEDILL)[/center]
[center]ISRAEL’S SEA OF GALILEE AND DEAD SEA ARE DYING – WHAT IS
BEING DONE?[/center]
OCTOBER 22, 2018
By Karyn Simpson
Medill Reports
ISRAEL – The Dead Sea is dying. So is Israel’s Sea of Galilee –
the country’s only surface-level source of freshwater. The
effort to save these sacred and historic lakes involves a
convoluted mix of religious tradition, tourism and technology.
Over the past several decades of carving out an oasis from the
desert, Israel has pushed back countrywide water scarcity
through desalination, conservation, efficient use of the
country’s limited freshwater, and wastewater treatment and
reuse. Today, approximately 80 percent of Israel’s drinking
water comes from desalination plants, meaning that even as
Israel enters its sixth consecutive year of drought, the country
should continue to have a stable supply of drinking water for
its residents.
The main concern surrounding the drought is the health of
Israel’s two natural, above-ground bodies of water, the
freshwater Sea of Galilee and the saltwater Dead Sea – both
sacred to residents, if for entirely different reasons. While
the Dead Sea is valued particularly because of its contributions
to Israeli tourism, the Sea of Galilee holds special import in
religious history and because many residents remember when it
was the country’s main source of water.
“The Sea of Galilee, for all the people in Israel, is emotional
– 100 percent emotional,” said Arnon Eshel, who works at Sapir,
the water pumping station for the Sea of Galilee. “We come here,
we see the Sea of Galilee as it looks now, we are in totally
depression.”
The ongoing drought has reduced the Sea of Galilee to some of
its lowest levels in history, 215.5 meters (about 707 feet)
below sea level. To try to assuage the rapidly decreasing levels
and prevent any irreparable environmental damage, Israel has
almost completely ceased pumping from the Sea of Galilee. But
some pumping is necessary to keep the machines working and to
fulfill Israel’s peace agreement with neighboring Jordan.
[center]
HTML https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/Story2_Textimage_Small-768x576.jpg[/center]
This water holding tank at Sapir, the pumping facility alongside
the Sea of Galilee, mirrors the sea’s water level. On the far
side of the tank, just below the fence, a red marker shows the
sea’s normal level: 208 meters below sea level. The water is
currently at 215.5 meters below sea level. (Karyn
Simpson/MEDILL)
“For Jordan, by peace agreement, we have to supply to them 50
million cubic meters (about 13.2 billion gallones) per year from
the Sea of Galilee,” Eshel said. “Which means that Jordan is the
biggest customer of water from the Sea of Galilee.”
Some of the streams which feed into the Sea of Galilee flow from
Jordan, meaning that a portion of the water that ends in the Sea
of Galilee should belong to the Jordanians – the crux of the
peace agreement. While Israel once faced attacks from Jordan, as
evidenced in the historic Yom Kippur War, having water be part
of the peace agreement has ensured cooperation between the two
countries, Eshel said.
“One of the things that Israel understands, that it’s smart to
make cooperation with the agriculture in Jordan, by the
government, of course, and have a quiet border – 400 kilometers
[248.5 miles], totally quiet border,” Eshel said. “If some
terrorists want to try to attack Israel, they say not from here.
If it come from here, Israel [will] destroy that area.”
Though Israel has considered building a pipeline from the
seawater desalination plants to Jordan to fulfill this water
requirement without having to pump from the already-low Sea of
Galilee, Eshel said that the construction for such a project
would be too cost-prohibitive to be feasible.
Today, only 5 percent of Israel’s drinking water comes from the
Sea of Galilee, amounting to approximately 25 million cubic
meters (abut 6.6 billion gallons). That is just enough to keep
the machines working, Eshel said. The biggest culprit to the
sea’s decline is evaporation, and without adequate rainfall, the
sea has no chance to replenish what it is losing.
“Every year, we [lose] something around 240 million cubic meters
(about 63.4 billion gallons) to evaporation,” Eshel said, which
appears as about one meter each year in depth. This descent can
be seen from the shoreline, which now contains meters of sand
where there used to be water.
“When I was a child, every day I need to choose whether I’m
going to school or going to swim. Most of the time I’m going to
swim. Don’t judge me – there was no air conditioning when I was
a child,” Eshel said. He grew up along the Sea of Galilee and
held up a picture of the coastline by his home – a long stretch
of concrete sidewalk that ended at the water’s edge. In the
photo, water lapped against the wall about a foot below walking
level, and small boats floated only a meter or two away from
shore.
“I never even needed to think if we have the ability to jump or
not,” Eshel said.
He held up a second picture – that same stretch of coastline
outside his childhood home taken in recent years. The water’s
edge had receded 15 to 20 feet, leaving only sand near the
concrete sidewalk where Eshel used to jump off, and old boats
were beached on the sandy bank where they used to float.
An idea has been proposed to build a pipe sometime in the next
three years that would funnel desalinated water into the Sea of
Galilee, Eshel said.
Agelbert NOTE: They have to work quickly or the Sea of Galilee
(Kinneret lake) is toast, regardless of "a good winter will
replenish the lake
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-250718202127.gif"<br
/>wishful thinking. As you read above, the water, as of October
of
2018, was at 215.5 meters below sea level. The lake has now
reached a point where it CANNOT recover without adding massive
amounts of desalinated water. From Wikipedia:
--- Quote ---
> After 5 years of drought as of 2018, Sea of Galilee is
expected to get to the black line.[22] The black elevation line
is the lowest depth from which irreversible damage begin and no
water can be pumped out anymore.[23] Israel Oceanographic and
Limnological Research describe it as "The black line marks
-214.87 m, the lowest-ever level reached since 1926 when the
water level record began. According to the water authority, the
Kinneret water level must not decline below this level."[24]In
February 2018, the city of Tiberias requested a desalination
plant to treat the water coming from the Sea of Galilee and
demanded a new water source for the city.[25]
>
> In September 2018 the Israeli energy and water office
announced a project to pour desalinated water from the
Mediterranean sea into the sea of Galilee using an underground
tunnel. The [size=18pt]💧 tunnel is expected to be the
largest of its kind done in Israel and will transfer half of the
Mediterranean desalted water and will push 300 to 500 million
cubic liters of water per
year.[27]
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Galilee[/size]
--- End Quote ---
This would be intended to provide water to the settlements
around the Sea of Galilee and to help combat the effects of the
drought on the lake, but some Israelis are hesitant to support
such a project because of the “one good winter” concept, he
said.
