Climate change, its causes and consequences, are one of the most important challenges of our time. I wish, for my grandchildrens’ sake, that we would do something to address our foolish continuation of a carbon-based energy system and its effects on climate when alternatives that are far superior are so readily available. But at the same time, if as a society we are to make good decisions, we need to understand the complex nature of the problems and correctly evaluate their various causes. This article is excellent in many respects, but it leaves the impression that climate is one of the main drivers of Mexico City’s water woes. That is simply not the case. It may be a minor driver, but the analyses that might show that (if they exist) are not presented. The main factors are groundwater extraction, replacement of pervious surfaces with asphalt and concrete, and the growth of the city and its attendant water demand. To give the impression that this is, at its core, a climate issue not only misleads us as to where we should focus our efforts to correct the problem, but it gives ammunition to those who would argue that the significance of climate change has been overstated, presumably to serve some special political or ideological interests. Yes, DO write about these critical issues, but please DON’T overstate what we know and don’t know about climate change and its impacts.
9
Interesting that all of these officials in Mexico City mention how climate change is going to make the situation worse. No doubters, no fake news claims. How did so many in the US come to doubt what everyone else accepts as an inevitable fact? As our fearless leader might say...So Sad.
18
Another banana republic mire in corruption, crime and poverty. All that oil money wasted by series of corrupt governments. The progressives see this and marvel at the number who will illegally come to USA and vote democrats. Build the wall Trump.
16
Mocte'zuma cursed the city Cortez built on the ashes of Tenochtitlan was a powerful one. Mexico has many resources and hardworking people but Mexico is and will always be a 'third world country". Somehow this "curse" is carried in the 'Mexican blood" and it plays itself out in crime, corruption and the general wasting of vast resources.
7
So the Mexican federal government has cut to zero federal money budgeted for fixing the city's water pipes, Metro and other critical infrastructure. Yet Nieto spends his time assisting Mexican citizens in breaking US laws and setting aside money for them to obtain legal counsel. No wonder Mexico is a failed nation. At this rate, we may not be far behind. Trump cannot build that wall soon enough.
15
Mexico City may prove to be the canary in the coal mine. Global Warming may prove to be the greatest emergency ever to confront humanity. If Arctic News is correct - human life can end on earth by 2026 without an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use within 5 years.
Every means should be employed to publicize, discuss and attack the problem.
During WW2 a 4 engine bomber rolled off an assembly line every hour. Radically new energy breakthrough systems are being born. They are much less complicated. Several are discussed at aesopinstitute.org
Most reflect hard to believe new science. Some exploit a surprising loophole in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Others grow from what used to be known as Cold Fusion. Ordinarily such breakthroughs require a generation to gain acceptance. We no longer have that luxury.
Innovation is taking place at small firms across the planet. Mass production of the best systems will inevitably follow. What is needed is to speed the process fast enough to matter.
A laser like focus on climate change is urgently needed. The lives you save may include your own - and those of everyone you care about.
Every means should be employed to publicize, discuss and attack the problem.
During WW2 a 4 engine bomber rolled off an assembly line every hour. Radically new energy breakthrough systems are being born. They are much less complicated. Several are discussed at aesopinstitute.org
Most reflect hard to believe new science. Some exploit a surprising loophole in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Others grow from what used to be known as Cold Fusion. Ordinarily such breakthroughs require a generation to gain acceptance. We no longer have that luxury.
Innovation is taking place at small firms across the planet. Mass production of the best systems will inevitably follow. What is needed is to speed the process fast enough to matter.
A laser like focus on climate change is urgently needed. The lives you save may include your own - and those of everyone you care about.
5
It is insane to crowd 21 million people in a valley that cover only 580 square miles. With a population of 9 million residents and 1,544 square mile, New Jersey has the highest population density in the United States. Nations need to find ways to redistribute populations more evenly across their territory.
10
I'm sorry, but it's not climate change which is threatening to push this crowded capital toward a breaking point - the problem lies in the massive, indecent, unmanaged overpopulation which has been ignored and not attended to by the Mexican politicians and the by Mexican people for many decades !
Sooner or later, this sensitive overpopulation problem will have to be attended to by the Mexican people themselves - it is futile and pointless to blame anything else outside their control.
Sooner or later, this sensitive overpopulation problem will have to be attended to by the Mexican people themselves - it is futile and pointless to blame anything else outside their control.
18
The answer to the world water crisis is blowing in the wind.
Researchers at the Scalene Energy Research Institute in India have developed a Rain Tunnel - a highly efficient inexpensive technology that harnesses water vapor in the air and converts it into drinking water.
Already available for domestic as well as commercial use, commercial units produce 1,000 liters/day.
The largest amount of water on the planet is in the atmosphere - 12 trillion liters. For 3,000 years, people have been trying to tap into it via rudimentary processes. "Then refrigeration technology came in, which started using condensation," explains Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, who worked with a team of 12 to create the Rain Tunnel. "You freeze the air, the water condenses and you cool it down to a point where the atmospheric water is condensed and extracted," he says. But this process needs a large amount of energy, raising the cost of the water produced. "Some machines that produce the same quantity of water as the rain tunnel cost $2,500, because the energy consumption and cost of operation is high."
The Rain Tunnel technology bypasses those problems by simulating rain. While there will be a marginal difference in the speed at which the water is generated depending on the atmospheric humidity in different places, it will work anyplace where there is even 10 ppm (parts per million) of water vapor in the atmosphere.
A large unit has been developed which can make 10,000 liters of water.
Researchers at the Scalene Energy Research Institute in India have developed a Rain Tunnel - a highly efficient inexpensive technology that harnesses water vapor in the air and converts it into drinking water.
Already available for domestic as well as commercial use, commercial units produce 1,000 liters/day.
The largest amount of water on the planet is in the atmosphere - 12 trillion liters. For 3,000 years, people have been trying to tap into it via rudimentary processes. "Then refrigeration technology came in, which started using condensation," explains Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, who worked with a team of 12 to create the Rain Tunnel. "You freeze the air, the water condenses and you cool it down to a point where the atmospheric water is condensed and extracted," he says. But this process needs a large amount of energy, raising the cost of the water produced. "Some machines that produce the same quantity of water as the rain tunnel cost $2,500, because the energy consumption and cost of operation is high."
The Rain Tunnel technology bypasses those problems by simulating rain. While there will be a marginal difference in the speed at which the water is generated depending on the atmospheric humidity in different places, it will work anyplace where there is even 10 ppm (parts per million) of water vapor in the atmosphere.
A large unit has been developed which can make 10,000 liters of water.
3
"Highways and cars choke the atmosphere with heat-inducing carbon dioxide"
Global warming is real, it is related to human-caused CO2 emissions, but just give me a break. Someone writing an article about global warming ought to actually understand global warming and this sentence fragment tells me that the author just doesn't understand it AT ALL.
The first thing to remember about global warming is that it is global. It is not a local issue. Whether Mexico City feels the effects of global warming is determined by TOTAL GLOBAL emissions, not local vehicle emissions. The problem associated with global warming is an increase in average temperature, not an increase in local smog. The choking of the air in Mexico City would be the effect of emitting too many conventional pollutants: particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons. Local CO2 emissions have literally zilch to do with it.
And please.... Mexico City imports 40% of its water. What do you think Los Angeles does? And there are losses during transport. Ditto for LA.
The problem with Mexico City is too many people in one urban center over-pumping a limited aquifer. That's also why it's sinking. Not global warming, over-pumping an aquifer, which is settling as a result of the over-pumping.
Residents not getting water every day and it being yellow means there are problems with the water purification and distribution system. We saw this in Flint, Michigan, despite very abundant water.
Global warming is real, it is related to human-caused CO2 emissions, but just give me a break. Someone writing an article about global warming ought to actually understand global warming and this sentence fragment tells me that the author just doesn't understand it AT ALL.
The first thing to remember about global warming is that it is global. It is not a local issue. Whether Mexico City feels the effects of global warming is determined by TOTAL GLOBAL emissions, not local vehicle emissions. The problem associated with global warming is an increase in average temperature, not an increase in local smog. The choking of the air in Mexico City would be the effect of emitting too many conventional pollutants: particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons. Local CO2 emissions have literally zilch to do with it.
And please.... Mexico City imports 40% of its water. What do you think Los Angeles does? And there are losses during transport. Ditto for LA.
The problem with Mexico City is too many people in one urban center over-pumping a limited aquifer. That's also why it's sinking. Not global warming, over-pumping an aquifer, which is settling as a result of the over-pumping.
Residents not getting water every day and it being yellow means there are problems with the water purification and distribution system. We saw this in Flint, Michigan, despite very abundant water.
19
There is nothing in this story which points to climate change being the issue. Mexico City has simply grown to enormous size--outstripping its water supply, while being located in an arid region, on a site that is sinking. The problems that have existed for years are being made worse by human population--and geology, not climate change.
This is exactly the type of garbage reporting that leads those of us who are skeptical about global warming--to think even harder about the evidence--or lack thereof. We're at a place now, where every liberal who forgets to water her tomato plant, wants to blame its death on global warming. It's hysterical--and demolishes all credibility.
As far as Mexico City is concerned....
--is there proof that temperatures are rising in the city--apart from the warming that occurs whenever you pave over large areas of land--or construct buildings or create surfaces which trap heat?
--is there proof that they're receiving historically lower levels of rainfall?
--is excess heat causing the land to sink faster--or is it that they're not extracting more groundwater than ever to satisfy an ever larger population?
I smell baloney--loaves and loaves of it.
This is exactly the type of garbage reporting that leads those of us who are skeptical about global warming--to think even harder about the evidence--or lack thereof. We're at a place now, where every liberal who forgets to water her tomato plant, wants to blame its death on global warming. It's hysterical--and demolishes all credibility.
As far as Mexico City is concerned....
--is there proof that temperatures are rising in the city--apart from the warming that occurs whenever you pave over large areas of land--or construct buildings or create surfaces which trap heat?
--is there proof that they're receiving historically lower levels of rainfall?
--is excess heat causing the land to sink faster--or is it that they're not extracting more groundwater than ever to satisfy an ever larger population?
I smell baloney--loaves and loaves of it.
15
The baloney you smell comes from your own body.
7
Iceberg the size of Germany is projected to break off from Antarctic West ice sheet in the next few years (the temperatures there have been 36 F above normal), and many smaller but large icebergs. When that happens water level will rise about 2-3 feet globally. Climate change deniers like yourself will see major cities (many in Republican conservative (regressive) states) go under water in the next few decades..I don't know what you read or watch all day or whether you're getting paid by the fossil fuel industry to post on forums; in any case, I pity your lack on knowledge and that you'll pass on to your next generations. Good luck on your retirement vacation in Florida!
8
instead of staring angrily at the sky and blaming our ills on natural processes such as climate change and geological settling, how about addressing the real cause of water "shortages": the "pro-life" (I would say anti-life) policies emanating from the Vatican... as long as the berobed celibates in Rome set the social policies for Mexico, Central America, the Philippines and so many other countries, there will be plenty of water shortages, poverty and "climate change" to go around
18
I cannot help but wonder if this planet is in fact trying to rid itself of the infestation of humans that is systematically attempting to destroy it. In the end nature is going to win.
9
I sense a new opening for Trump Water!
1
Once again, global warming is blamed for the problems of overpopulation. Scientists are very worried about what global warming may do in the future, as the Third World industrializes and produces a huge increase in emissions, but most agree it has contributed little to extreme weather events as of yet. What causes environmental devastation in Mexico City is a more than tenfold population increase in the last 100 years and an increase of nearly nine times in the population of the whole country.
26
This is a somewhat silly connection being made between climate change, and problems of an inadequate water supply to a city. If Manhattan got all of its water from wells under the city, it too might be sinking as well - but of course major cities don't do this: the water comes in from aqueducts or river supplies. Mexico City needs a "Croton Aqeduct" from a large water source outside the city. It just can't come from rainfall and wells.
9
Scott Pruitt confirmed as head of the EPA. A president who says climate change is a hoax. Spend billions building a wall and not a cent solving real problems. We are a freight train headed for the bridge to nowhere.
It is a good time to be just another old man.
It is a good time to be just another old man.
15
My hobby is climatology. For the past 10 years ourMexico City winter tempereatures have averaged in excess of 4 degrees centigrade HIGHER. Our electric heaters are used less than 80% of the time we used to in the past. Our light bill in winter is the same as in the otherthree seasons. It used to rise by 30%. Thank you for noticing.
5
Fascinating article. It's incredible how the poor people of the world suffer when the rich take more than their share and have no idea what life is like for those huge parts of the population that don't have a choice but to wait until there is a shift in power and someone helps them. It's a hard reality in Mexico City that, with all the technology available to mankind, 21 million people will eventually have to resort to a corrupt system of power to implement a shift toward equality. Injustice is rampant in Mexico and unfortunately nobody is helping the poorest of the poor get to a better place and, if they did, the power would shift toward the people who helped them because there are so many of them. It's incredibly weird that so many people can live together in one city, but it's almost unbelievable that they do it at all. I love Mexico and I hope it gets better for them!
1
It's as if in no more than 10 or 20 years, the action of some crazy sci-fi novel will be underway, whether it's in Mexico City or in another of a bunch of places that have water problems.
How could mankind have failed so badly to care for these cities and all these working class people?
How could mankind have failed so badly to care for these cities and all these working class people?
3
With no intention of criticism, I would like to know where or in what what mankind as succeeded in caring for something.
2
A great deal of the words in this article are spent describing what various places - such as undulating streetscapes, the Angel of Independence, various poor & wealthy neighborhoods, & so on - all look like. This info would've been conveyed far better by photos, which in turn would've allowed the reporter to use the text to delve deeper into aspects of the story not so evident to the eye. So I was surprised & disappointed that it didn't have more & better photos, especially now in the digital age when it's so much easier to supply & link to photos online.
2
The 1% elites of Mexico pay some of the lowest taxes in the world. Perhaps if they stopped ripping off their countries re$erves, and pay their very fair share, then perhaps they can use that money to pay for new infrastructure. It's not climate change that is ruining Mexico City and its evirons, its the inequality of the 1% vs the rest of their population.
11
"A Columbia University report found that where rainfall declines, 'the risk of a low-level conflict escalating to a full-scale civil war approximately doubles the following year.'..."
Without defining how much the "rainfall declines" really is, how does this statement really holds up, when it ascertains that the threat of civil war could "double"? Is one inch enough for a trigger? Or, 10 inches? Surely NYT can do better than this sloppy assertion.
Without defining how much the "rainfall declines" really is, how does this statement really holds up, when it ascertains that the threat of civil war could "double"? Is one inch enough for a trigger? Or, 10 inches? Surely NYT can do better than this sloppy assertion.
6
Scott Pruitt fully intends to Dismantle the EPA. This is our future if Trump/Putin Coalition is allowed to continue their reign of error and terror. They will be tried in the Courts of History but it may be too late to matter for the human race.
8
Thank you for some fascinating reporting on an important subject - the public needs to be educated, and climate change deniers in particular could benefit from seeing the human face of climate change. Keep up the good work NYT !
5
This is some really excellent writing: it provides the kind of context that is invisible to most human eyes since it requires seeing the long-term changes to the built and natural environments over time.