“People are afraid we will invest a lot of money for that kind
of project, and after one good winter, we won’t need to use it,”
Eshel said, referring to how, in non-drought years, Israel
typically gets enough rain in the winters to make up for the
hot, dry summers. “This is people without vision. People with
vision understand, even if we have a good winter, so it’s going
to be just one. Then we have another 10 years of drought years.
You need to be with courage, but it’s not easy.”
A similar debate surrounds the Dead Sea, which is too salty to
be used for drinking water, but is a big part of Israel’s
tourism industry.
“The Dead Sea is shrinking because the input from the lower
Jordan River is about less than 10 percent” of what it once was,
said Noam Weisbrod, a hydrology professor and the director of
the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. “Simply, there is no input
and the output is bigger than the input, so the net reduction in
the water level is about one meter per year in the last 30-40
years. In the last two years, it was 1.15 meters per year
vertically.”
That 1.15-meter, or approximately 4-foot, vertical decline means
the Dead Sea’s coastline has shrunk several meters inward
depending on the location along the coast, Weisbrod said. Even
with the drought, what Weisbrod called the “Dead Sea works” –
the factories that process and sell water, salt and mud from the
Dead Sea – are still drawing water.
“Water level in the Dead Sea is going down dramatically, and
it’s not just the water supply,” said Yael Dubowski, civil and
environmental engineering professor at Technion – Israel
Institute of Technology. “It’s also the fact that we have lots
of industry here both on the Israeli and the Jordanian side that
actually uses, evaporates the water… to get the minerals. So
there is an industry in the south that celebrates evaporation,
and you have less fresh water coming in, and this lake is
basically dying. The Dead Sea is dying.”
The solution, which has already received preliminary funding
from the World Bank, has been called the Red Sea-Dead Sea
project and will involve Israel and Jordan working together to
pipe water from the Red Sea, in Jordan, to the Dead Sea, which
is on the border between both countries.
“The advantage of this program is mostly because it’s along the
border between Israel and Jordan,” Weisbrod said. “Because it’s
going to help both Israel and Jordan, you can define it as
something that will help the environment and at the same time
will deepen the peace process and the agreement between the
countries.”
Adding water to the Dead Sea would be beneficial to both
countries, as well as hopefully help stop the formation of
sinkholes along the coastline. But the project is facing even
more pressure from Jordan than from Israel, Weisbrod said. This
is because the plan involves building a desalination plant at
the saline Red Sea, desalinating the water, and sending the
fresh water to Jordan and southern parts of Israel. The
twice-as-concentrated brine, the output from saltwater
desalination, will then be piped to the already-saline Dead Sea.
“The pressure from the Jordanian side is bigger than the
pressure from the Israeli side because Jordan really needs the
desalinated water that will be part of this thing,” Weisbrod
said. “The water situation in Jordan is really on a level of
catastrophe. There is running water in Amman, which is the
capital, only two, three days a week, and we’re talking about a
city with more than 1 million people.”
[center]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/3398_Bottom%20Line%20Waking%20the%20climate%20giant.png[/center]
While it seems like a beneficial plan on most counts,
significant environmental concerns must be addressed, Weisbrod
said. Scientists are not sure how the water from the two seas
will react, but their high concentrations of calcium and sulfate
could combine to create gypsum, which would float on the surface
of the Dead Sea. Another problem is that the pipeline will
likely run along the rift valley in Jordan, an area that is
prone to earthquakes.
“What happens if there will be an earthquake that will end up in
a leak of seawater into the aquifers?” Weisbrod said. That would
ruin the aquifers. “This is irreversible situation, and these
aquifers are being used for the villages along the Arava… In
general, some people say, ‘Look, the history show us that every
time we, you and me, people, try to control the environment and
change the world by doing such mega project, it ends up in a
disaster.’”
Funding has been secured, according to Dubowski, but not without
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418201903.pnghttp://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418201722.png<br
/>heavy debate. Some parties wanted Israel to bring water from
the
Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River in the north 👍,
and let the Dead Sea be replenished more naturally 👍,
Dubowski said, which would also remove the political aspect of
the problem.
“Scientifically, I think it makes more sense to go for the
north, but you cannot separate between science and politics
also,” Dubowski said. “And with regard to political issues, it
makes more sense to choose this solution, so Jordan will have
its own desalination factory and have more control on it. It was
a very complex suggestion where you need to consider all aspects
– political, geographical, scientific ones.”
HTML https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/israels-sea-of-galilee-and-dead-sea-are-dying-what-is-being-done/
Agelbert additional observation: The Sea of Galilee was a HUGE
part of the Ministry of Jesus Christ while He walked among us.
Moreover, He appeared there AFTER His Resurrection, cooking a
fish on the beach.
[center]
HTML https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Brooklyn_Museum_-_Christ_Appears_on_the_Shore_of_Lake_Tiberias_%28Apparition_du_Christ_sur_les_bords_du_lac_de_Tib%C3%A9riade%29_-_James_Tissot.jpg/440px-Brooklyn_Museum_-_Christ_Appears_on_the_Shore_of_Lake_Tiberias_%28Apparition_du_Christ_sur_les_bords_du_lac_de_Tib%C3%A9riade%29_-_James_Tissot.jpg[/center]
[center]Jesus Christ appears on the shore of Lake Tiberias by
James Tissot[/center]
Maybe I am wrong, but I think Jesus Christ has a soft spot for
that lake. If the Sea of Galilee dries up, perhaps that is still
another sign that we are experiencing the End Times that the
Lord Jesus Christ prophesied about over two thousand years ago.
[center]
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-210219115743-21641655.jpeg[/center]
[center]
--- Quote ---
> Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his
heart shall fall into mischief. -- Proverbs 28:14
--- End Quote ---
[/center]
#Post#: 38--------------------------------------------------
🥺 Over One-Tenth of Global Population Could Lack
Drinking Water by 2030
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: March 18, 2022, 12:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
AGelbert NOTE: The water crisis humanity faces is grave and
getting worse. The following article, nearly 3 years old now, is
even more pertinent now than when it was written. Dahr Jamail is
an honest journalist who has an in-depth knowledge of the length
and breadth of Catastrophic Climate Change.
Most people do not get the fact that lack of potable water will
kill human civilization long before the heat does. I hope that
Dahr Jamail's warnings are heeded, but that hope may be overly
optimistic.
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/4/3-180322133430.png<br
/>July 04, 2019
[center]Over One-Tenth of Global Population Could Lack Drinking
Water by 2030
HTML https://truthout.org/articles/over-one-tenth-of-global-population-could-lack-drinking-water-by-2030/[/center]
HTML https://truthout.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019_0701-drought-faucet.jpg
As civilization faces existential threats, Trump is trying to
end long-term climate studies. Meanwhile, the global water
crisis spurred by climate disruption continues to unfold
dramatically.
SAWITREE PAMEE / EYEEM
Dahr Jamail
[html]<p>Outside on my front porch, alder chip smoke billows out
of my small smoker. The racks inside the tin smoker are filled
with wild-caught Alaskan Coho salmon, provided to me by my
friend Jonathan. He and his wife take their three daughters in
their fishing boat and head north from our town on the north
coast of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula for the late
summer salmon runs in Southeastern Alaska. They return with a
hull full of frozen fish, for those of us here lucky enough to
have placed our orders for it.</p> <p>Several friends here
attached to the land where I live are also outside, busy doing
their own things: one is preparing his sailboat to launch in a
week, another is working in the garden, two others are pitching
a tent, another is out working his summer job with the
Washington Conservation Association, and still another is
reading and contemplating what she might write in the next
column we co-author for <em>Truthout</em>.</p> <p>It is
truly idyllic. A dream I’ve had for decades is finally
coming true: I’m living in a way that is close to the
Earth, which enables me to minimize my carbon footprint.
I’m growing much of my own food and living in community
with like-minded people.</p> <p>Yet all is taking place
against the backdrop of a global climate crisis. Runaway
human-caused climate disruption is already making life unlivable
for millions around the globe, and is an integral reason why we
are already in the Sixth Mass Extinction Event.</p> <p>Each
of us in this small community of ours is fully aware of the
crisis that is upon us. We understand we are living in a bubble,
in that we are able to grow much of our food, smoke this fish,
go for hikes, share healthy meals, and have enough water to do
all of this. Our conversations tend to run the gamut: ranging
from discussing the latest breakdowns of portions of our global
life support system, to when are we going to hang the bat house,
to where to put the clothesline, to what happens when the cities
run out of food, to when am I leaving for my next climbing
trip.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the news of the collapse continues
to roll in.</p> <p>A <a
href="
HTML https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11195">recent<br
/>study</a> published in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences showed that sea-level rise could be twice as bad as
previously expected, due to accelerated melting in the Antarctic
and Greenland. Instead of the previous worst-case scenario of 1
meter by 2100, the study has doubled that figure. Several
scientists this writer has interviewed believe the realistic
figure of sea level rise by 2100 will be even higher than this
recent study’s prediction.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/06/20/florida-could-face-76-billion-in-climate-change-costs-by-2040-report-says/">Another<br
/>report</a> showed how the state of Florida could be facing a
$76
billion bill to mitigate and adapt to climate crisis impacts by
just 2040, mostly from rising sea levels.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7006940"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">In some areas of China,
fruit trees have to be pollinated by hand due to lack of
pollinators.</aside> <p>To give you an idea of how far along
we already are in this crisis, in some areas of China, fruit
trees have to be <a
href="
HTML https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9107955/china-fruit-trees-pollinated-by-hand-due-to-a-lack-of-pollinating-insects/?fbclid=IwAR3cs24Uo7mNty0SF893oUeLbUEEahNF__bKKdSeGxz32P_3dhH8RjMzRIE">pollinated<br
/>by hand</a> due to lack of pollinators. Climate disruption is
a
major contributing factor toward the loss of insects around the
planet.</p> <p>The Arctic, our proverbial canary in the
climate coalmine, just saw its <a
href="
HTML https://thinkprogress.org/arctic-death-spiral-coastal-permafrost-collapse-23d650acea99/">hottest<br
/>May ever recorded</a>. Coastal erosion of permafrost is
happening at a rate of up to one meter every day, and the
current rate of coastal erosion is already six times higher than
the historical rate.</p> <p>In Siberia, carbon-laden
permafrost has <a
href="
HTML https://thinkprogress.org/dangerous-permafrost-climate-feedback-loop/">warmed<br
/>by 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6°F</a><span>)</span> in just
the last 10 years alone. This is an ominous sign, for as the
permafrost thaws it releases carbon and methane, making this one
of the most dangerous feedback loops in the climate crisis,
given that permafrost around the globe contains twice the amount
of carbon that is already in the atmosphere. In fact, it has now
been shown that the permafrost is <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/18/arctic-permafrost-canada-science-climate-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">thawing<br
/>70 years sooner</a> than previously
predicted.</p> <p>According to a <a
href="
HTML https://www.pnas.org/content/114/21/5361">2017
study</a>,
tundra in Alaska is already warming up so quickly that it has
become a net emitter of CO2 ahead of schedule — rather
than sequestering carbon, as it has historically done. Thawing
is occurring so rapidly in the Arctic now, <a
href="
HTML https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/11/americas/thermokarst-arctic-climate-change-intl-hnk/index.html">sinkholes</a><br
/>are becoming increasingly common across the
region.</p> <p>To make matters worse, Arctic sea-ice extent
for early June was at <a
href="
HTML http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2019/06/13/after-a-miserable-may-with-unusual-warmth-arctic-sea-ice-hits-a-record-low-for-early-june/#.XQ_d6NNKgdU">a<br
/>record low</a>, and the ice could be on track now for a record
melt year at the current trajectory.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7010496"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">Another well-researched
report has recently been released warning the end of human
civilization could be on the horizon if we don’t change
course.</aside> <p>Underscoring the severity of the crisis,
yet another <a
href="
HTML https://www.breakthroughonline.org.au/papers">well-researched<br
/>report</a> has recently been released warning the end of human