Some people commenting on this article seem to question bad planning that happened in Mexico as being a bigger issue than climate change. The reality is that cities are mutating human endeavors and I would guess that poor choices have been made throughout the world. The other reality is that subsidence- sinking land- is also happening up and down the eastern US coast, yet it seems like developers and politicians are still plunking down money on high-rises and office towers right along the water without a care in the world. Mexico City isn't the only place that has made choices counter to its future well-being.
Some people commenting on this article seem to question bad planning that happened in Mexico as being a bigger issue than climate change. The reality is that cities are mutating human endeavors and I would guess that poor choices have been made throughout the world. The other reality is that subsidence- sinking land- is also happening up and down the eastern US coast, yet it seems like developers and politicians are still plunking down money on high-rises and office towers right along the water without a care in the world. Mexico City isn't the only place that has made choices counter to its future well-being.
14
When you frame everything as a political argument, then it becomes a political fight. When you have a design culture, anything is possible. Unfortunately, Kimmelman disdains architecture and all of its values of physical reality, accountability, results, embodied experience, value, etc. Instead, its we don't spend enough so everything is terrible! That's a bad strategy and a bad philosophy.
4
Even if there were no climate change, the Mexico City's natural climate cannot provide enough water for 21 million people. Anyone who has ever visited Mexico City knows that even if it had a wet climate there simply is not enough water for 21 million people. Climate change is exacerbating the underlying problem of gross over population.
33
Rather than over-population, perhaps the issue is water leaks, lack of proper water use monitoring, and underinvestment in efficiency and water recycling measures. Poor management can exhaust a resource even if the population shrank.
3
Yeah that's it. Water leaks. 21 million people in an ecological nightmare, but it's leaks.
10
Well, I was about to 'wade' in here and put the blame on overpopulation exacerbated by the refusal of the religion of my birth to condone birth control etc. You know the kind of stuff about unusual men who have taken a vow of celibacy pontificating on the behaviour of people with a normal healthy sex drive and what is and what is not allowed by the Almighty in their attempts to restrict the size of their resultant families.
But then I checked up on the Birth Rate for Mexico City, looking for statistics to back up my proposed rant and found to my surprise that it is currently only 1.8% !!!! - much less than replacement levels, - and given that it is only 1.4% across the whole of Mexico, this means that the current problem will be gradually solved.
But then I checked up on the Birth Rate for Mexico City, looking for statistics to back up my proposed rant and found to my surprise that it is currently only 1.8% !!!! - much less than replacement levels, - and given that it is only 1.4% across the whole of Mexico, this means that the current problem will be gradually solved.
3
I'm not finding the same statistics your are. Agreed, Mexico has reduced its birth rate, but I'm finding 2.22 as the fertility rate and a 1.2% population growth rate.
5
So you really think a very recent reduction in the birth rate will even "gradually" solve a problem rooted in 500 years of Spanish-coerced religious propaganda combined with an overlay of machismo in which males measure their self-worth by how often they can impregnate their women and create more and more offspring? I think you may have spent too much time in Mezcal ingesting the local flora. Geography, pollution, corruption and failure to manage water resources all play a part, but the demands of a population outstripping available resources is definitely a factor. Malthusian theory will be proven accurate in this century and don't expect the false god of unrestricted technology to bail us out this time.
7
One study predicts that 10 percent of Mexicans ages 15 to 65 could eventually try to emigrate north as a result of rising temperatures, drought and floods, potentially scattering millions of people and heightening already extreme political tensions over immigration.
Another reason to build the wall, and build it fast.
Another reason to build the wall, and build it fast.
11
Why would temperature dictate which direction people take if they decide to leave? Why not migrate east or west. I wonder if temperatures were falling if the people would migrate south.
2
I read an article in a scientific journal forty yers ago that predicted this scenario, over population driven by religious beliefs slams up against the reality of limited resources. Unless and until Mexico holds itself accountable and makes different policies, this slippery slope to more pain and suffering for its people is guaranteed.
18
Overpopulation.
And a complete ignorance on the science of WATER.
Yes, there is the fact of climate change, but Mexico City is a man-made disaster and there is no more frightening aspect of humanity than willful ignorance.
Just look at Trump/Pence's picks for their Cabinet.
Madness.
And a complete ignorance on the science of WATER.
Yes, there is the fact of climate change, but Mexico City is a man-made disaster and there is no more frightening aspect of humanity than willful ignorance.
Just look at Trump/Pence's picks for their Cabinet.
Madness.
13
Regardless of the underlying cause, wholly man-made challenges vs. those driven by the climate, the take away message is we're looking at a population base about 10% smaller than that of Los Angeles County having a serious humanitarian crises in the making. The solutions while imaginable are nearly impossible to achieve without serious disruptions to the local Mexico City and the country of Mexico's economy. Turn a blind eye and this will turn into a full blown crisis. Address it now and the cost of a solution borders on catastrophic. Address it later and it's certainly catastrophic to Mexico as a whole and possibly many surrounding countries given the humanitarian toll of migration. This much we know, settling political scores like those associated with "paying for a wall" do nothing but further delay necessary solutions. Might make sense for us all to roll up our sleeves on this challenge and fast. Otherwise, we'll all be collectively paying to help address a very catastrophic event very soon.
29
A number of comments cite desalination as a cure- all for looming potable water shortages ( world-wide, not just Mexico City) caused by inept and corrupt governments, ageing water delivery systems, overpopulation, droughts and other factors. However global unregulated desalination carries its own set of very unpleasant consequences.
First they are very expensive to build. Unless countries are willing to turn over their potable water ownership to private contracters, making life sustaining drinking water a commodity, the people will be taxed.
A bigger problem will be the dried sludge which is a by-product of the process. Will countries already burdened by the cost of building these plants spend even more to truck this sludge inland? Or will they simply do the more convenient and vastly cheaper process of just dumping it back in to the ocean? Now imagine hundreds of thousands of these plants operating world wide. A change of just one half percent in the salinity of the oceans will kill dozens if not hundreds of species of sea life. Especially hard hit will be the coastal waters where 90% of humans dwell and fish. One third of the earth's population depend on fishing as their primary protein source.
It's said that people, for the most part, don't address problems until it's at their front door. Knock-knock.
First they are very expensive to build. Unless countries are willing to turn over their potable water ownership to private contracters, making life sustaining drinking water a commodity, the people will be taxed.
A bigger problem will be the dried sludge which is a by-product of the process. Will countries already burdened by the cost of building these plants spend even more to truck this sludge inland? Or will they simply do the more convenient and vastly cheaper process of just dumping it back in to the ocean? Now imagine hundreds of thousands of these plants operating world wide. A change of just one half percent in the salinity of the oceans will kill dozens if not hundreds of species of sea life. Especially hard hit will be the coastal waters where 90% of humans dwell and fish. One third of the earth's population depend on fishing as their primary protein source.
It's said that people, for the most part, don't address problems until it's at their front door. Knock-knock.
42
Birth control, people. My favorite form of birth control is doctoral study. Nobody in my family had kids before 35, because they all spent 7-8 years working on a PhD.
More than 2-3 children selfish. I'm an atheist. Thank god I can afford to live in Connecticut.
More than 2-3 children selfish. I'm an atheist. Thank god I can afford to live in Connecticut.
7
What a sonsense! it's the chaos in Mexico City has nothing to do with religion and birth control! Is mostly very very poor urban planning and migration from even poorer areas of the country. And you don't even need a PhD to realize that. Get a bit informed.
1
Avery, Mara is right. The laws of physics and common sense are suspended when talking about putting 21 million people in an area that might under ideal conditions support sustainably 20% of that. It just requires better urban planning. Same for Beijing, Mumbai, and all those poorly planned cities. They just look like uninhabitable ecological wastelands. Nothing a planning commission couldn't fix in a couple evening sessions. Unbelievable.
1
In contrast, look what China is doing with the use of science, long term planning about its water table. It is a 50 year long rerouting of a large river that will not only ensure water supplies for Beijing but arable soil northeast. We are not much different than the manana whatever mentality....what will be will be.
2
The problems of Mexico City, as the insufficient water supply and pollution are due to three main reasons: 1. Lack of urban planning, 2. Corruption and 3. Predatory practices of the main building companies. These three problems become a lot more complicated once you realized that Mexico City's Area is just the 40% of the total Metropolitan Area of Mexico's Valley. The rest is part of the territory of other states.The poor coordination and lack of an integral vision shared by all the locals governments involved make very difficult to develop and implement medium and long term solutions. By the way, México City's population growth is less than 1% per year
6
Many things must be done to deter or slow Global Warming (Global Heating, how about?), and we can do them all at once.
But the most fundamental cause people won't talk about in any serious way: overpopulation.
"One (child) and done" should be the daily chant.
Good people, we cannot breed our way out of this mess. We can only breed into it, and we are deep into it.
But the most fundamental cause people won't talk about in any serious way: overpopulation.
"One (child) and done" should be the daily chant.
Good people, we cannot breed our way out of this mess. We can only breed into it, and we are deep into it.
10
Let's focus not only on Mexico City, but cities around the world, and the potential for chaos and havoc wreaked upon them by nihilistic climate change denying governments and movements driven by corporate greed and funding. We have reached the point where the end of all life on the Earth is a near certainty.
5
Remember in the 1970s we talked about overpopulation of the planet. Why is this no longer discussed equally with man-made climate change. In a catholic country like Mexico, the Church is equally responsible for this problem.
16
Because PC thinking says its intrusive and racist to ask people to not have as many kids as they please, regardless of whether they can take care of them or if it will destroy the planet, combined with a non sustainable economic system that demands hordes of cheap labor and compliant consumers.
4
Why is it, with all our wealth, all our trade with Mexico, we can't prevail on them to work toward a country that people don't want to leave?
With his wall, Trump has already thrown in the towel. No suprise there, but as we can see in the middle east, if the water runs out, no wall will solve the problem.
With his wall, Trump has already thrown in the towel. No suprise there, but as we can see in the middle east, if the water runs out, no wall will solve the problem.
4
This is a NASA animated gif showing the spread of drought over North America as this century proceeds. http://assets.climatecentral.org/images/uploads/news/2_12_15_Brian_NASAD...
Consider that 'wave of drought' to be a 'wave of immigration' as well.
Consider that 'wave of drought' to be a 'wave of immigration' as well.
1
We need a Manhattan Project for drinking water - we need to get the best minds in the WORLD working on this right away. This is happening in Mexico City, Syria had a severe drought for YEARS before that mess started, and California's "Fruit Basket" is in danger because of the drought here. Doubtless droughts are happening elsewhere. Humanity can solve this but we need all great minds on it soon.
4
Let's see. Mexico has water on both sides. Maybe their politicians should use some of the money they get from the drug cartels and use it for de-salination plants like they do in Israel
3
According to our best estimations, human populations world wide reached 7 billion a scant 6 years ago, and we will reach 7.5 billion within a few months in 2017.
Reading some of the comments here is stunning, with statements that our planet's natural resources are 'infinite' or that we have so much extra water here, we should build a canal to funnel all of our extra water to Mexico. Both fantastical claims have no basis in reality.
The Colorado River, which is tapped incessantly by agriculture and burgeoning populations in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, is reaching the point where there will not be enough available water from it going forward into the future. Los Angeles and Las Vegas would never have developed to the point where they have if not for clever engineering and early developers who shunted the flow of water for huge personal gain; arid and semi arid land becomes much more valuable when a large continuing supply of water is available, with some developers reaping extraordinary financial gains.
For an idea how rapidly our human numbers are growing ...
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
Reading some of the comments here is stunning, with statements that our planet's natural resources are 'infinite' or that we have so much extra water here, we should build a canal to funnel all of our extra water to Mexico. Both fantastical claims have no basis in reality.
The Colorado River, which is tapped incessantly by agriculture and burgeoning populations in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, is reaching the point where there will not be enough available water from it going forward into the future. Los Angeles and Las Vegas would never have developed to the point where they have if not for clever engineering and early developers who shunted the flow of water for huge personal gain; arid and semi arid land becomes much more valuable when a large continuing supply of water is available, with some developers reaping extraordinary financial gains.
For an idea how rapidly our human numbers are growing ...
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
19
Yes, it is hard to know where to start with the ignorati, e.g., weight of a gallon of water, energy needed to move it from point a to point b, impact of salinity on ocean due to large-scale desalination, energy needed for desalination, unstated effect on agriculture due to the same water problems that cause a shortage in urban areas, etc, etc, etc. It's one thing to talk about incompetence in water management, corruption, etc, it's another to look at how the increasing pressure of climate change on water and food supply will cause cities and countries to go from muddling along to failing catastrophically. And all indications are that this is coming soon.
8
Looks like every incompetence in water management can now be blamed on climate change.
20
MS - And climate change is blamed on all of us, incompetent or not!
1
There is something profoundly stupid in the situation when you spend huge amounts to bring up water to Mexico's altitude and spending huge amounts also to take the water out the city. Even today Mexico has not treatment plants for their waters!, not even a primary treatment, zero!, nada!
Corruption, ignorance and irresponsibility during decades are creating the biggest disaster in Americas cities, Cairo and Calcuta are another tragedies waiting to happen.
Corruption, ignorance and irresponsibility during decades are creating the biggest disaster in Americas cities, Cairo and Calcuta are another tragedies waiting to happen.
25
Water is a finite resource. Climate change is not the cause of Mexico city's water problem - 21 million people in a concentrated area are the problem. Restrict water use until it is so Draconian that people voluntarily cut the birth rate and or move away.
36
Or, invest in fixing pipes (40% of the usage is leaks) and in more efficiency.
3
Move away, as in immigrate to the United States? How's that workin' for ya?
And water is *not* a finite resource. Unlike fossil fuels, it's pretty much a renewable and sustainable resource. The problem is getting the water from where it ends up to where we need it, or vice versa.
Did the founders of Mexico City know centuries ago when the city was founded that they were building on top of a lake bed and that draining away the water underneath would cause the city to sink? I doubt it. Your post seems to imply that they should've known and so the current and future residents and Mexico as a whole should just "lump it". Or maybe we should simply "do away" with large cities because large concentrations of people is clearly a bad thing in your opinion.
Those of us who live in large cities -- like Mexico City and New York City -- disagree. And those of us who would like to see a global effort to reduce and turn back the deleterious effects of climate change everywhere disagree. It is not a simple cause and effect. Climate change is a threat multiplier, as the article clear states.
And water is *not* a finite resource. Unlike fossil fuels, it's pretty much a renewable and sustainable resource. The problem is getting the water from where it ends up to where we need it, or vice versa.
Did the founders of Mexico City know centuries ago when the city was founded that they were building on top of a lake bed and that draining away the water underneath would cause the city to sink? I doubt it. Your post seems to imply that they should've known and so the current and future residents and Mexico as a whole should just "lump it". Or maybe we should simply "do away" with large cities because large concentrations of people is clearly a bad thing in your opinion.
Those of us who live in large cities -- like Mexico City and New York City -- disagree. And those of us who would like to see a global effort to reduce and turn back the deleterious effects of climate change everywhere disagree. It is not a simple cause and effect. Climate change is a threat multiplier, as the article clear states.