civilization could be on the horizon if we don’t change
course. In the report, climate scientists predict 2050 as the
year we face complete climate catastrophe.</p> <p><a
href="
HTML https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/climate-change-doomsday-report-predicts-end-of-human-civilisation/news-story/36765cb4eedc989f6ad860e6eee405cf">The<br
/>authors predict</a>, “More than a billion people may
need
to be relocated, and in high-end scenarios, the scale of
destruction is beyond our capacity to model, with a high
likelihood of human civilisation coming to an
end.”</p> <p>They<a
href="
HTML https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/climate-change-doomsday-report-predicts-end-of-human-civilisation/news-story/36765cb4eedc989f6ad860e6eee405cf"><br
/>found</a> that by 2050, total ecological collapse could bring
about huge social consequences like “increased religious
fervor to outright chaos.” The report warns that
catastrophic environmental disasters could result in widespread
pandemics, forced migrations from places that no longer support
humans, and the spread of war over diminished
resources.</p> <p>The <a
href="
HTML https://www.breakthroughonline.org.au/papers">report<br
/>describes</a><span> one possible scenario, in which
</span>“planetary and human systems (reach) a ‘point
of no return’ by mid-century in which the prospect of a
largely uninhabitable Earth leads to the breakdown of nations
and the international order.”</p> <p>It would be an
error to think there is that much time before this kind of
breakdown. If you live on the delta in Bangladesh, or in
Paradise, California, or on the coastline of northern or western
Alaska, the crisis is already upon
you.</p> <h2>Earth</h2> <p>Extreme weather events fueled
by human-caused climate disruption are already severely
affecting food production, causing food price shocks in the U.S.
A <a
href="
HTML https://civileats.com/2019/05/30/climate-change-is-intensifying-food-shocks/">report</a><br
/>focusing on the recent flooding in the Midwest illustrated how
rain-sodden fields across the Corn Belt, along with massive
numbers of drowned livestock, are contributing factors. This
issue is only set to deepen.</p> <p>Meanwhile, despite the
fact that human-caused climate disruption is, in many ways, a
geoengineering experiment gone badly, ongoing discussion within
the scientific community of using geoengineering to completely
solve it continues to escalate.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7012515"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">Extreme weather events
fueled by human-caused climate disruption are already severely
affecting food production, causing food price shocks in the
U.S.</aside> <p>Despite the clear dangers of unforeseen
consequences, generating conflict between nations, and the
immorality inherent in the idea of attempting to control parts
of the biosphere, some scientists are <a
href="
HTML https://e360.yale.edu/features/geoengineer-the-planet-more-scientists-now-say-it-must-be-an-option">proposing<br
/>strategies</a> like spraying aerosols of sulphate particles
into
the stratosphere and using tall ships to pump salt particles
from the ocean into polar clouds to brighten them in order to
attempt to refreeze warming parts of the polar
regions.</p> <p>Meanwhile, experts from 27 different
national science academies released a <a
href="
HTML https://easac.eu/publications/details/the-imperative-of-climate-action-to-protect-human-health-in-europe/">report</a><br
/>showing how climate disruption is already negatively impacting
people’s health via heatwaves and floods, but also
indirectly by things like the spreading of mosquito-borne
diseases and deleterious mental health
impacts.</p> <p>“There are impacts occurring now
[and], over the coming century, climate change has to be
ranked as one of the most serious threats to health,”
Andrew Haines, a co-chair of the report for the European
Academies’ Science Advisory Council <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/03/climate-crisis-seriously-damaging-human-health-report-finds">told<br
/><em>The Guardian</em></a>.</p> <h2>Water</h2> <p>The
endangered North Atlantic Right Whale’s already scant
population is declining, and this decline has been linked
directly to oceanic warming, which is of course, being caused by
climate disruption, according to a <a
href="
HTML https://tos.org/oceanography/assets/docs/32-2_record.pdf">recent<br
/>report</a>. Warming oceans have caused the whales’ food
supply to shift locations, causing them to have to travel
farther to find it, along with moving them into areas closer to
shipping lanes which are dangerous for
them.</p> <p>Meanwhile, dozens of grey whales have been
found dead and washing up onto beaches up and down the west
coast, from California to well up into Canada, causing U.S.
scientists to <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/01/us-scientists-to-investigate-spike-in-deaths-of-gray-whales?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">launch<br
/>an investigation</a> into the unusually high mortality event.
Scientists believe the number found dead is but a fraction of
the actual number, since most of the dead whales will not wash
ashore.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7014497"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">Hundreds of
“severely emaciated” dead puffins have washed ashore
at St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs of Alaska, believed to have
starved to death from the warming
waters.</aside> <p>“Many of the whales have been
skinny and malnourished, and that suggests they may not have
gotten enough to eat during their last feeding season in the
Arctic,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) spokesman Michael Milstein <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/01/us-scientists-to-investigate-spike-in-deaths-of-gray-whales?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">told<br
/>reporters</a> of the mortality event.</p> <p>Also,
hundreds
of “severely emaciated” dead puffins have washed
ashore at St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs of Alaska, believed
to have starved to death from the warming waters they forage
from having <a
href="
HTML https://www.newscientist.com/article/2204764-hundreds-of-puffins-are-starving-to-death-because-of-climate-change/">less<br
/>food available for them to eat</a>. Estimates of the total
number of dead puffins range from 3,000 to 9,000.</p> <p>A
stunning <a
href="
HTML https://www.apnews.com/fe2276572a3a4a2f9eb36d27ef401d22">study</a><br
/>published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences
showed that warming oceans will likely reduce the oceanic
content of fish and other marine life by one-sixth by the end of
this century. The study warned that for every 1 degree Celsius
(1°C) warming of the world’s oceans, the total mass of
sea animals is projected to drop by five
percent.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the global water crisis spurred
by climate disruption continues to unfold dramatically. A
recent<a
href="
HTML https://packages.trust.org/running-dry/index.html"><br
/>report</a> warned that by 2030, half of the entire population
of
India (roughly 700 million people, or to put another way, one
tenth of the entire population of the globe), may lack adequate
drinking water. (This is, of course, in addition to all the
other places in which drinking water supplies will be
inadequate.) The same<a
href="
HTML https://packages.trust.org/running-dry/index.html"><br
/>report</a> warned that the cities of Bangalore and New Delhi
could run out of useable groundwater by as early as
2020.</p> <p>India’s sixth biggest city, Chennai, is
already dealing with massive water shortages as that
city’s four reservoirs <a
href="
HTML https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48703464">recently<br
/>ran dry</a>. People are fighting while lining up for water.
Many
are unable to take showers, and hotels are warning people about
water shortages. Most of that city’s population of 4
million are already relying solely on government tankers for
their water.</p> <p>Back in the U.S., southeastern Alaska,
normally a rain-soaked temperate rainforest, is experiencing its
<a
href="
HTML https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/ak-extreme-drought-1.5151341">first<br
/>ever recorded extreme drought</a>. This is normally the
wettest
region of the state of Alaska.</p> <p>Things aren’t
any better underwater. <a
href="
HTML https://www.sciencenews.org/article/southern-ocean-antarctica-absorbs-less-carbon-expected">A<br
/>stark report</a> has shown that the Southern Ocean of Earth
could be less of a “carbon sink” than previously
thought. In fact, it could well already be belching more CO2
into the atmosphere than it is absorbing.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7016301"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">The Welsh village of
Fairbourne is on track to become the first village in Britain to
be abandoned to sea level rise, as the entire population will
have to be relocated.</aside> <p>Furthermore, climate
disruption is altering the composition of the world’s
plankton communities, according to <a
href="
HTML https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1230-3">another<br
/>study</a>. “Large and globally consistent shifts have
been
detected in species phenology, range extension and community
composition in marine ecosystems,” <a
href="
HTML https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1230-3">reads<br
/>the abstract</a> of the study. It is worth remembering that
plankton provides a large percentage of the oxygen on the
planet, with scientists estimating they provide between 50-85
percent of the oxygen to Earth’s atmosphere. There has
been a <a
href="
HTML https://psmag.com/environment/global-warming-is-putting-phytoplankton-in-danger">40<br
/>percent decline</a> in phytoplankton since just
1950.</p> <p>Melting ice and thermal expansion of warming
waters are the two leading contributors to sea level rise, and
they are continuing apace.</p> <p>The Welsh village of
Fairbourne is on track to become the <a
href="
HTML https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/village-set-dismantled-due-climate-16204213">first<br
/>village in Britain to be abandoned</a> to sea level rise, as
the
entire population will have to be relocated. Like others that
will be abandoned, the resettlement plan for the refugees
remains unclear.</p> <p>The residents of Fairbourne are far
from alone. Thousands of communities along the coasts of the
globe will have to be abandoned as seas continue to rise. In the
U.S., communities in which at <a
href="
HTML https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/18/climate-change-american-cities-that-will-soon-be-under-water/39533119/">least<br
/>21 percent of homes will be at risk</a> of chronic flooding by
2060 include Miami Beach and Key West in Florida, Hoboken and
Atlantic City in New Jersey, Galveston, Texas, and Hilton Head
Island, South Carolina.</p> <p>Meanwhile, major climate
disruption impacts have <a
href="
HTML https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a27611439/american-farmers-climate-change-effects/">devastated<br
/>Midwestern farmers</a>, who in many places weren’t even
able to plant their spring crops. And the question is not
whether this kind of devastation will occur again, but when and
how often. Croplands across that region were <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/03/so-much-land-under-so-much-water-extreme-flooding-is-drowning-parts-of-the-midwest">literally<br
/>drowned</a> by weeks of relentless rains over the
spring.</p> <p>This trend continued into May, as the U.S.
officially had its second wettest May ever recorded, <a
href="
HTML https://www.noaa.gov/news/rain-soaked-us-had-its-2nd-wettest-month-on-record-in-may">according<br
/>to NOAA</a>.</p> <p>The same has been true in Canada,
where
<a
href="
HTML https://thenarwhal.ca/back-to-back-historic-floods-in-atlantic-canada-force-a-climate-reckoning/">once-in-a-century<br
/>floods have happened two years in a row</a><span>,</span>
deluging communities across Atlantic Canada and forcing
residents to make a stark choice: rebuild or
relocate.</p> <h2>Fire</h2> <p>The American West is <a
href="
HTML https://www.outsideonline.com/2397137/wildfire-smoke-health-risks">set<br
/>to experience chronic summer wildfire smoke</a>from megafires,
according to a recent report. Nevertheless, most of the region
has done next to nothing to prepare for what is seen to be a
massive and ongoing threat to human health from respiratory
issues.</p> <aside
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-8610276_67="7018088"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-8610276_67="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-8610276_67="1">The Trump administration
recently carried out one of its most overt attacks on climate
science to date.</aside> <p>This isn’t relegated only
to the west. Minnesota, as far away as it is from the source of
the smoke, is also <a
href="
HTML https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/06/05/climate-change-is-making-minnesotas-skies-smoky-this-summer">already<br
/>experiencing a dramatic increase</a> in smoke because of the
wildfires besetting the Canadian Rockies and the Western
U.S.</p> <p>Underscoring both of these situations is an
analysis generated by <a
href="
HTML https://medialibrary.climatecentral.org/extreme-weather-toolkits/wildfires">Climate<br
/>Central</a> that shows how the afflicted region’s
wildfire
season is currently 105 days longer than it was in the 1970s,
and is burning six times the area of acreage. The region also
has three times more fires over 1,000 acres in size than it did
in the 1970s.</p> <h2>Air</h2> <p>Temperatures in the
Arctic Circle in Alaska were <a
href="
HTML https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/feeling-the-heat-in-winter/">22°C<br
/>above normal</a> in some places in March. This is critical for
multiple reasons, particularly due to the fact that in the
Arctic, ice functions as part of the infrastructure across that
region given how roads, homes, buildings, and other structures
are built atop the permafrost, and subsistence hunting is a way
of life for many Inuit people. If current trends continue, that
way of life is, devastatingly, on the way out.</p> <p>A heat
wave in Japan during May <a
href="
HTML https://weather.com/news/news/2019-05-27-japan-heatwave-kills-hospitalizes?fbclid=IwAR3Em7nOndKxR2j8lhOhj6O54M4XUWluD59QcKqStJ0rV3MXOuDLBr105hw">killed<br