2
The problems of Mexico City are man-made, not necessarily "climate" induced. The valley was a LAKE, before it was drained. And once the aquifer underneath was depleted the earth sank. The valley is seismically active (remember the earthquake in 1985, anyone?????) and still surrounded by several active volcanoes. With 20+ millions of people stuffed into unplanned urban environment, it is a colossal disaster waiting to happen, and it will happen when one or another volcanoes erupts.
19
Matty - "The problems of Mexico City are man-made, not necessarily "climate" induced."
Shhhhh, don't bring science into this, there is an agenda to be maintained.
Shhhhh, don't bring science into this, there is an agenda to be maintained.
2
Hi Matty. The underneath aquifer still exists but it's very low, and we dare not remove more water from it. The aquifer replenishes every year because of the rains that constantly flood the city. And the volcanoes are still active, the last eruption was last month.
What is sad, is that MXC probably was a beautiful place with its six lakes back in the 1500s, but the Aztecs, then the Spaniards and now us, really messed with the ecosystem.
What is sad, is that MXC probably was a beautiful place with its six lakes back in the 1500s, but the Aztecs, then the Spaniards and now us, really messed with the ecosystem.
1
I'm a bit confused. The article made it very clear that the situation is a result from both climate change *and* human decisions/actions. Or is it simply that you wish to underscore "climate" change-- parenthesis being yours-- and a skepticism about its impact?
2
The article notes that 10 percent of the Mexican population might eventually come here.
In fact, they already have, or close to it.
As of 2014, there were 11.7 million Mexican immigrants in the US, which is not too far off 10 percent of the current population of Mexico of 122 million people.
In fact, they already have, or close to it.
As of 2014, there were 11.7 million Mexican immigrants in the US, which is not too far off 10 percent of the current population of Mexico of 122 million people.
19
Are these the same climatologists who stated last year that California was going to be in a perpetual drought?
13
are you the same regressive who always asserts that climate change is not a factor????
14
Could you provide a link(s) to which comments/climatologists you are speaking of?
2
Joseph did not "always" assert anything and did not claim that climate change is not "a" factor. I also suspect that he is not a "regressive", whatever that means, other than someone with whom you disagree. Why so quick to pounce?
2
It is very disturbing to read so many comments saying Mexico City's problems stem from over-population, not climate change. It is not either/or. We are only seeing the beginnings of climate change, and as it continues to exacerbate global over-population problems, there will be growing numbers of climate refugees, particularly from equatorial regions such as Mexico, Africa and the Middle East. As someone noted, no wall can protect half the world from the other, and perhaps it is our karma to be over-whelmed for we have contributed so heavily to climate change yet remain in denial, finding all excuse to do nothing. But don't pretend you weren't warned by the Pentagon:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=pentagon+rep...
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=pentagon+rep...
6
It's both - Mexico's population grew from 19.5 million in 1940, to 100 million in 2000, and now at 130 million.
5
The rich in Mexico have built their own wall. Its a psychological one. Its between the Europeans and the indigenous peoples. Its between the rich and entitled, and the poor and subjected. And one day, ironically and tragically, they are going to pay for that wall that has been so steadily built up.
3
The only humane thing to do is build a long canal into Mexico and give them our water. We have plenty- We need to share!
1
Hi Aaron, that's a nice thought. The problem in Mexico City is not the lack of water in the country itself. MXC is in a highland basin, so moving water from lowerlands is costly. Plus, the city itself has a terrible pipeline system: most of the centre of the city, being 500 years old, is difficult if not impossible to fix. Remember that below MXC there was another city: the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán. And below it, there was a lake. Digging in these areas is very difficult.
A plan we currently have (sort of) is to actually move people out. The city is transitioning its economic activity to services. The central parts of the city are now offices and business, and pepople have been moving to the outter parts of it. High-speed trains are being build to connect nearby Toluca and Querétaro cities, so that people can commute from the in less than an hour. It won't be enough, but it's a start that we hope will buy us more time.
A plan we currently have (sort of) is to actually move people out. The city is transitioning its economic activity to services. The central parts of the city are now offices and business, and pepople have been moving to the outter parts of it. High-speed trains are being build to connect nearby Toluca and Querétaro cities, so that people can commute from the in less than an hour. It won't be enough, but it's a start that we hope will buy us more time.
4
BIRTH CONTROL ... everywhere. Only six billion person now, supposedly two billion more by 2050. I'll be dead or in the record books! Your problem.
MORE OPEN LAND: stop unnecessary development. More public transit-- fewer highways and parking spaces! More pubic transit.
There was no mention of Intra-city cisterns. Green roofs everywhere. (I lament the waste of potential gardening space in a city of high rises.. which is an esp. efficient way to house/shelter people who are willing to behave.)
MORE OPEN LAND: stop unnecessary development. More public transit-- fewer highways and parking spaces! More pubic transit.
There was no mention of Intra-city cisterns. Green roofs everywhere. (I lament the waste of potential gardening space in a city of high rises.. which is an esp. efficient way to house/shelter people who are willing to behave.)
24
This article portrays exactly what the government in Mexico is always ignoring:
the lower income class and poor neighborhoods. This is what happens in Mexico and tourist must be aware of the conditions of the city besides the residential areas. "Not all the shines is gold"
the lower income class and poor neighborhoods. This is what happens in Mexico and tourist must be aware of the conditions of the city besides the residential areas. "Not all the shines is gold"
7
At some point, we need to address population growth now that climate change is a household word (though I agree, not being addressed nearly as much as it should be). I heard that Thailand is short on people -- why don't they take some people who are desperately looking for a home rather than just add to the population? We have finite natural resources on this planet and increasing the number of people who are dependent on them for survival is just not a good idea. The handwriting has been on the wall.
12
This is exactly the problem. I have been to the D.F. many times starting from the mid 70's and the poverty then was overwhelming. At this point it is beyond description. Millions of "campesinos", as Mexicans refer to them, have moved to the city, living in cardboard and tin. Birth rates amongst this group are out of sight. The chasm between rich and poor is staggering. The way the rich look down upon the poor is alarming. Mainly this takes place between the colonialist European population and the indigenous peoples who have been subjugated. Many are blinded by a Catholicism telling them, in the Latin America version of it, that their reward is not in this world but only in the next. It is a powerful type of brainwashing. If finally their ecosystems collapse under the weight of climate change, overpopulation and the pollution of the environment, it will get really ugly. The United States cannot save them from themselves. It is going to require fundamental changes in the relationship between the European and indigenous populations. Something which is rarely even discussed.
9
" I heard that Thailand is short on people -- why don't they take some people who are desperately looking for a home rather than just add to the population?"
Mexico could send its excess population to Europe where they would be much better adapted to European culture than the hordes of Muslim "refugees". They could also consider sending excess women to China which has a very skewed male/female ratio.
Mexico could send its excess population to Europe where they would be much better adapted to European culture than the hordes of Muslim "refugees". They could also consider sending excess women to China which has a very skewed male/female ratio.
3
Mexico City's population is growing. Mexico is going to have to take drastic steps to curb this growth or face some tragic consequences.
11
Mexico City is your future, United States, if the Republicans have their way:
Unchecked population growth when birth control is made harder to access, destruction of water resources and management when the EPA is abolished, crumbling infrastructure, except in enclaves of the wealthy, increased flight to urban areas when the marketplace decides rural areas do not merit attention or investment, and government corruption from the lowest party precinct on up to the White House and the halls of Congress.
And it's not as far off as you think...
Unchecked population growth when birth control is made harder to access, destruction of water resources and management when the EPA is abolished, crumbling infrastructure, except in enclaves of the wealthy, increased flight to urban areas when the marketplace decides rural areas do not merit attention or investment, and government corruption from the lowest party precinct on up to the White House and the halls of Congress.
And it's not as far off as you think...
16
This story will not be changed until women, regardless of socio-economic status, nationality or religion--all women have universal access (and religious permission [Pope Francis, this message is for you]) to birth control.
42
Yes indeed. Mexico's exploding population has nothing to do with water shortages, because natural resources are infinite. Also, Mexico is a stellar example of urban planning and government probity. Anything that goes wrong there is probably the fault of Colonialism.
If the Times is so alarmed by Climate Change, why do they support mass immigration to Europe and North America, knowing full well that each peasant who moves to a developed nation immediately becomes a resource hog?
Opposition to Climate Change means opposition to population growth and mass migration. It means encouraging poor people to stay put and be poor, not to industrialize and acquire flat-screen TV'S, cars and air-conditioning.
If the Times is so alarmed by Climate Change, why do they support mass immigration to Europe and North America, knowing full well that each peasant who moves to a developed nation immediately becomes a resource hog?
Opposition to Climate Change means opposition to population growth and mass migration. It means encouraging poor people to stay put and be poor, not to industrialize and acquire flat-screen TV'S, cars and air-conditioning.
15
Mexico City is a knot of contradictions--from spectacularly sophisticated and modern neighborhoods to poor areas where folks cannot depend on water or light. Climate change is one way to look at the city's misfortunes but there are many others as well--pressure on the land, uneven urban development, among others. Remarks about the post-NAFTA failed rural policies are very well taken--many farmers would return to their lands in a Mexico City minute if they thought they could make a living and made opportunities available for their children. Traditional Mexican agriculture, a threatened commodity, would provide food and ideas for many.
To be fair, the city and the national government have attempted to address the most severe problems with green solutions, encouraging people to move to other cities (always a losing proposition), closing many polluting businesses on the outskirts of the city, limiting the use of cars. The fertility rate has dropped dramatically to just over two children.
The fact remains that Mexico City is essential not only for the country's financial sector, but for education, culture, industry and government. Many regional and international organizations and companies have offices in the city. I, for one, would like to see the country find solutions for the city that tame its urban problems and underscore its unique character. It is, after all, one of a kind.
To be fair, the city and the national government have attempted to address the most severe problems with green solutions, encouraging people to move to other cities (always a losing proposition), closing many polluting businesses on the outskirts of the city, limiting the use of cars. The fertility rate has dropped dramatically to just over two children.
The fact remains that Mexico City is essential not only for the country's financial sector, but for education, culture, industry and government. Many regional and international organizations and companies have offices in the city. I, for one, would like to see the country find solutions for the city that tame its urban problems and underscore its unique character. It is, after all, one of a kind.
23
Astonishing to read comments from people who don't understand that a problem can have multiple causes.
Mexico City suffers from being in
1) a poor location in a valley with subsidence
2) poor infrastructure to deal with the poor location
3) a big population depleting water faster than natural rain fills up aquifers and reservoirs
4) ineffective government to help with the issues
5) AND climate change altering usual patterns of rainfall which makes all of the above much worse
Given that scientists predict that abrupt human caused climate change is likely to lead to greater extremes (i.e. when it's dry, it's dry much longer and when it's wet, it floods), the people of Mexico City have a lot to worry about.
All of us humans on the planet are in the same boat, so we really need to start working together on solutions. Otherwise, it will just be a case of "And then they all turned on each other..."
And there are plenty of solutions--from access to contraception to reduce population to sustainable energy practices that clean air (which also cleans water) to better capture of water when it does rain.
Mexico City suffers from being in
1) a poor location in a valley with subsidence
2) poor infrastructure to deal with the poor location
3) a big population depleting water faster than natural rain fills up aquifers and reservoirs
4) ineffective government to help with the issues
5) AND climate change altering usual patterns of rainfall which makes all of the above much worse
Given that scientists predict that abrupt human caused climate change is likely to lead to greater extremes (i.e. when it's dry, it's dry much longer and when it's wet, it floods), the people of Mexico City have a lot to worry about.
All of us humans on the planet are in the same boat, so we really need to start working together on solutions. Otherwise, it will just be a case of "And then they all turned on each other..."
And there are plenty of solutions--from access to contraception to reduce population to sustainable energy practices that clean air (which also cleans water) to better capture of water when it does rain.
10
Not everything should be faulted to climate change. The water management system of Mexico, which joints water management, water works, and agriculture, creating many conflicts of interests, and moral hazards, should also be considered. In addition, the municipalisation of water supplies should not be overlooked.
7
Birth control and abortion. Religion and its opposition to both is the most destructive force on the planet.
19
Exactly. The picture of the mother with four young children no decent place to live with water says it all. While global warming may be part of the problem, the Catholic Church has doomed this nation (and especially its women) to rampant overpopulation.
11
More climate alarmist claims from the science deniers of the NY Times. To suggest that an inch of sea level rise over the past one hundred years is impacting coastal cities is just plain silly. That's equivalent to someone saying that winters were much colder when they were kids, when there might have been a fraction of a degree of warming. In other words, without sketchy and unreliable measurements, and the media telling us how last year was alegedly the "hottest" year on record, nobody would be able to tell the difference.
4
This is great reporting. It reminds me of the reporting earlier about the drying out of Iran. While the political chaos makes for great attention grabbers, the challenges described in these articles are more serious and harder to resolve.
4
I had an uncle in Mexico City whose apartment (initially ground-floor or even second-floor), gradually became a basement as the building settled. There were steep steps down from the street level and windows that opened into dirt. There were other buildings like that in his neighborhood; I imagine they did poorly in the 1985 earthquake. Mexico City has been a lousy place for a big city for a long time.
6
The NY Times keeps grinding its the global warming ax even though there's no connection here.
5
This is where global warming.and its accompanying climate change, endangers national security. If the reactionaries in Congress would only wake up to the 21st century instead of reverting to the 19th, they'd provide blockbuster funding for the EPA, NIH, and domestic infrastructure initiatives along with global climate treaties. Instead of building a wall between us and Mexico, we'd be working together with governments throughout Central and South America to address these enormous environmental issues. But it looks as though they've turned off their alarms and gone back to sleep like Rip Van Winkles.
5
Thank You Michael for the insightful article on Mexico City. These are human problems, problems caused by our World View, our religions, and our greed. They are not particular to Mexico; we need to wake up. It is just easy and comfortable to listen to those that deny climate problems, and deny the need for family planning. Look around.
7
You cannot fight subsidence. As the underlying support of aquifers are depleted land above will always follow the water table lower, much as the hot air steadily expelled by Trump will lead to a slow collapse.
3
Unless, until heads emerge from the sand (or from other places the sun does not normally shine), this is our legacy to our descendants.
4
Lima, a city of 10 million people and 1/3 of Peru's population is totally dependent on a very fragile system that transports water from the Andes to Lima. It has already been disrupted this year by floods. With global warming effects on the glaciers and snowpack in the Andes, the source of Lima's water, Lima is also on the edge of a very serious or potentially catastrophic situation.
17
Gist of first 120 Comments is that soon as there's enough water to supply X-number of people - rich and poor - some multiple of X will be clamoring for more.
5
Exactly, more people need more water. They also need more industrial farming, more industrial developement and more schools which results in the rise of the standard of living allowing everyone to use their own free will to have less children. Not letting the world die of thirst and have their crops fail seems like the right thing to do. Or would you rather have Belgium set who can and cannot have children.