/>five people</a> and hospitalized another 600 people suffering
from symptoms of heatstroke. Then in mid-June, a major heat wave
in India <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/17/india-heatwave-rain-brings-respite-for-some-but-death-toll-rises">killed<br
/>dozens of people</a> as temperatures reached 120°F across
vast swaths of the country. In one area alone, 49 people died in
just a 24-hour period. It’s worth noting that 11 of the 15
warmest years on record in India have taken place after
2004.</p> <p>In the U.S., a <a
href="
HTML https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/11/heat-wave-western-us-bakes-temperatures-soar-120-degrees/1419639001/">heat<br
/>wave in June</a> across the west saw temperatures reach
120°F, as record highs were seen across the
region.</p> <h2>Denial and Reality</h2> <p>Meanwhile,
the lengths the Trump administration is going to in order to
placate its fossil-fueled backers continue to
astound.</p> <p>The Trump administration recently carried
out one of its most overt attacks on climate science to date
when it attempted to prevent an employee of the State Department
from testifying about the climate crisis, according to <em><a
href="
HTML https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/politics/trump-climate-science.html">The<br
/>New York Times</a></em>. Intelligence analyst Rod Schoonover
had
submitted his testimony to the White House for approval before
he appeared in front of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence to share his remarks covering the security risks
posed to the U.S. by the climate crisis. But as <em>The
Washington Post</em><a
href="
HTML https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/08/white-house-blocked-intelligence-aides-written-testimony-saying-human-caused-climate-change-could-be-possibly-catastrophic/?utm_term=.cb0eeebdc5d9">reported</a><span>,</span><br
/>the Trump administration refused to approve his testimony for
entry into the congressional record, stating that his analysis
did not align with the views of the executive
branch.</p> <p>Additionally, Trump’s Energy Department
rebranded U.S. gas exports as “<a
href="
HTML https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48454674">molecules<br
/>of freedom</a>.”</p> <p>Back in the world of
reality,
in May, a <a
href="
HTML https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/24/headlines/record_number_of_students_walk_out_of_classes_in_global_strike_for_the_climate">record<br
/>number of students</a> across the world walked out of their
classes amid a global strike to bring attention to the climate
crisis.</p> <p>This is a good thing, as recent data shows no
signs of the climate crisis slowing down. In fact, it is only
accelerating, as atmospheric CO2 content has increased by its <a
href="
HTML https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/04/latest-data-shows-steep-rises-in-co2-for-seventh-year">second<br
/>highest annual rise</a> in the last 60 years. That makes this
the seventh year in a row of steep increases of CO2 content in
the already overburdened atmosphere.</p> <p>NOAA also
recently reported that this year is on track to become <a
href="
HTML https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2019-06-18-may-2019-global-temperatures-nasa-noaa">the<br
/>third warmest ever-recorded</a> in 140 years of temperature
records.</p> <p>The signs of collapse of industrial
civilization are all around us. We must pay attention, and
prepare ourselves for living in the world that the disrupted
climate has brought upon us.</p> <p>For myself and my
community, this means connecting more deeply to the Earth, to
build psychological, social, spiritual and physical resiliency,
in addition to taking as good care as we are able of the land
that is caring for us. In this way, we are working to model on a
micro scale what might be done on the macro, even in the midst
of this era of great
loss.</p> <div> <div> <div><a
href="
HTML https://truthout.org/authors/dahr-jamail/"<br
/>itemprop="url"><span itemprop="name">Dahr
Jamail</span></a></div> <div
itemprop="description"> <p>Dahr Jamail, a <em>Truthout</em>
staff reporter, is the author of <i><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/End-Ice-Bearing-Witness-Disruption-ebook/dp/B079G4NJVD">The<br
/>End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of
Climate Disruption</a></i> (The New Press, 2019), <em><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1608460959?ie=UTF8&tag=dahjamsmiddis-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1608460959"<br
/>rel="noopener">The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to
Fight
in Iraq and Afghanistan</a></em>(Haymarket Books, 2009), and
<em><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931859612?ie=UTF8&tag=dahjamsmiddis-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1931859612"<br
/>rel="noopener">Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an
Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq</a></em>(Haymarket Books,
2007). Jamail reported from Iraq for more than a year, as well
as from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over the last 10
years, and has won the Izzy Award and the Martha Gellhorn Award
for Investigative Journalism, among other awards. His third
book, <em><a
href="
HTML https://www.amazon.com/Mass-Destruction-Iraq-Disintegration-Responsible-ebook/dp/B00ML3KAN6"<br
/>rel="noopener">The Mass Destruction of Iraq: Why It Is
Happening, and Who Is Responsible</a></em>, co-written with <a
href="
HTML https://truthout.org/news/item/24170-from-the-desk-of-william-rivers-pitt"<br
/>rel="noopener">William Rivers Pitt</a>, is available now on
Amazon. He lives and works in Washington
State.</p> </div> </div> </div> </aside>[/html]
#Post#: 46--------------------------------------------------
"... the 21st will be the Century of Water Wars."
😨
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: March 21, 2022, 8:14 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-210322202905.png<br
/>dmorista dmorista✨ @dmorista
Disqus 👉 7.1K Comments 16.6K Upvotes 83 Followers 4
Following
Many analysts have pointed out that while the 20th Century was
the Century of Oil Wars, the 21st will be the Century of Water
Wars.
The unfortunate fact is that the Earth has an immense amount of
water on its surface, but not too much of it is usable for
potable water or for irrigation or other uses. Somewhat over
97.4% is salt water in the Oceans and in inland seas.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-210322210845.png
(Figure 1 source: “Where is Earth's Water?”