I could not finish reading this article. The first sentence is so negative! Again, someone portraying Mexico as filthy, dirty, etc. Mexico City is a vibrant city in so many other ways. Why not write an article about the pipelines here in the US that threaten water supplies? Why not write an article about New Mexico? Vado is a town near the border where people don't have access to water. Why not talk about the Native Americans that also depend on trucks to come fill up their barrels on a weekly or monthly basis. How about a huge spread talking about the marshes and estuaries that no longer sustain the shrimp industry in Louisiana because of high sea levels rising and taking over? Let's look at our country first, and ask what the Agent Orange man and his team are doing about it. It's embarrassing that our own people live this way, so we have to write shaming articles about other countries to look good? C'mon!
10
Ediith, please feel free to drink the water when you're in Mexico City or anywhere in Mexico. Not exactly Fiji.
5
Dear Ediith Velasco,
A decent point, except that I have read articles here in the NYT about all those subjects; environmental threat from oil pipelines, drought in the U.S., American towns paying to have water trucked in. Also this information about Mexico City is true and dangerous, but it should have been highlighted from the start that dozens of cities around the world are facing the same problem.
A decent point, except that I have read articles here in the NYT about all those subjects; environmental threat from oil pipelines, drought in the U.S., American towns paying to have water trucked in. Also this information about Mexico City is true and dangerous, but it should have been highlighted from the start that dozens of cities around the world are facing the same problem.
12
@Edith Velsaco. The town of Vado, New Mexico, is not a teeming metropolis of 20 million-plus. And however disturbing it is when 400 Native Americans in an isolated US hamlet depend on water trucks, that does not equate to Mexico City -- the largest metropolitan area in North America, which faces an avoidable environmental disaster affecting much of Mexico itself. Honest reporting in the US press about corruption or precarious conditions in Mexico, Russia, or France or Italy is not shaming anyone. One mustn't look for racism or xenophobia under rocks.
5
Yep is concerning, but chill out guys it is like one city out all Mexico with this degree of problem. We have plenty of cities and space to handle this in Mexico. And please, because one city has a problem of population and resources don't think people just wake up thinking they will go to the US.
1
Wake up, CCarr. Do your homework. Mexico can no longer count on the Cantarell oil fields to support its population. A population that doubles every 30 years. Loss of oil profits from the oil fields means that Mexico must now buy energy to support a burgeoning population. We are looking at a world-wide depletion of natural resources and the future lies in appropriating land to feed an increasing number of people. Mexico is an example to the world of what is to come with an extra billion people with no arable land to support them.
9
Very little is mentioned in this article about the responsibility and faults of the Mexican government in planning for, and responding to, this crisis.. No mention of the overpopulation in Mexico. Little about the corruption. Everything seems to be loaded on Climate Change. The Mexican government's solution to this seems to be more corruption, enrichment for the few, and enabling illegal immigration into the US (tying up the courts!). The whole piece smells like another attempt to justify "open borders".
6
I’m glad Pope Francis has made the environment a priority. I hope he and the entire Church will condone and even encourage women to use modern means of contraception.
Cultures could downplay the idea that having many children defines adulthood. If a couple has just one or 2 children, then they do not have to work all of the time just to support them. This leaves the couple with more time to spend with their children, especially time to make things with them, take them places, talk with them, read to them, and make sure they do their schoolwork.
If Mexico could lower its ever growing population, Mexicans would have higher quality lives and environmental resources would not be depleted so fast.
Cultures could downplay the idea that having many children defines adulthood. If a couple has just one or 2 children, then they do not have to work all of the time just to support them. This leaves the couple with more time to spend with their children, especially time to make things with them, take them places, talk with them, read to them, and make sure they do their schoolwork.
If Mexico could lower its ever growing population, Mexicans would have higher quality lives and environmental resources would not be depleted so fast.
6
The first and last word in each of these stories is population explosion. This planet can't handle it. We might have some technology that might grow more food, withstand bigger earthquakes, teach more people. But we are too many.
10
The Earth is a finite place. Free clean drinking water is a finite resource. Exactly how many humans can the Earth support without ruining the place? This is an experiment we are presently engaged in. I know people don't like to discuss OVERPOPULATION. It is now a dirty word...so we talk about climate change, etc. The Earth is creaking under the weight of sheer numbers. Mexico City's population went from 1.8 million in 1940 to about 9 million today. Imagine if all those Mexicans hadn't jumped the border and gone to the US...the collapse would have happened sooner. And by the way, California went from 7 million in 1940 to nearly 9 million today, courtesy of all that immigration. When are we going to have an honest discussion about population growth?
8
sorry, I meant to say that California is presently at nearly 40 million!!!!!!!!!!!!
2
This article does not make clear: are the very real and very serious problems described largely the result of global warming or over population? Can we tell?
2
Well, yes. If you're a single mother living in a shack with four children, plus your other relatives, life in a place known for a lack of reliable water systems is going to be rotten.
I've been dazzled, reading about all the recently-detained, some-deported illegal aliens profiled by the NY Times, how living in a country with somewhat better opportunities and options has not changed self-defeating behavior. The women now living in a church basement doesn't have just the three adorable little children repeatedly interviewed by journalists--she has, as I understand, at least five, and her older (oldest?) daughter, at 24 or 25, already has three of her own.
My great-great-grandfather had ten children from a total of three wives. His daughter, my great-grandmother, had four (well, five, but one died shortly after birth). My grandmother had two. My mother had two. I had one (though I admit, I'd wanted to have a second, but couldn't afford to).
I've lived in places with severe water deficiency problems, where women's lives also revolve around the relentless unending work of fetching water. Those places are also markedby families too large to be sustainable in their environment. Culture often trumps common sense.
People can choose to leave destructive patterns behind, or not. Irish and Italian families, for example used to be large ones. Many Irish and Italians still identify as Catholics but have rejected those Church teachings they found unreasonable. Will Mexicans?
I've been dazzled, reading about all the recently-detained, some-deported illegal aliens profiled by the NY Times, how living in a country with somewhat better opportunities and options has not changed self-defeating behavior. The women now living in a church basement doesn't have just the three adorable little children repeatedly interviewed by journalists--she has, as I understand, at least five, and her older (oldest?) daughter, at 24 or 25, already has three of her own.
My great-great-grandfather had ten children from a total of three wives. His daughter, my great-grandmother, had four (well, five, but one died shortly after birth). My grandmother had two. My mother had two. I had one (though I admit, I'd wanted to have a second, but couldn't afford to).
I've lived in places with severe water deficiency problems, where women's lives also revolve around the relentless unending work of fetching water. Those places are also markedby families too large to be sustainable in their environment. Culture often trumps common sense.
People can choose to leave destructive patterns behind, or not. Irish and Italian families, for example used to be large ones. Many Irish and Italians still identify as Catholics but have rejected those Church teachings they found unreasonable. Will Mexicans?
13
This is more olds than news. I've been visiting there since the 80s and there has been perrenial work on the church in the Zocalo. The city was built on a slapdash fill in job of a volcaninc lake by the Spanish. Why it was not incrementally restructured over the years is the problem. Of course, the pollution is another problem. The last time I was there, they had to shutdown the busses for two days to try to get the air breathable again. There are more than just economic reasons for the mass of emmigrtion from mexico to the USA.
6
As we have learned from what has happened in Michigan, there is no more important resource than clean water. This is what the Standing Rock issue is all about.
Mexico is a Catholic country, and yes, there is a population problem, especially in cities where people go to find work to support their growing families. Large and growing concentrated populations, poor and aging infrastructure, and then global warming (the final straw) create a trifecta for disaster.
The earth cracking and caving in from water extraction--I wonder if this will also happen in areas where oil has been overdrilled, etc. We are pumping resources out the earth with no regard to the ramifications. We have already seen enormous sinkholes in other places of the world swallowing cars and people.
We need to plan ahead NOW to preserve aquifers and water supplies. Clean water is NOT an unlimited resource! And to the person who said Mexico City has two oceans and they can desalinate water--desalination is a very costly process and not a quick fix.
Mexico is a Catholic country, and yes, there is a population problem, especially in cities where people go to find work to support their growing families. Large and growing concentrated populations, poor and aging infrastructure, and then global warming (the final straw) create a trifecta for disaster.
The earth cracking and caving in from water extraction--I wonder if this will also happen in areas where oil has been overdrilled, etc. We are pumping resources out the earth with no regard to the ramifications. We have already seen enormous sinkholes in other places of the world swallowing cars and people.
We need to plan ahead NOW to preserve aquifers and water supplies. Clean water is NOT an unlimited resource! And to the person who said Mexico City has two oceans and they can desalinate water--desalination is a very costly process and not a quick fix.
8
The problem is obvious and isn't the elephant in the room. Its the bright majenta with pink polka dotted mastadon that takes up the entire room. From 300,000 to 21 MILLION in population on land that has been severely altered. 30 sq miles to 3,000 and we blame climate change? Mother nature hasn't changed a bit since the Aztecs. They lived through floods and drought. Climate change has nothing to do with what's occurring in Mexico City. In fact, the climate change lie is the same the world over. Over population is a diverse socio-economic and political problem. Leave mom nature out of it.
12
Blame the Catholic Church under John Paul II for preaching abstinence instead of comprehensive birth control. Had he been more like Francis this problem would not have happened.
7
Since climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese, I would expect to see China take over Mexico in the future. This will add nicely to the oil permits they have off the coast of Cuba. Trump will be pushing ever harder for that wall.
I don't dispute the urgency of climate action, but Mexico City's social and environmental maladies are the result of overpopulation, overdevelopment, poor infrastructure, ineffective government, corrupt politics and, perhaps most fundamentally, location. If you drain a desert lake, ostensibly build a city on the site and then attract more inhabitants than the physical and social infrastructures can possibly support, you will have the same problems even if global CO2 levels were somehow restored to the pre-industrial state. This piece poignantly illustrates Mexico City's daunting problems, but I fear that the emerging narrative - climate change is to blame - only provides a convenient excuse for those who come next in a long line of politicians who who have failed to deliver on the social compact that must be maintained between citizens and their elected representatives.
12
Not Iran, not Afghanistan, not Syria, not Iraq...
Mexico itself poses the greatest threat to our national security. Anyone with some brain should realize that.
Mexico is a microcosm of many good things and so many bad, and uncivilized things that could threaten our security because of the fact that it is so close to us.
Moreover:
Mexico is the gateway to the U.S for many Central and Latin Americans who want to come here illegally.
Anyone care to guess what would would happen if Mexico became a failed state today? many Central/Latin American would overwhelm our country through the Mexican border. Then, those progressive, liberal would think twice about Trump's border wall.
An apocalypse is coming. It will test all of us. Then we will be forced to show our true colors as human beings.
Mexico itself poses the greatest threat to our national security. Anyone with some brain should realize that.
Mexico is a microcosm of many good things and so many bad, and uncivilized things that could threaten our security because of the fact that it is so close to us.
Moreover:
Mexico is the gateway to the U.S for many Central and Latin Americans who want to come here illegally.
Anyone care to guess what would would happen if Mexico became a failed state today? many Central/Latin American would overwhelm our country through the Mexican border. Then, those progressive, liberal would think twice about Trump's border wall.
An apocalypse is coming. It will test all of us. Then we will be forced to show our true colors as human beings.
4
The NYT ran a similar story in 1998 that doesn't even mention climate change. See Sam Dillon NYT Jan 29, 1998 or link below.
https://faculty.washington.edu/jwh/207mexic.htm
This 1998 NYT article says sinking began early in the 1900s and peaked at 19 inches per year around mid-century (i.e. ~1950). This has absolutely nothing to do with climate change. This article conflates so many issues with climate change its hard to know where to start. But I do know where this ends. Total loss of credibility for NYT on this issue. Not even your most liberal readers are going to fall for this. Any one of any political stripe who went to college is going to see this as pure propaganda.
https://faculty.washington.edu/jwh/207mexic.htm
This 1998 NYT article says sinking began early in the 1900s and peaked at 19 inches per year around mid-century (i.e. ~1950). This has absolutely nothing to do with climate change. This article conflates so many issues with climate change its hard to know where to start. But I do know where this ends. Total loss of credibility for NYT on this issue. Not even your most liberal readers are going to fall for this. Any one of any political stripe who went to college is going to see this as pure propaganda.
3
You are right about the atrocious journalism. Wrong about not even staunch progressocialistatists falling for it: just read most of the comments here.
1
There's an article recently on water shortages in Syria due to the war. A war which has been linked to a long drought in turn linked to global warming.
If all the mountain glaciers melted they’d only raise sea level around a third of a meter, but over a billion people in Asia alone depend on glacier melt for water.
When climactic zones and rains move and cross borders, they’ll be people with guns on the other side of that border who may not like those being forced to move.
If all the mountain glaciers melted they’d only raise sea level around a third of a meter, but over a billion people in Asia alone depend on glacier melt for water.
When climactic zones and rains move and cross borders, they’ll be people with guns on the other side of that border who may not like those being forced to move.
1
It's easy for an objective person who reads this article to think about other things that could have contributed to this situation other than, or in addition to, climate change. It was stated a dozen times that climate change was the cause yet there was very little and only circumstantial evidence provided. Yes the water table is being lowered at an alarming rate causing the ground to sink, but how much of that has to do with climate change and how much has to do with 21 million people sucking the water resources dry? In absence of 21 million people would the ground still be sinking?
This brings to the front a bigger issue: Articles like this do not help bring undecided climate change people to your side. It only points out the clear bias in the editors writing and publishing this article. There are many people out there that are "climate skeptics". They don't deny climate change is real but they clearly and quickly can identify the difference between fact and propaganda and this is the latter.
The worst part is that the true cause of this potential disaster could be climate change but because of how poorly this was article was presented the facts and the truth will be lost.
This brings to the front a bigger issue: Articles like this do not help bring undecided climate change people to your side. It only points out the clear bias in the editors writing and publishing this article. There are many people out there that are "climate skeptics". They don't deny climate change is real but they clearly and quickly can identify the difference between fact and propaganda and this is the latter.
The worst part is that the true cause of this potential disaster could be climate change but because of how poorly this was article was presented the facts and the truth will be lost.
3
The problem is population growth, not climate change.
6
According to Pew, 10% of the population of Mexico has already emigrated North.
5
Like Ron White said.....well, you know the rest.
1
"Climate change is threatening to...blah blah blah." Didn't I read this EXACT headline just a year or so ago about the "unending" drought in California? Come on, NYT, your bias is just making you look dumb.
2
I don't know where you get your quotation marks, c smith, but the deluges in Northern California following years of extreme drought actually do follow climate change predictions of freakish extremes. The Army Corps of Engineers believes climate change is real, and for the sake of infrastructure, you might be glad of that.
6
The focus on climate change here is puzzling. Mexico city's problems are caused by overpopulation, bad planning, corruption, economic inequality and bad governance.
The city would be a disaster area even if climate change did not exist. Climate change just gives Mexico a crutch to blame their problems on something/someone else. In reality, the problems are 100% of their own making.
Mexico has been a failed state for decades and this article is proof. It's hard to imagine what is going to change to avoid the certain disaster coming when the next big earthquake comes along. And somehow, with the author's unrelenting focus on climate change, they didn't even mention the always-looming threat of earthquakes.
The city would be a disaster area even if climate change did not exist. Climate change just gives Mexico a crutch to blame their problems on something/someone else. In reality, the problems are 100% of their own making.