HTML https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/where-earths-water,<br
/>USGS. Original source: Igor Shiklomanov’s Chapter “World
Freshwater Resources”, in Peter H. Gleick, ed., 1993, Water in
Crisis: A Guide to the World’s Freshwater Resources)
For instance rivers, a major source of drinking and municipal
water for many urban areas, only contain 0.000147% of the worlds
total water :o. Disputes and struggles over water are inevitable
as the population of the Earth continues to rise and the
consequences of poor water and land use policies continue to
mount. The largest single storage of fresh water is in ice caps
and glaciers. Antarctica is by far the largest of these,
Greenland and the North Polar Icecap are the next biggest. In
fact the ice in those areas amounts to 1.72% of the worlds total
water, or somewhat more that 11,700 times as much.
In the medium term some of the worlds water shortages could be
met by transporting icebergs to coastal facilities in drought
stricken urban and rural areas. This would work much better in
the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern, but could be
helpful in the Northern Hemisphere as well. A major example of a
place that could benefit from a serious iceberg towing steering
operation would be Cape Town, South Africa. As shown in Figure 2
below, Capetown came within a few hours of running out of water
in early 2018.
[img
width=640]
HTML https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c8c9c379e2889acf8d0e001e62cb6fb1e732cac4780a101ce07950042b42010d.png?w=600&h=253[/img]
(Figure 2 source: “Graph of total water stored in the Western
Cape's largest six dams from 30 June 2013 to 31 March 2019.”, at
< :
[img
width=640]
HTML https://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F8%2F83%2FCape_Town_water_graph_Jan_2018.svg%2F1280px-Cape_Town_water_graph_Jan_2018.svg.png&key=w7hxon6-7KePfwHfCHx_2g&w=600&h=237[/img]
Original source: “Graph of the total water stored in the Western
Cape's largest six dams from 30 June 2013 to the 15 January
2018”. The graph illustrates the declining water storage levels
over the course of the Cape Town water crisis. Data obtained
from the Climate Systems Analysis Group (SAGP)”, 25 January
2018, Discott
HTML https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Town_water_graph_Jan_2018.svg.
#Post#: 222--------------------------------------------------
Study recently released by the Environmental Integrity Project
on the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: April 6, 2022, 2:50 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
COUNTERPUNCH
APRIL 6, 2022 BY GEORGE OCHENSKI
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-060422155705.png[/center]
[center]On-Going Environmental Degradation is No Joke[/center]
SNIPPET:
The report, published by “former EPA enforcement attorneys to
advocate for effective enforcement of environmental laws”
HTML https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CWA-report-3.23.22-FINAL.pdf<br
/>found “alarming results of water quality tests in all 50
states.
More than 700,000 miles of waterways, about 51 percent of
assessed river and stream miles, are impaired by pollution.
[center]
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That’s in addition to another 55 percent of lake acres and 26
percent of estuary miles.” The term “impaired” identifies lakes,
rivers and streams that are too polluted to even meet minimum
standards “for swimming and recreation, aquatic life, fish
consumption or as drinking water sources.”
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-060422153644.png[/center]
While the statistics alone are shocking, what’s really worth
questioning is the efficacy of laws that are often passed with
great fanfare and promises of attaining goals that — as with the
Clean Water Act — are never met.
In truth, the minute the legislation is signed into law those
who fall under the regulatory jurisdiction go to work weakening,
obfuscating, and extending the science-based standards that
would ensure sustainable clean water for the future.
Of course there are the industry lobbyists who had their
fingerprints on the legislation before it even becomes law, a
pinch here, an exemption there, and substituting “may” for
“shall” throughout the bill.
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-060422153441.png[/center]
But there are also those — like municipalities and local
governments — who refuse to invest in the measures necessary to
ensure clean water comes out the end of their sewage treatment
plant pipes.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164519-508103.gif
Read more:
HTML https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/06/on-going-environmental-degradation-is-no-joke/
#Post#: 676--------------------------------------------------
"... increasingly profligate with the region’s scarcest
resource."
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: December 1, 2022, 6:50 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg
[center]
HTML https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/logo-black.png[/center]
[center]Wild, Incisive, Fearless.[/center]
[move]Subsidized water cultivated the West, but this required
becoming increasingly profligate with the region’s scarcest
resource.[/move]
Op-Eds November 28, 2022 - by Nate Housley
[center]
HTML https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Wx2Pkn391Ec-gGL604-JWlOvOhEk7fYvEUTnY8eGMh-Zu9qPe2RxX9ClipJf61gIgCdLTgbKKCRwsUC7mys4Y10v8zBmaYhVmki0067U-QNMLrl3nhTiXBwbmQ1rZYxuxdf3hL5ZhG56mySR7mV5uzCqPLj-1kVnrctD7LU=s0-d-e1-ft#https://prod.cdn.everyaction.com/images/van/CBD/CBD/1/61429/images/EEO/1200wide/Hoover-Dam-Donald-Hall.jpg[/center]
[center]‘Free Water’ Was Never Free, Writes a Historian of the
American West[/center]
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164555-532108.png[/center]
HTML https://therevelator.org/free-water-colorado-river/
#Post#: 716--------------------------------------------------
"Is net zero by 2050 a ruse?"
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: December 16, 2022, 6:22 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]"Is net zero by 2050 a ruse?"[/center]
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-240422203338.jpeg[/center]
COUNTERPUNCH
DECEMBER 16, 2022 BY ROBERT HUNZIKER
[center]Multiple Breadbasket 🎍 Failures 🥵 as
Radicals Stop Private Jets[/center]
SNIPPETS:
It’s an endless circuitous spectacle of insanity in pursuit of
elusive infinite economic growth bumping up against planetary
limitations, as we currently use 1.5 more biocapacity than the
planet can regenerate (Global Footprint Network).
It’s also a guaranteed losing proposition, but who really cares
is the problem. If it were otherwise, meaning if world leaders
really cared, then there’d be all kinds of worldwide coordinated
Marshall Plans funding renewables, climate restoration,
refreezing the Arctic, etc. but that’s not the case, not even
close. ... ...