Mexico has been a failed state for decades and this article is proof. It's hard to imagine what is going to change to avoid the certain disaster coming when the next big earthquake comes along. And somehow, with the author's unrelenting focus on climate change, they didn't even mention the always-looming threat of earthquakes.
8
But climate change does exist, in addition to Mexico City's other problems, and the factor of climate change SHOULD be emphasized to US readers, because unlike Mexico City's urban planning, it is something we can and should be addressing here at home.
7
Thank you for this piece
3
Clearly Mr Trump can build his wall as high and impregnable as he can imagine but it is not going to stop people from doing everything imaginable to escape the dire Hobbesian conditions of Mexican existence.
Mexico is blessed with rich natural resources, farm and croplands, mineral wealth, petroleum energy reserves, hard working peoples, a viable vacation industry, an education system and an immense, easily accessible trading partner. If ever there was a case for exemplar nation building such a place would be my first choice.
Alas, the shadow cruelty of the catholic church rule over population controls will forever doom the Mexican people to pestilence and victimhood.
Mexico is blessed with rich natural resources, farm and croplands, mineral wealth, petroleum energy reserves, hard working peoples, a viable vacation industry, an education system and an immense, easily accessible trading partner. If ever there was a case for exemplar nation building such a place would be my first choice.
Alas, the shadow cruelty of the catholic church rule over population controls will forever doom the Mexican people to pestilence and victimhood.
1
Seems to me like Mexico is grossly overpopulated, and millions of Mexicans in the near future will be looking to migrate to the US. We need to look carefully at how our policies and generosity set precedents and encourage more migration. We will be put in the same situation as Europe- adding people to our lifeboat out of a sense of humanity and kindness until the lifeboat sinks due to overloading.
6
While saddened about the grave water crisis facing Mexico City, I think this is the perfect storm for long-lasting interventions ranging from cautious government decentralization and devolution to new industrial clusters outside the capital region and policies to deter irresponsible water consumption and also make Mexico a pacesetter in the development of affordable clean-energy vehicles. With Monterrey Tech and a new generation of renewable-energy innovators, Mexico has the talent to spearhead an unprecedented dual revolution in water conservation and transportation. Mexico’s well-developed banking system eschew infrastructural risk. But the country can access the global capital and the strategic allies to turn this grave issue into a historic opportunity, as it did in building its agro-industrial economy and more recently its growing biotech base with Plenus, as an anchor.
2
Another day, another impending Climate Change catastrophe peddled by the Leftist media. Rest assured, none of these things will happen.The Mexicans will eventually figure it out and the Times can go on to the next impending Climate Change disaster that will never happen
3
Plenty of blame-the-victim responses in these comments. If only they controlled their fertility. (Tell it to the US government, about to defund family planning programs of the UN.) If only they didn't congregate in cities. (Tell it to the US government, which subsidizes US agriculture, dumping food on Latin America that Latin American farmers can't hope to compete with.) If you can't make a living as a farmer, you head to the cities and hope for the best. Climate change isn't doing much for their agricultural lands either. Not sure what I mean -- same thing is happening in California.
46
Dear Paula,
I would hope that people are not blaming the specific people in Mexico City for this. Those few millions are only part of the overwhelming majority of humans that are, collectively, responsible for this problem. But I think it is reasonable to blame humans as a species, for not controlling their birthrates, for not living sustainably in cities (it's possible, just too expensive to bother with apparently), and for using huge amounts of fossil fuels and damaging the atmosphere in the process.
Humans are primarily to blame for this, and the sad thing is not that so many humans will die because of it, but that we will cause the extinction of so many species in the process. The other species on earth are the victims here, and I don't think they have any blame in the matter.
I would hope that people are not blaming the specific people in Mexico City for this. Those few millions are only part of the overwhelming majority of humans that are, collectively, responsible for this problem. But I think it is reasonable to blame humans as a species, for not controlling their birthrates, for not living sustainably in cities (it's possible, just too expensive to bother with apparently), and for using huge amounts of fossil fuels and damaging the atmosphere in the process.
Humans are primarily to blame for this, and the sad thing is not that so many humans will die because of it, but that we will cause the extinction of so many species in the process. The other species on earth are the victims here, and I don't think they have any blame in the matter.
2
Fine, we can talk about population. But let's not forget that every child born in America will create thirteen times as much ecological damage over the course of his or her lifetime than a child born in Brazil,” the average American will drain as many resources as 35 natives of India and consume 53 times more goods and services than someone from China.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/american-consumption-habits/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/american-consumption-habits/
5
It's not blaming the victim to note the root problem, which in this case is overpopulation coupled with bad water management. And while California's experiencing similar subsidence in its central valley, all Californians still enjoy a flow of clean water when they turn on their faucets. So, no, the same thing is not happening in California. Also, the population shift from rural to urban is global and over a century old. It's not limited to Mexico, and certainly not the result of US agricultural subsidies.
Mexico City is a warning of how things could develop in the US if we don't address our core water problems, but their problems are of their own making.
Mexico City is a warning of how things could develop in the US if we don't address our core water problems, but their problems are of their own making.
1
Read the article and contrast it with the embedded advertisements in the app!
Mexico City is collapsing, literally falling apart; people wait hours for water that never comes; line up for water trucks that run out; and many get water from their taps only a couple hours a week, while others get industrial sludge.
In the meantime, the app features ads for Shark Tank, jewelry, reverse mortgages, and private jets! The contrast is jarring...
Instead of building a wall, let's help rebuild both countries' infrastructure with massive *public* -- not private-profit gouging-public fleecing -- investment.
Amazingly, there's been a net outflow of immigrants back to Mexico notwithstanding Trump's fear-mongering and bigotry pandering remarks. In the meantime, maybe we can get our priorities straight and stop advertising for and seeking mindless pleasures and financial nuggets!
Mexico City is collapsing, literally falling apart; people wait hours for water that never comes; line up for water trucks that run out; and many get water from their taps only a couple hours a week, while others get industrial sludge.
In the meantime, the app features ads for Shark Tank, jewelry, reverse mortgages, and private jets! The contrast is jarring...
Instead of building a wall, let's help rebuild both countries' infrastructure with massive *public* -- not private-profit gouging-public fleecing -- investment.
Amazingly, there's been a net outflow of immigrants back to Mexico notwithstanding Trump's fear-mongering and bigotry pandering remarks. In the meantime, maybe we can get our priorities straight and stop advertising for and seeking mindless pleasures and financial nuggets!
12
The apps reflect your internet travels via cookies, not merely which companies buy space on the Times.
2
obama spent nearly $8 trillion during his eight years as president on US infrastructure, so our infrastructure should be perfect right now.
Nyts, is there some reason you mention mexicos gigantic over population problem only in passing in this and other articles? There are 122 million Mexicans in a country that can support perhaps 1/2 that number. The people mentioned in the article, like the single mom, has 4 kids. That is the real preoblem. Go ahead, fix climate change over nite, in the end it won't make any difference as the population, unless it is addressed, will just overwhelm any solution we come up with that doesn't include lowering our numbers. The times likes to think its all about racist Americans who want to cut the flow of people from south of the border. You don't get it. It has nothing to do with race. It's about survival. We are already vastly over populated in this country. It's pure insanity to keep adding more. Our immigration should be slashed to only the barest minimum that actually benefits the u.s. as there is an endless supply of people who will want to leave places like Mexico to come here. Unless we want to look like all these places people are fleeing from, we should help them solve their problems, starting with birth control, at home, and work on our own population unless we want to become a third world mess as well.
72
In fact, the number of children per family in Mexico has been dropping over the past several decades and is now 2.25. Hardly fodder for a "third world mess."
See https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2127....
See https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2127....
3
Just like China, Mexico City's fertility rate is very low (1,8), so it should be pointetd out as an anomaly that there was a woman with 4 children (she might be taking care of her kids and others too). And no worries, people from Mexico City no longer have the dream to migrate north of the border. What's fascinating is that most people in this big city enjoy living here, albeit there are good opportunities in other parts of the country. And I know it's been a miracle to sustain life for so many people in such a small space for that long.
1
“…One study predicts that 10 percent of Mexicans ages 15 to 65 could eventually try to emigrate north as a result of rising temperatures, drought and floods, potentially scattering millions of people and heightening already extreme political tensions over immigration…
…[Christian Parenti] ‘no amount of walls, guns, barbed wire, armed aerial drones or permanently deployed mercenaries will be able to save one half of the planet from the other.’…
…Ms. Ramírez said, pointing toward a distant spot where the trucks arrive. ‘We wait for hours to get water that doesn’t last a week, … You have to show your party affiliation, your voting ID.’…”
___
Everything is related to climate change and poor planning by our forefathers, is that correct? So now its incumbent upon the US [and Germany] to do away with its borders and let everyone in but only give voter IDs to those who vote a certain way. Now it makes sense.
…[Christian Parenti] ‘no amount of walls, guns, barbed wire, armed aerial drones or permanently deployed mercenaries will be able to save one half of the planet from the other.’…
…Ms. Ramírez said, pointing toward a distant spot where the trucks arrive. ‘We wait for hours to get water that doesn’t last a week, … You have to show your party affiliation, your voting ID.’…”
___
Everything is related to climate change and poor planning by our forefathers, is that correct? So now its incumbent upon the US [and Germany] to do away with its borders and let everyone in but only give voter IDs to those who vote a certain way. Now it makes sense.
9
Sarcastic one, sorry but your straw man argument has nothing to do with any of this. Nobody is saying to let everyone cross our and Germany's borders and only giving voter ID's to Democrats. Republicans are saying only give voter ID's to white people who will probably vote for them, but that's beside the point too.
Note that the "voting ID" mentioned in your quote there is the ID to vote in Mexico. I know Trump has claimed that millions of Americans illegally voted in Mexico, but I'd take that with a grain of salt.
So please, try to focus on the issue at hand: climate change is making a city of nearly 9 million very unlikely to be habitable in a few decades.
Note that the "voting ID" mentioned in your quote there is the ID to vote in Mexico. I know Trump has claimed that millions of Americans illegally voted in Mexico, but I'd take that with a grain of salt.
So please, try to focus on the issue at hand: climate change is making a city of nearly 9 million very unlikely to be habitable in a few decades.
2
Mr Stackhouse, we're both frequent commenters on the Times site and you have more than aptly reinforced my choice of screen names as being appropriate. As for that grain of salt, it's Friday, wait a few hours and then chase it with a shot of tequila and a bite of lime...
And yes, many, many changes need be implemented to correct the way things were and are being done to improve our planet. Yet, despite the well intentioned efforts of a very small percentage of a global population dealing with a global problem, colonization on Mars had better become a reality.
Psst... MEXICO CITY (capital) 20.999 million http://www.indexmundi.com/mexico/demographics_profile.html
And yes, many, many changes need be implemented to correct the way things were and are being done to improve our planet. Yet, despite the well intentioned efforts of a very small percentage of a global population dealing with a global problem, colonization on Mars had better become a reality.
Psst... MEXICO CITY (capital) 20.999 million http://www.indexmundi.com/mexico/demographics_profile.html
2
Story is a sham, Climate has nothing to do with water shortage. First. Too many people live in Mexico City. They consume too much water and are not helping the situation by the way they remove sewer water. Look at the cities left behind by their ancestors. They moved due to lack of water. Mexico is a third world country that will never have adequate water until the corrupt government is removed and replaced with a working gov't. Local police are corrupt, gangs control large areas or cities and the people living in the hills are so poor they can't help themselves. The story should have been about how Mexico has failed it people not about the weather.
30
Weather is not climate, Sam, and nothing you mention rules out climate change as a exacerbating factor, with impacts also noted in Northern California and coming to Pennsylvania and everywhere else. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg as climate change is just beginning, and mass migrations of climate refugees are a reason why the Pentagon considers climate change a threat to national security:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=pentagon+rep...
Wake up and smell the coffee, Sam, for as someone else noted, no walls or anything else will be able to save half the world from the other as conditions worsen.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=pentagon+rep...
Wake up and smell the coffee, Sam, for as someone else noted, no walls or anything else will be able to save half the world from the other as conditions worsen.
2
This story is not climate change hysteria. Nor does the American Republican party misunderstand the fact that climate change is occurring and will get worse. The American Republican party denies that climate change is occurring in order to buy time for America's 1%'ers to securitize and insulate themselves against the massive troubles that already are rolling over the horizon.
11
...While the present day corporatist Democratic Party ignores the effects of overpopulation on the environment to appease their donors who want a never-ending influx of poor people into the U.S. to depress wages.
3
No wonder Mexican politicians are pushing so hard against Trump's wall on our southern border. Their crime infested, poverty stricken, and ecologically ruined country cannot support its own population. The same problems that Mexico faces today will be exported to the Untied States should illegal immigration continue and the Mexican population flees north in increasing numbers. It's only a matter of time. Build the wall.
15
Paul, may I add - "build a big wall, and station troops".
1
Good argument for instituting AND enforcing a solid immigration program.
We can't take them all here. It's only going to get much, much worse, both the poor conditions there and immigration north.
Currently it is only a mere trickle of humanity coming here and into Europe.
It will become a massive deluge in the upcoming few decades.
We can't take them all here. It's only going to get much, much worse, both the poor conditions there and immigration north.
Currently it is only a mere trickle of humanity coming here and into Europe.
It will become a massive deluge in the upcoming few decades.
32
The Times has been writing disparaging articles about Mexico and its beautiful capital city for a hundred years. New Yorkers love to feel superior.
Yeah, horrible article! Just shaming others to deflect from our own problems.
For all the criticisms of Mexican planning and the denial of climate change as factors - note that portions of the rural Central Valley in California are sinking far faster than Mexico City from the over pumping the aquifers. Water resources are becoming more scarce and the things we do to extract water often makes things worse, and yes climate change is factor as is a greater demand for these resources. But this is not a 'Mexican' problem, we see it all around the US too, from Flint to the hills of Appalachia whose streams can now be legally polluted again by coal companies.
17
Yes, but no one is writing articles in Mexico City to gain sympathy about the Central Valley. In fact, Mexicans live in the Central Valley. All of the problems you list are also Mexican problems by the same token, are they not?
I'm uncertain of your point. Central Valley aquifers are being over pumped by the large landowners and many corporate farms, not the laborers who may be Mexican and Central American. In the end, it's the farm workers that suffer from a lack of safe drinking and bathing water. Climate change is a driving force behind migration patterns around the world, along with economic factors, such as NAFTA's devastating impact on the economics of rural farming in Mexico. Cities are the most common destination when such crisis occurs, hence the overcrowding and overpopulation that stresses the sustainability of these cities. This isn't a 'third world' problem though they suffer first and hardest, it's beginning to impact the US too, just look around.
1
Notice the air quality in the photo. Notice the housing density.
See the one-party rule for the last many decades?
Oh the advantages of no regulators limiting job opportunities and freedom!
Mexico for the Mexicans. They do it their way. They love it.
Save the ink. It is too late to the save the Inca's.
See the one-party rule for the last many decades?
Oh the advantages of no regulators limiting job opportunities and freedom!
Mexico for the Mexicans. They do it their way. They love it.
Save the ink. It is too late to the save the Inca's.
9
The Incas lived in South America, primarily Perú. Mexico city's ancestors would be the Aztecs, as the article notes.
Also, while Mexico has certainly been plagued by corruption for almost as long as it's existed, it isn't entirely to blame for it's contaminated atmosphere; even with stringent laws that for the last 20 years have restricted circulation of anything but public transport at least one day per week -sometimes more if CO2 levels are unusually high-, Mexico City is, as it happens, located in a valley surrounded by mountains, which makes it more difficult for air currents to reach it and dissipate some of the smog over the city.
Regarding the rest of your comment, the idea that "they got into this themselves, so it's their problem and none of our business" seems like an oversimplification, given that their problem is aggravated by our refusal to recognize and address climate change, while our country remains one of the biggest contributors of CO2 in the world. Unfortunately nowadays it looks like that philosophy is ever more relevant, as it seems humanity will address it's potential crisis with short term convenience as it's most important regard.
Having said that, I think we're missing the point of the article; besides describing the very serious problems Mexico City faces, it also showcases how the threat of global warming is not restricted to coast cities only.
Also, while Mexico has certainly been plagued by corruption for almost as long as it's existed, it isn't entirely to blame for it's contaminated atmosphere; even with stringent laws that for the last 20 years have restricted circulation of anything but public transport at least one day per week -sometimes more if CO2 levels are unusually high-, Mexico City is, as it happens, located in a valley surrounded by mountains, which makes it more difficult for air currents to reach it and dissipate some of the smog over the city.
Regarding the rest of your comment, the idea that "they got into this themselves, so it's their problem and none of our business" seems like an oversimplification, given that their problem is aggravated by our refusal to recognize and address climate change, while our country remains one of the biggest contributors of CO2 in the world. Unfortunately nowadays it looks like that philosophy is ever more relevant, as it seems humanity will address it's potential crisis with short term convenience as it's most important regard.
Having said that, I think we're missing the point of the article; besides describing the very serious problems Mexico City faces, it also showcases how the threat of global warming is not restricted to coast cities only.
2
Aztecs, in Mexico.
1
Why don't they and California build desalinization plants the way they do in the middle east? They can ask sports team owners to foot the bill.
7
The root cause of environmental problems in Mexico City (metro population around 20 million) is overpopulation, not climate change. The population of many cities, indeed the entire planet, far exceeds the ability of environmental, social, and political systems to support and sustain a good quality of life for all but the wealthy, and even they are impacted by uncontrollable pollution. Humans have destroyed their ecosystem; the inevitable results are all around us.
50
It's not either/or, RC. Existing over-population does not rule out impacts of climate change, or vice versa. One compounds the impacts of the other.
4
Unfortunately, the United States must share a fair part of the blame for what is happening to Mexico City. NAFTA has effectively demonetized Mexico's rural economy and driven millions of peasants into cities throughout the North American continent. If we really wanted to do something about helter-skelter migration and climate change worldwide, we'd think harder about first-world consumption and how it forces rural-to-urban migration on people who would gladly stay home in villages, towns and smaller, more livable cities.
69
Include in that first world consumption, the consumption of drugs, for which Mexico bears the brunt of both our appetite for them and our misguided approach to dealing with the problem by fighting a "war" against them.
Most of the "war" gets played out in Mexico, with guns supplied by us to the cartels. The violence that we suffer in this country as a result on the war on drugs pales in comparison to what the Mexicans have to endure.
Most of the "war" gets played out in Mexico, with guns supplied by us to the cartels. The violence that we suffer in this country as a result on the war on drugs pales in comparison to what the Mexicans have to endure.
2
I hear your pain, about taking on to your shoulders the world's problems. Surely there is enough blame to go around, but would first-world consumption pattern change really have halted climate change or people's desire to modernize their living condition from rural to urban living? Bear in mind that Mexico, while unique, is not really THAT unique. You don't need to look much further than China, for example, where urban migration has taken place on such massive scale, it's breathtaking. And while China has its own many environmental issues/challenges, and for all the complaints from the West about mismanagement in China, its government has managed to care for majority of its people (massive corruption notwithstanding. The question then becomes: Why can't Mexico transform the way that China has?
4
Ha! We can barely settle the debate over who Kim Kardashian should dating let alone trying to think about understanding something as complex as population relocation based on trade inequality, first world consumer consumption and climate change factors.
1
Climate change is only part of the problem. People rich and poor want to live in major cities be cause there's more opportunity there. Can you imagine if Manhattan's population doubled? Would there be enough water, sewage treatment plants and seats on the subway. Houston gets hit with waves of people leaving California because it's becoming to expensive to live there but even more are moving in to replace them looking for the big dollars. The Chinese are trying to get people to move north because it's harder to build in densely populated areas. People like it where it's warm.
I think we're better off if we realize there's a bigger picture and start looking at climate change as an engineering problem. Tapping into the aquifers of the world is only a short term solution and it's being done world wide. We are going to have do some unpopular things to get water. Can planned cities be part of the answer? Will Mexico, the Middle East and Asia be able to get water from their northern neighbors?
I think we're better off if we realize there's a bigger picture and start looking at climate change as an engineering problem. Tapping into the aquifers of the world is only a short term solution and it's being done world wide. We are going to have do some unpopular things to get water. Can planned cities be part of the answer? Will Mexico, the Middle East and Asia be able to get water from their northern neighbors?
19
Most global elites (the wealthy and well-connected) probably understand the long-term catastrophic implications of climate change, whatever they might say in public. That's why they're preparing for the collapse of human civilization by grabbing what they can now and preparing their exit strategy.
8
If Trump's administration has its way, Americans will be buying water from private corporations soon. Only the wealthy will be able to fill their pools, water their golf courses, take showers and do laundry. The poor will be able to afford only enough to get by, possiby brush their teeth at the end of the day.
Fresh Water. The most precious resource on Earth. Soon to be available from from Trump Water Company, at insanely high prices!
Fresh Water. The most precious resource on Earth. Soon to be available from from Trump Water Company, at insanely high prices!
8
I live about 20 minutes from a Dam that is at full capacity and then some. Two years ago we were put on water rationing. This is not normal and the environment should be priority number one.
13
Take a read and look America, this is our future both environmental and economic if we can't get the profit and greed under control. Stop voting for corporate enablers please.
11
Stop voting for open borders.
3
The root of this particular crisis and crises like this all across the globe from India to the slums of Brazil and Argentina is uncontrolled population explosion which in turn contributes to the very causes of climate change. Too many people, too many CO belching cars, too many coal burning power plants, too many jets crisscrossing the planet and filling our atmosphere with exhaust, too many wars over territory, too many people using and wasting too much of the limited fresh water in places from Las Vegas to Mexico City. The Catholic Church and it's dogma against birth control can be in large part thanked for this enormous problem but it is by no means limited to Catholics. The India population is out of control which is one reason they keep exporting population to the US as is Mexico and other countries overflowing with population or mired in civil wars. When will humanity change?!
20
Too. Many. People.
The UN and the Mexican government should be supplying contraception to Mexicans. The Pope may not like it but he's not changing any diapers.
Plus unfortunately the machismo culture won't allow it either.
Exporting the excess poor and uneducated to the US seems to be the answer.
The UN and the Mexican government should be supplying contraception to Mexicans. The Pope may not like it but he's not changing any diapers.
Plus unfortunately the machismo culture won't allow it either.
Exporting the excess poor and uneducated to the US seems to be the answer.
37
Mexico city has great challenges, but women giving birth to many kids is not one of them. A 1.8 fertility rate and a local government financed birth control programme help people improve their life conditions. So remember that according to Pew Research, today and for the last 5 or 6 years, Mexicans leaving the US are more than those arriving there. I guess we also need fact checking at this forum, it's not only Mr. Trump providing "alternative facts".
2
Another example of "echo chamberism" by the Times. This is not about climate change. It's about decades, centuries of oppression, abuse and corruption by the ruling class in Mexico. And, if the border is every really closed by the USA, that ruling class is in deep trouble, and they know it.
7
Ya think?
Based on the NYT's coverage of illegal immigration, I would think that the only problem is the "racism" of the U.S. working and middle classes who don't want to have to compete with illegal immigrants for housing, education and jobs.
Based on the NYT's coverage of illegal immigration, I would think that the only problem is the "racism" of the U.S. working and middle classes who don't want to have to compete with illegal immigrants for housing, education and jobs.
4
Does any NAFTA industry influence this problem?
3
The article states: "This is, in effect, what happened in New Orleans, which ignored countless warning signs, destroyed natural protections, gave developers a free pass and failed to reinforce levees before Hurricane Katrina left much of the city in ruins."
While I'm glad the TImes is looking at climate change and how it affects major cities inland, like Mexico City, the swipe at New Orleans was blatantly unfair. New Orleans is a poor city, the levees are maintained (or not!) by the federal government, the Mississippi River system (which prevents sediment buildup in the marshes below New Orleans) is controlled by the federal government, the state government (and local governments downriver)approved the destruction of protective marshes and coastal wetlands by permitting oil drilling and canals and pipelines across them, and the state legislature (controlled by Republicans) is in charge of wetlands restoration, if any. There hasn't been much New Orleans itself has control over. Should the city have been more aggressive at limiting redevelopment after Katrina? Sure, but the articles in the Times, and there have been a few, cry racism if anyone tries to suggest that some parts of the city should have been left fallow. The city is doing the best it can, and is arguably better than ever. But much of the battle against climate change affecting the city is outside the city's power to effectively fight. So blaming New Orleans for its predicament is grossly ignorant and unfair.
While I'm glad the TImes is looking at climate change and how it affects major cities inland, like Mexico City, the swipe at New Orleans was blatantly unfair. New Orleans is a poor city, the levees are maintained (or not!) by the federal government, the Mississippi River system (which prevents sediment buildup in the marshes below New Orleans) is controlled by the federal government, the state government (and local governments downriver)approved the destruction of protective marshes and coastal wetlands by permitting oil drilling and canals and pipelines across them, and the state legislature (controlled by Republicans) is in charge of wetlands restoration, if any. There hasn't been much New Orleans itself has control over. Should the city have been more aggressive at limiting redevelopment after Katrina? Sure, but the articles in the Times, and there have been a few, cry racism if anyone tries to suggest that some parts of the city should have been left fallow. The city is doing the best it can, and is arguably better than ever. But much of the battle against climate change affecting the city is outside the city's power to effectively fight. So blaming New Orleans for its predicament is grossly ignorant and unfair.
2
Great article. Thank you Michael Kimmelman and Josh Haner.
As several people said at the Women's March in Washington, "It is time for us all to join Planned Parenthood."
The real culprit is population growth. The earth just went from 1 to 7.5 billion humans in the last 100 years, and is scheduled to go to 13 billion in the next century or so. The graphs of population growth and carbon dioxide increase are almost identical.
The sea levels will rise, there will be billions of climate change refugees, and the wars and massacres will reduce our numbers, as in the past, exacerbated by the decline in water and food. Like a giant algae bloom, the explosive growth of the human population might cause the extermination of our species, and is already causing or will cause the extermination of thousands of others species. Everyday, I wonder, why is population growth still a mostly taboo subject for world leaders and the press? Why was it left out of this article?
David Lindsay blogs at OnVietnamAndtheWorld.wordpress.com and InconvenientNews.wordpress.com.
As several people said at the Women's March in Washington, "It is time for us all to join Planned Parenthood."
The real culprit is population growth. The earth just went from 1 to 7.5 billion humans in the last 100 years, and is scheduled to go to 13 billion in the next century or so. The graphs of population growth and carbon dioxide increase are almost identical.
The sea levels will rise, there will be billions of climate change refugees, and the wars and massacres will reduce our numbers, as in the past, exacerbated by the decline in water and food. Like a giant algae bloom, the explosive growth of the human population might cause the extermination of our species, and is already causing or will cause the extermination of thousands of others species. Everyday, I wonder, why is population growth still a mostly taboo subject for world leaders and the press? Why was it left out of this article?
David Lindsay blogs at OnVietnamAndtheWorld.wordpress.com and InconvenientNews.wordpress.com.
20
Seems to me many of those who commented did not read the article. Drawing water from the spongy soil under the city has been a problem for a long time. I visited the city in 1963 when the Palacio de bellas artes had sunk so much that people had to go down steps to then go up the steps into the building. When I visited In 1975, the Basilica de la virgen de Guadalupe was being replaced because the first was too dangerous due to the sinking. Yes, over use of water, overpopulation have had something to do with this but many commenters have ignored the special problem of the city: it's built on a sponge from which water is being removed. The city is sinking whether or not you believe in the effects of climate change.
6
The responsibility for the unfolding climate catastrophe lies squarely on the shoulders of climate change and science deniers in the US. We have been historically the biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and benefitted the most from the fossil fuel economy. Now these same people, whose deeply seated irrationality has brought humanity to the bring of extinction on this planet, want to close the borders and deny people we are harming refuge from food and water shortages. Their mantra: blame everyone else, blame the scientists, blame Obama, blame Gore, blame the UN, take no responsibility for anything, believe corporate fat cats, and let refugees rot. Just a matter of time until most of us will be refugees. Cant wait to hear the deniers tune then.
6
There is absolutely nothing in this story to support the argument that climate change is responsible for Mexico City's water problems. I could find NO data in the article about changes in rainfall over past decades, but lots of discussion of population growth, unconstrained development, and a mismanaged water system.
The real source of Mexico City's crisis is overpopulation, poorly planned development, and government incompetence. Climate change is a minor issue in the city's problems.
The real source of Mexico City's crisis is overpopulation, poorly planned development, and government incompetence. Climate change is a minor issue in the city's problems.
5
This is what the Times does in every one of these articles. It goes to places with some kind of water issue--flooding, land reclamation, or drought and water shortage--states in the headline and lead paragraph that it's all about climate change, and then in the article artfully dances around the fact that the threat of climate change is in the future, and the present problems are largely due to other factors. See the articles on Louisiana, Virginia, Florida, Alaska. They all speak of "rising seas" but don't even bother to document how much the sea level has actually risen so far. Instead there is much talk about projections and weather events becoming more "severe." There is enough real about climate change to write about legitimately, but the Times employs a whole different standard in which the worst-case scenario is the chosen narrative, and the stories must conform to it.
3
For civilization to exist, survive, and prosper: humans must be smart enough to understand nature's laws. And wise enough to respect that those laws govern everyone and everything. Nature issues no subsidies, waivers, extensions, or exceptions -- even for Americans. Signed.. registered professional engineer
5
Excellent article. However, inexplicably (but true to form for the New York Times), virtually no mention is made of the fundamental & underlying driver behind this and so many other environmental and sustainability crises: regional and global overpopulation. If Mexico City has enough water and other resources to comfortably sustain a population of 4 million, but not 12 million, is that a "climate problem" -- or something else?
I don't know why the NYT has such a blind spot on the population issue. Past NYT articles on Japan and Italy (for example) have decried the "crisis" of stabilized and declining populations in those countries.
While shrinking populations do pose challenges under the currently dominant grow-at-all-costs economic model , the reality is that we should be applauding -- not pitying -- countries which have managed to halt unsustainable population growth. Every natural resource imaginable on this planet, from arable soils to ocean fisheries to tropical rainforests to diverse wildlife habitats to surface and groundwater resources, are already under population-driven stress. Climate change is just one additional (population-aggravated) factor.