According to the World Economic Forum’s coverage of drought
conditions, a new UN study claims drought frequency and duration
has increased by nearly a third since 2000. A 33% increase on a
biomass as large as the planet in only 20+ years
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122505-6702373.gif<br
/>is almost impossible to phantom. ... ...
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422132945-7012374.png[/center]
The origin of the ☠️ death trap is the economic
system of
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>neoliberal capitalism that focuses on profits and growth above
all other considerations, oblivious to the health of crucial
life-supporting ecosystems and certainly unruffled about global
warming. Notably, and obvious for all to see, it generates a
tiny flock of fabulously rich people that have nearly gained
control over much of the world order. Therefore, maybe the
answer to the current upside/down climate system is to upend the
upside/down socio-economic system that in fact perpetuates
fossil fuels at any costs towards an elusive infinity of growth.
After all, that
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122619-6812456.gif<br
/>tiny flock basically controls the media, as well as holding
major influence over the direction of UN-sponsored COPs. Thus,
they have a certain level of control over the ultimate direction
of fossil fuel usage or renewable energy sources as a
replacement.
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-171022172539-20852399.jpeg[/center]
Therefore, the ultimate question for the future direction of the
planet’s climate system, and by extension, its food supply is
whether 👿🎩 neoliberal capitalism is so
impregnable as to be ☠️ immovable. If its
iron-fisted grip over the socio-economic system cannot be
broken, then the climate system is destined to break apart worse
and ever worse and [b]even worse [/b]under neoliberalism’s
relentlessness push for elusive infinite growth.
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-140822180953-19121132.png[/center]
Full article:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164647-5372345.gif<br
/>
HTML https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/16/multiple-breadbasket-failures-as-radicals-stop-private-jets/
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-141222173820.jpeg[/center]
#Post#: 738--------------------------------------------------
However, as I was enjoying the snow, 100,000 homes from Hartford
to Guilford had lost power.
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: December 27, 2022, 2:43 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422130903-68837.png[/center]
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202545-13961729.png<br
/>Either too much water, or too little[/center]
Dec 27 2022, 7:04 AM This commentary is by George Longenecker, a
resident of Middlesex.
I snowshoe with our dog to the height of land in the woods
behind our house. Though the snow is sticky, the snow-draped
pines are beautiful. The first winter outings are always
special.
However, as I was enjoying the snow, 100,000 homes from Hartford
to Guilford had lost power.
It’s all about water. In Vermont, we depend upon water for
agriculture. We depend on water for recreation, from skiing in
winter to swimming and boating on our lakes and ponds in summer.
I look forward to the first ski or snowshoe. I love the calls of
loons as I paddle my kayak in summer. I wait for the first
harvest of tomatoes, lettuce and squash.
Yet here, as in most of the world, water is more unreliable than
ever. While rainfall and snowfall have always been fickle,
climate change has led to disastrous weather worldwide.
In 1985, the year our daughter was born, it hit minus 38 before
the winter solstice. 37 years later, it rarely goes below zero
and winter rains are more frequent.
While it takes less fuel to heat our homes now, wet snow has led
to regular, widespread power outages. After our recent storm,
electric utility trucks rolled through from Quebec and other
parts of New England to help. It’s taken more than three days to
repair the damage.
Yet the storms and droughts we get here, with the exception of
Irene in 2011, have not yet been as bad as in other parts of the
U.S. and the world. In late September,
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160022-22802205.png<br
/>Hurricane Ian left catastrophic destruction in Sanibel, Naples
and Fort Myers, Florida. Now people are thinking twice about
going to Florida — if they even have a place left to go to.
Climate change is making a difference, though it’s hard to think
about that while my dog and I snowshoe in the woods. It’s making
a difference in Vermont and worldwide. 💧 Water — too
much or too little — makes all the difference.
According to the Canadian government: “Clean, accessible water
is critical to human health, a healthy environment, poverty
reduction, a sustainable economy, and peace and security. Yet
over 40% of the global population does not have access to
sufficient clean water. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be
living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity.”
Water scarcity has affected the U.S., either because of drought
or failing infrastructure. The Colorado River has so little
water that Lake Mead is nearly dry. This summer, Jackson,
Mississippi, was without potable water as its city system
failed. At the same time in South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh
were inundated by monsoon flooding.
I worry what will happen in our daughter’s lifetime. Sometimes
it's too much to think about, but we have to demand our
governments do everything possible to slow climate change and
assure that everyone has water.
I stop for a drink from my water bottle. My dog takes a few
mouthfuls of snow. Far overhead, ravens call. I enjoy the new
snow, but can’t help but worry what the next year will bring.
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-310714182509.png
HTML https://vtdigger.org/2022/12/27/george-longenecker-either-too-much-water-or-too-little/
#Post#: 864--------------------------------------------------
Engineers give Vermont a C for dams, drinking water and
stormwater systems and D-plus for its wastewater systems
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 18, 2023, 1:30 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422130903-68837.png[/center]
February 16, 2023 By Shaun Robinson
[center][glow=brown,2,300]Vermont[/glow] gets a
[glow=brown,2,300]C[/glow] on latest
'[glow=blue,2,300]infrastructure report card[/glow]’[/center]
SNIPPETS:
The report identifies wastewater as the only aspect of the
state’s infrastructure that is in “[glow=red,2,300]poor[/glow]”
condition, with a [shadow=red,left]D-plus[/shadow] grade. About
half of Vermont homes rely on septic-based systems to treat
their wastewater — but if those systems
[glow=red,2,300]fail[/glow], the results can include health
hazards and polluted waterways, Tara Kulkarni, an associate
professor of civil and environmental engineering at Norwich
University, said at the press conference. ... ...
The group of engineers said that Vermont has some of the
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422133654.gif<br
/>oldest infrastructure in the
U.S.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622153115-1384130.pnghttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122316-661919.bmp<br
/>and the state needs to make its existing systems more
resilient
to deal with the [glow=brown,2,300]impacts [/glow]of the[b]
[glow=brown,2,300]climate crisis[/glow].
Read more:
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818184307-16311866.gif<br
/>
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/>
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164718-540294.gif
HTML https://vtdigger.org/2023/02/16/vermont-gets-a-c-on-latest-infrastructure-report-card/
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