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." -- Edward Abbey
I don't know why the NYT has such a blind spot on the population issue. Past NYT articles on Japan and Italy (for example) have decried the "crisis" of stabilized and declining populations in those countries.
While shrinking populations do pose challenges under the currently dominant grow-at-all-costs economic model , the reality is that we should be applauding -- not pitying -- countries which have managed to halt unsustainable population growth. Every natural resource imaginable on this planet, from arable soils to ocean fisheries to tropical rainforests to diverse wildlife habitats to surface and groundwater resources, are already under population-driven stress. Climate change is just one additional (population-aggravated) factor.
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." -- Edward Abbey
19
Abbey was also a foe of immigration as a driver of popution growth. For this he was labeled a racist, a very common tactic of the open borders crowd. Immigrants and their offspring are now the leading driving force of our population growth. So he maybe a racist, but he was also right.
3
The climate is always changing. Why do people think those cities in the jungle were abandoned? The pueblos in the American southwest? The initial migrations across the Bering strait?
People generally don't move en masse unless there's a war or their region has become uninhabitable.
People generally don't move en masse unless there's a war or their region has become uninhabitable.
1
In addition to the short-sighted politicians and businesses, there is another entity with muck on its hands: the Catholic church, which still steadfastly advocates reproduction and fights efforts to provide accessible birth control. Perhaps if the comparatively forward-thinking Pope Frances could come up with some way to link being "good stewards of the earth" to "stop overpopulating," local Catholic communities would find biblical support for addressing one of the roots of this problem. And help improve women's lives to boot.
21
my 20 year old pool is slowly tilting to the left as the ground underneath it is slowly compacting at different rates. Fortunately, the pool hasn't cracked, but the concrete is all wonky and if you look hard, my OCD kicks in. I blame Global Warming and I expect China, the world greatest polluter, to pay for all the repairs, changes and updates necessary to fix this problem.
1
Climate change is not the problem. It only exacerbates all of the other problems causing this debacle in Mexico City and many other places around the world.
Until women have the option of an adult status other than "motherhood," and the ability to control their fertility, the situation will only worsen.
The focus of this article should have been on overpopulation and urban mismanagement. Why doesn't the New York Times run a series on overpopulation and what can be done about it?
Until women have the option of an adult status other than "motherhood," and the ability to control their fertility, the situation will only worsen.
The focus of this article should have been on overpopulation and urban mismanagement. Why doesn't the New York Times run a series on overpopulation and what can be done about it?
19
"Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink." Scarcity of clean drinking water is a problem for populations around the globe though 71% of the earth's surface is covered by water.
Try this thought experiment. How many people could have all the clean drinking water they need to live if the proposed $21 billion to build the Mexico border wall were instead used to build water desalinization plants like the Carlsbad facility near San Diego?
The $1 billion plant has been running for more than a year now and produces enough water to sustain 400,000 people. Multiple that 21 times and factor in some dynamic scoring of improved efficiencies and you're looking at providing a new sustainable water source for 10,000,000 people.
Maybe it is time to retool and embrace the old ism of 'they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks."
Try this thought experiment. How many people could have all the clean drinking water they need to live if the proposed $21 billion to build the Mexico border wall were instead used to build water desalinization plants like the Carlsbad facility near San Diego?
The $1 billion plant has been running for more than a year now and produces enough water to sustain 400,000 people. Multiple that 21 times and factor in some dynamic scoring of improved efficiencies and you're looking at providing a new sustainable water source for 10,000,000 people.
Maybe it is time to retool and embrace the old ism of 'they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks."
5
They should devote their limited resources to solving current problems with real civil engineering projects like they did in the 1800's instead of lofty talk of fixing "climate change". The water problems began before the Spanish invaded, and the climate was changing and the area sinking hundreds of year prior to the development of fossil fuels and our current blame humans for "Climate Change" waste of money.
3
Excellent article! Sad to say, but Mexico City seems doomed to me (and not just this city but many others in other parts of the world). We are in for some very tough times in the next 100 or so years. The story about having to show your voting ID card to get water illustrates one of the main roadblocks to change in Mexico: massive political corruption. Perhaps it's time for another revolution south of the border.
6
Drought precipitated the conditions leading to the "civil" war in Syria.
The real threat in Iran is a collapse of their aquifers that might leave 40% of a population of over 75 million without water.
And now, Mexico City, in a country on our border.
But the Republicans, who now also don't even believe in the reality of Russia, will continue to deny the reality of Climate Change.
The GOP should use their majority in Congress to change the national bird from the Eagle to the Ostrich. Except that the Ostrich only buries its head in the sand. Which is not exactly where Republicans have their heads buried.
The real threat in Iran is a collapse of their aquifers that might leave 40% of a population of over 75 million without water.
And now, Mexico City, in a country on our border.
But the Republicans, who now also don't even believe in the reality of Russia, will continue to deny the reality of Climate Change.
The GOP should use their majority in Congress to change the national bird from the Eagle to the Ostrich. Except that the Ostrich only buries its head in the sand. Which is not exactly where Republicans have their heads buried.
3
Good start to an important series. Point well taken that climate threats to cities come in many forms, not just sea level rise + flooding
You write "The Pentagon’s term for climate change is “threat multiplier.” I wonder how long that will last in the new Administration
You write "The Pentagon’s term for climate change is “threat multiplier.” I wonder how long that will last in the new Administration
4
Republicans: Mr. Kimmelman did not claim climate change was the sole cause of their misery. In fact he goes into fascinating detail of other factors which lead to this man made catastrophic culmination. He rather made clear that rising temperatures exacerbated the devolution of this urban area.
Read the article; you may learn some actual science.
Read the article; you may learn some actual science.
6
I read the article. Almost all the references to climate change are in the future tense. When he "makes clear" that rising temperatures exacerbated the problem, it is with fact-free sentences like
"It is a cycle made worse by climate change. More heat and drought mean more evaporation and yet more demand for water, adding pressure to tap distant reservoirs at staggering costs or further drain underground aquifers and hasten the city’s collapse."
The second sentence is true enough, based on the premise of the first clause, but says nothing about what actually is happening in Mexico City.
"It is a cycle made worse by climate change. More heat and drought mean more evaporation and yet more demand for water, adding pressure to tap distant reservoirs at staggering costs or further drain underground aquifers and hasten the city’s collapse."
The second sentence is true enough, based on the premise of the first clause, but says nothing about what actually is happening in Mexico City.
2
Trying to figure this out. The NYTimes says that the sinking is a direct result of climate change. But then you get to the 4th paragraph and read that Mexico City has been drilling into its own foundation to get water.
That doesn't sound like a direct result of climate change to me. That sounds like a government that has 0 creativity about how to wrangle additional resources aside from nihilistic and self-defeating drilling into its own foundation. It's just not a smart move. You need to get creative. In South America they are using giant nets high in the mountains to catch the dew and collect it to use as drinking water. You need to get creative when you have scarcity - not just say "oh, look, the climate is changing - i guess that's why our city is sinking. . . "
That doesn't sound like a direct result of climate change to me. That sounds like a government that has 0 creativity about how to wrangle additional resources aside from nihilistic and self-defeating drilling into its own foundation. It's just not a smart move. You need to get creative. In South America they are using giant nets high in the mountains to catch the dew and collect it to use as drinking water. You need to get creative when you have scarcity - not just say "oh, look, the climate is changing - i guess that's why our city is sinking. . . "
4
The greater urban population of Mexico City now exceeds 21 million. How is this even possible, let alone sustainable? It is a Malthusian catastrophe waiting to happen and when it does, expect millions to hit the road. You would think the issues of subsidence and water resources in Mexico City would spur their federal government into emergency action to alleviate the root causes of this impending disaster. Kicking the can down the road only works for so long.
8
So what are you suggesting? Is it Trump's fault that this crisis is happening? Or are the Mexicans threatening to climb the walls and migrate to America? Why are you mixing climate problems with political ones?
3
Overpopulation, bad infrastructure are factors behind this impending crisis for sure. However, it is exacerbated by climate change which is real, is happening and is anthropogenic in nature. Scientists agree on that overwhelmingly. The level of denial of that fact in the comments posted in reaction to this article I
think reflects a great deal of cognitive dissonance.
think reflects a great deal of cognitive dissonance.
8
Nobody is denying anything when the point out that most of the PRESENT problems of Mexico City are not related to climate change but to factors involving population and infrastructure. Not framing the facts to fit into the worst-case scenerio is not the same as denial. We hear constantly that it's the climate change deniers who don't like science, but articles like this and comments like your are also defying settled fact and science.
2
"One study predicts that 10 percent of Mexicans ages 15 to 65 could eventually try to emigrate north..."
How about the Mexicans migrate SOUTH instead?
As usual, the true culprit here is simply human overpopulation. If humans simply cut their gigantic numbers, we'd all be better off. Since any bell curve demonstrates why humans continue to destroy their own planet, I imagine Nature will invoke the ultimate solution herselve. sooner or later.
How about the Mexicans migrate SOUTH instead?
As usual, the true culprit here is simply human overpopulation. If humans simply cut their gigantic numbers, we'd all be better off. Since any bell curve demonstrates why humans continue to destroy their own planet, I imagine Nature will invoke the ultimate solution herselve. sooner or later.
8
You are absolutely correct. Why doesn't the nyts, the left and the open borders folks get it? We don't need just a wall, but to militarize the borders. We should help Mexico to cure its problem at home. Letting them come here is not a solution.
6
what is the name of the street shown with the undulating buildings?
Suddenly, how ancient civilizations just up and vanished is becoming more clearly understandable. It's kind of exciting, fitting into the big picture, and all.
Mexico's drought/wet cycles are well documented and well known, thought to have driven out the Aztec Nation, and possibly old Toltec Cities as well.
Do we have the stones to attribute their current drought cycle to "climate change" (which of course is code for anthropomorphic global warming) knowing the history of that region in the pre-industrial ages?
I've yet to see the data. One thing is certain:
That ancient lake, over a mile up, was never meant to support tens of millions of humans living on it. I'm amazed water stays in the ground that high up at all.
WR
Do we have the stones to attribute their current drought cycle to "climate change" (which of course is code for anthropomorphic global warming) knowing the history of that region in the pre-industrial ages?
I've yet to see the data. One thing is certain:
That ancient lake, over a mile up, was never meant to support tens of millions of humans living on it. I'm amazed water stays in the ground that high up at all.
WR
4
The government of Mexico is operated like a criminal enterprise with huge amounts of corruption. All they care about is how much they can fleece from their citizens and businesses. Why would it be surprising that they don't care about the conditions their citizens live in? Why would it be surprising they they don't care about their infrastructure?
Look at the world corruption index, with Mexico in the top 1/3 of the most corrupt countries in the world. 41 school kids who opposed corruption were murdered by who knows who, and the government can't even find the culprits? It is widely assumed that the cover up of this mass murder goes all of the way to the top of the government in Mexico. It's horrible.
If the average citizen of the USA realized the cesspool of lawlessness that Mexico is, we would understand why their citizens need to flee to the USA. We would also understand why not to trust the government of Mexico to be honorable with any deal. They certainly aren't honorable to their own people in this article.
Look at the world corruption index, with Mexico in the top 1/3 of the most corrupt countries in the world. 41 school kids who opposed corruption were murdered by who knows who, and the government can't even find the culprits? It is widely assumed that the cover up of this mass murder goes all of the way to the top of the government in Mexico. It's horrible.
If the average citizen of the USA realized the cesspool of lawlessness that Mexico is, we would understand why their citizens need to flee to the USA. We would also understand why not to trust the government of Mexico to be honorable with any deal. They certainly aren't honorable to their own people in this article.
8
Sally, the murdered young people were not opposed to corruption. They were students at a teachers’s program who occasionally commandeered buses to drive them to a populated area where they could demand contributions from passers-by. They, then, used this money to live on while they protested changes the federal government wants to make in the education.
The government wants all perspective teachers to pass an exam to show they have at least minimal knowledge of teaching. And, the government wants to end the process of letting perspective teachers buy or inherit their teaching positions. Not having to pass a qualifying exam, and having to buy or inherit a position are examples of corruption. The murdered students wanted the old, corrupt ways to continue. They did not want to have to take an exam, and they wanted to be able to inherit or buy their positions.
They should not have been murdered, and the government must thoroughly investigate what happened. But the government should be given credit for trying to fix the country’s educational system.
The government wants all perspective teachers to pass an exam to show they have at least minimal knowledge of teaching. And, the government wants to end the process of letting perspective teachers buy or inherit their teaching positions. Not having to pass a qualifying exam, and having to buy or inherit a position are examples of corruption. The murdered students wanted the old, corrupt ways to continue. They did not want to have to take an exam, and they wanted to be able to inherit or buy their positions.
They should not have been murdered, and the government must thoroughly investigate what happened. But the government should be given credit for trying to fix the country’s educational system.
4
Facts are facts, dwelling on them is not a solution. Climate change is the cause, the solution is money to rebuild infrastructure. They need to caputure and hold water, recycle water, as well as doing desalination. The problem is money. But there is plety of money in Mexico. It is in the hands of people like, Carlos Slim, who exploit the poor and don't paytaxes. This is the society of 1% wealthy people. This is what it looks like FOLKS.
8
Science denial crowd will stop at the title. They start with the answer, then work to get to it without considering facts or evidence. Sad!
2
Although this article refers to a key and worrisome theme, the NYTs did a poor job researching and connecting the dots.
No mention is made to nature´s origin of water.
The connection to the origin of water is in the form of “reservoirs” as in: ´If it stops raining in the reservoirs where the city gets its water…” I suppose by “reservoir” the author means “aquifers” (source of 70% of Mexico City´s water). But it does not “rain” in aquifers… it rains in the forested mountains where the aquifers get recharged. If by “reservoir” he meant “dams”, then the author fell in the old trap assuming that “water comes from the tap”, and not from the natural system.
Aztec times are depicted as without water issues, if the author had visited the pyramids in Mexico City´s downtown he would have seen pyramids that sunk in Aztec times, being partly the reason for building up to four layers on top. Conquistadors unwittingly only razed the top layers, while the sunken ones remained intact.
Lastly, the point about the Water Fund was missed, I assume it refers to the one developed by TNC, meant actually to give a hand to nature to still regale us with its environmental services, such as water.
With more than 100 partners, through the Water Forest Initiative, CI is striving to protect the forests and grasslands that provide most of the water consumed in Mexico City.
No mention is made to nature´s origin of water.
The connection to the origin of water is in the form of “reservoirs” as in: ´If it stops raining in the reservoirs where the city gets its water…” I suppose by “reservoir” the author means “aquifers” (source of 70% of Mexico City´s water). But it does not “rain” in aquifers… it rains in the forested mountains where the aquifers get recharged. If by “reservoir” he meant “dams”, then the author fell in the old trap assuming that “water comes from the tap”, and not from the natural system.
Aztec times are depicted as without water issues, if the author had visited the pyramids in Mexico City´s downtown he would have seen pyramids that sunk in Aztec times, being partly the reason for building up to four layers on top. Conquistadors unwittingly only razed the top layers, while the sunken ones remained intact.
Lastly, the point about the Water Fund was missed, I assume it refers to the one developed by TNC, meant actually to give a hand to nature to still regale us with its environmental services, such as water.
With more than 100 partners, through the Water Forest Initiative, CI is striving to protect the forests and grasslands that provide most of the water consumed in Mexico City.
10
The picture of woman who looks like she is 22 with FOUR kids under five living in slum sums up the problem. She probably will have more. And there are millions like her. And the nyt and their ilk want all of that here...NO. I despise trump for everything except his stance on immigration. If it isnt checked, this is what we will look like in a very short time. And other writers hit nail on head...leaders MUST stop or help curtail out of control reproduction in these third world countries.
38
Guess what, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA has a high rate of unintended pregnancies and many people live in poverty! Does that make us a third world country? Get out of your house and take a look, there is probably a slum close to where you live. Go help educate people instead of berating online. Read, get educated, go educate. We all will thank you.
Sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/08/more-americans-are-...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/02/health/unintended-pregnancy-rate/
Sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/08/more-americans-are-...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/02/health/unintended-pregnancy-rate/
2
San francisco....enough said.
2
No need to ask if the US is as third world country. That has long been proven.
2
Stop trying to blame everything on "climate change" without looking at the cause of the climate change. Overpopulation is the cause.
The world can not sustain 8 billion people, and Mexico City can not sustain 21 million people.
Its as simple as that.
The world can not sustain 8 billion people, and Mexico City can not sustain 21 million people.
Its as simple as that.
9
More "climate change" hysteria. This is getting tired. I certainly hope that the folks that have bought into this fantasy are finally starting to figure out that this is one more hysterical ploy by the left. Enough already.
3
There is no right or left positions when it comes to climate change. It is a fact! Enough of giving baby boomers the microphone when it comes to climate change! Enough.
2
A 122 million Mexicans is not hysteria or a fantasy. It is real and a terrifying vision of the future. If you can walk down a street in Mexico City and not see over popution for what it is, it is you who lives in a fantasy.
4
It's hard to resist the impulse to search for simplistic answers.
Finding a solution and implement it will take widespread agreement across Mexican society. I don't know if that's possible in Mexico. It's not possible in the USA. We can't agree on path forward for anything.
Population - start by reducing population pressures. Target tax policies to encourage businesses to move out to smaller cities. Target development aid to those smaller cities so they can build the infrastructure needed to support businesses. This will move job opportunities out of Mexico City.
Within Mexico City implement "green" solutions in new development, such as the use of permeable paving that allows rainwater to percolate back into the soil instead of running off the surface. Implement rainwater collection and recycling of treated sewage. These and many similar solutions have been implemented in many cities around the world. This is nothing new.
As the article made abundantly clear, the problems have been around for centuries. It is not blaming climate change. However, climate change is exacerbating the problem because of disruption to weather patterns that lead to larger storms and longer droughts.
Keep denying it you like (Lonely Republican) but the vast majority of scientists who specialize in these areas of research are agreed. People are having an impact and the changes are happening with increasing speed. Yes, "data" is manipulated in many ways, including by climate change deniers.
Finding a solution and implement it will take widespread agreement across Mexican society. I don't know if that's possible in Mexico. It's not possible in the USA. We can't agree on path forward for anything.
Population - start by reducing population pressures. Target tax policies to encourage businesses to move out to smaller cities. Target development aid to those smaller cities so they can build the infrastructure needed to support businesses. This will move job opportunities out of Mexico City.
Within Mexico City implement "green" solutions in new development, such as the use of permeable paving that allows rainwater to percolate back into the soil instead of running off the surface. Implement rainwater collection and recycling of treated sewage. These and many similar solutions have been implemented in many cities around the world. This is nothing new.
As the article made abundantly clear, the problems have been around for centuries. It is not blaming climate change. However, climate change is exacerbating the problem because of disruption to weather patterns that lead to larger storms and longer droughts.
Keep denying it you like (Lonely Republican) but the vast majority of scientists who specialize in these areas of research are agreed. People are having an impact and the changes are happening with increasing speed. Yes, "data" is manipulated in many ways, including by climate change deniers.
8
Another Times story (see the ones on Louisiana, Virginia, and Alaska) that strains to portray a current problem as caused by climate change. When you read the article, you see that most of the references to climate change are in the future tense (basically, "climate change will make this bad thing worse"), but the present problem in Mexico City is mostly related to population growth, inadequate infrastructure, and mismanagement of the water and sewer system. Climate change is real, but the Times has a separate journalistic standard for covering it, one that manipulates language and facts to fit into a narrative.
12
Climate change? Climate changed caused by overpopulation, maybe.
78
I wonder how much of Mexico City's problems is due to bad city planning and overpopulation than to climate change.
81
Having spent my entire professional life in the field of architecture, working closely with city planners in the USA and Saudi Arabia, it's my personal belief that there is NO design solution to cities of 21 Million people.
I draw a parallel with a fish tank, an aquarium. Given the size of the tank you can have only so many fish before it becomes unlivable. There's a limit as to how fast you can recirculate and filter the water. Eventually the stresses of the environment result in disease and crime, or in the case of fish, aggressive behavior.
I think the "city planning" solution is to spread development across all the cities. Make policies that encourage businesses to set up shop in other cities. This can be done with tax policies, zoning, etc.
I draw a parallel with a fish tank, an aquarium. Given the size of the tank you can have only so many fish before it becomes unlivable. There's a limit as to how fast you can recirculate and filter the water. Eventually the stresses of the environment result in disease and crime, or in the case of fish, aggressive behavior.
I think the "city planning" solution is to spread development across all the cities. Make policies that encourage businesses to set up shop in other cities. This can be done with tax policies, zoning, etc.
6
Don't wonder! Know it. Darwin is just doing his duty.
1
Closer to home, 'Trump signs bill undoing Obama coal mining rule'.
31
This article is a bleak picture of the future, except the future is happening now. Overpopulation, poverty, dysfunctional governments, unpredictable weather patterns and the will to ignore all of these things will end up as the perfect storm for social unrest and environmental calamities. It is currently happening all around us if we take time to connect the dots.
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It's also time to get on with building that wall. The situation in Mexico and the influx of aliens from further south is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Guess where they will all be heading?
4
Decades, maybe centuries of bad management of resources and infrastructure here. Climate change could make it worse, but it's awful already and getting more so. Predictions of climate change are just a distraction: 40% leakage!!
23
Great article about a massive problem facing far more than just Mexico City. Plenty of places around the planet are suffering a severe fresh water shortage that will only become more severe.
The things that would need to be done about it, such as extreme reductions in water usage, increasing construction of desalination plants, and most vitally, achieving negative population growth, will not be done. Most people will carry on as they have been, steadfastly ignoring the problem and all others related to climate change.
So I'd say Mexico City and other areas in the same predicament are doomed. These places will not be at all the same in a few decades, and curbing population growth will only be achieved in the end by famine, plague, and war.
Also it lends more ironic weight to a recent joke of mine, "How do the Mexican's feel about Trump's huge, beautiful wall? Eh, they'll get over it."
The things that would need to be done about it, such as extreme reductions in water usage, increasing construction of desalination plants, and most vitally, achieving negative population growth, will not be done. Most people will carry on as they have been, steadfastly ignoring the problem and all others related to climate change.
So I'd say Mexico City and other areas in the same predicament are doomed. These places will not be at all the same in a few decades, and curbing population growth will only be achieved in the end by famine, plague, and war.
Also it lends more ironic weight to a recent joke of mine, "How do the Mexican's feel about Trump's huge, beautiful wall? Eh, they'll get over it."
48
Mexico should turn to Israel for help in solving it's water crisis.
With gobs of oil and gas, Mexico should be able to solve its water problem.
If only Mexico wasn't so corrupt....
With gobs of oil and gas, Mexico should be able to solve its water problem.
If only Mexico wasn't so corrupt....
47
Correct-- corruption. And what is corruption-- it is a society run to the excusive benefit of a few-- both ultra business wealthy and criminal wealthy. Uhn, doesn't work out too well, never has Mr. Bannon and never will.
6
Too many people in Mexico City no comparison to Israel.
2
Yes, where do all of the rich Mexicans spend their money.... I was reading about a 400 million $$ yacht!!! Time to tax the excessively rich.. over 20 million - nice round figure... to the rafters... and we will need massive desalination projects to make the desert- I am thinking of California ... as well as obvious deserts .. bloom. Many of the ironies were expressed in the comments. Why not migrate S- or is it just too, too hot? Over population and insufficient or culturally an anathema birth control ( resulting it seems from Catholicism in some places and Islam) -- not discussed these days, altho people producing the babies prob do not read. I believe it is correct to state that Mexico is highly negligent when it comes to educating its population.
Other ironies are countries worrying about too low a birth rate..e.g. Japan.. but often those countries do not want immigrants.
Other ironies are countries worrying about too low a birth rate..e.g. Japan.. but often those countries do not want immigrants.
1
Mexico City has been sinking for decades from massive human overpopulation, same as all the regions where young females do not control their own reproduction. Why cannot the smart, better minds in global leadership collaborate to solve the human breeding problem that is the taproot of all ills in everywhere? We are too many. We are destroying ourselves and all other species, along with the air, soil, and oceans of Mother Earth.
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I have been advocating population control since the 1960s. The world would have 1/2 its current OVER population. It is time for christians, muslims, every religion to give up its fight to procreate. The days when we needed more people, and these days were real, are over. The greatest threat to everything is overpopulation. More people is NOT better. It shows a complete lack of respect for the planet and allows for the devaluing of all human life.
9
It's not just a problem of population growth. It's that COMBINED with extreme urbanization of society. The Mexican government could start by implementing development policies such as a tax regime that encourages businesses to set up in the smaller cities around the country. That would lessen the pressure on this one particular place while other cities are underutilized.
1
I agree with your statement except for pointing out at christians and muslims. Can you see the world without these categories?
I had NO idea this was going on in Mexico City. It's impossible to imagine how this is going to end well. Thank you for this important article.
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Several years ago a Norwegian Environmentalist produced a documentary on water with Mexico's problems included.
3
No. Open. Borders. Climate change is real and we are too short sighted to do anything more than save a handful of people already in the life rafts.
38
And that's how evolution works. All species ebb and flow, humans' path is simply more visible because it is personal. Sometimes enough of a species survives to start over, more often the species becomes an archeological curiosity. doG knows we've left behind enough trash dumps to keep future archeologists busy for a good long while. Since everything is digital, trash (and enduring radio waves) will be all that is left to speak to our brief reign. Nice to know that is how any future intelligence will decipher us, huh?
There isn't a lifeboat large enough for the Earth's population. Those who are already seated aren't in for an easy time.
There isn't a lifeboat large enough for the Earth's population. Those who are already seated aren't in for an easy time.
1
The only real solution to climate change is geo-engineering. The whole carbon tax and getting 130 countries to agree on a plan is pure fantasy land. If you want to get something done, simplify the solution. Mexico is a cesspool of corruption, it won't every solve any pressing problem.
1
Just to address this comment and others like it. There is no life raft, except the planet itself. We are all connected and will live or die by the decisions we make.
But overpopulation is the root of much of the problem. Unfortunately, religion around the world, supported by theocrats of all stripes, do all they can to prevent birth control, the only thing that might save humanity. Starting with our current theocrats, Mike Pence and the Republicans, who just removed low cost birth control from the U.N. Insanity that we will all pay for.
But overpopulation is the root of much of the problem. Unfortunately, religion around the world, supported by theocrats of all stripes, do all they can to prevent birth control, the only thing that might save humanity. Starting with our current theocrats, Mike Pence and the Republicans, who just removed low cost birth control from the U.N. Insanity that we will all pay for.
6
Climate change colliding with population beyond environmental sustainability caused the Syrian civil war. There could easily be a billion displaced stateless people by mid-century.
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As I kid I learned about these African fish that lay dominant in dry clay beds until the annual rains come and briefly flood their pond, at which time they come alive and live until all the water evaporates. Back then I used to think that must be a stressful way to live, now I know it is. But everything is cyclical. Must learn to roll with it like the waves on the sea.
1
How is purported climate change responsible for a religious war between Shia and Shiite? I'd love to see some evidence to support this assertion. Actually both assertions.
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Alex, please read the 3/2/15 synopsis titled “Did climate change drive the Syrian uprising?” by Carolyn Gramling in Science Magazine. It cites 2 studies which strongly suggest that human-induced climate change has increased the chance of drought in this area.
I have also read that the drought meant Syrian farmers had to drill deeper wells, but corruption within the government sometimes required a bribe before permission for a deeper well would be granted. Not everyone was given permission. Many did not have enough water to sufficiently irrigate their crops or to care for their livestock.
Chances are the lack of water and food was a prime motivation underpinning the initial Syrian uprising.
I have also read that the drought meant Syrian farmers had to drill deeper wells, but corruption within the government sometimes required a bribe before permission for a deeper well would be granted. Not everyone was given permission. Many did not have enough water to sufficiently irrigate their crops or to care for their livestock.
Chances are the lack of water and food was a prime motivation underpinning the initial Syrian uprising.
2
If keeping American citizens safe is the the first job of the President of the United States, then this president has already betrayed the people. Mexico City is a dramatic example of what awaits many major American cities. We can't wall off the future. But it's not too late to change course and double down on correcting our currently ruinous direction.
22
As I said, Mexico lacks resources. It is a society of the 1% exploiting the masses. THi sis not a new development. As a result money for infrastructure is non existant as is planning. These are not new problems and they are not so simply "global warming" problems. The answers are costly and societal-- water conservation and desalination. California is already doing these things.
2
I too demand that Trump signs something right this second to stop it!
Wait, now you're blaming Trump for Mexico's water management woes? Hatred has no bounds, apparently.
WR
WR
1
Do you think the UN will ever tackle the biggest problem facing the world - Overpopulation?
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You hit the nail on the head charlie.
I used to listen to a radio talk show hosted by Bob Leavy who summed up many of the worlds problems callers called in about in one word, overpopulation.
That was thirty years ago when world's population was five billion.
Today it's at 7.4 billion.
I used to listen to a radio talk show hosted by Bob Leavy who summed up many of the worlds problems callers called in about in one word, overpopulation.
That was thirty years ago when world's population was five billion.
Today it's at 7.4 billion.
1
Exactly. And it's illegal to get an abortion in Mexico!
2
This is the issue!!!! Take for example the photo of the obviously poor young woman with not one, not two, not even three but with four children all under the age of 7 or 8 and how many more children might she bear?! This catholic nation where birth control is a religious sacrilege is sinking in people. Climate change which the deniers continue to desperately seek to ignore, is a product of too many people combined with ineffectual government controls over everything from CO emissions to water management. Will this human experiment collapse from neglect? Quite possible. Is chaos and extreme suffering going to increase? Most definitely. While as a race we spend trillions on weapons, billions on space exploration and millions on elections, we continue to despoil our planet. Human tragedy.
5
More hyperventilating from the 'global warming' crowd.
Climate changes- slowly. You can't feel it. It's not man-made. All data is always subject to manipulation. Always.
Climate changes- slowly. You can't feel it. It's not man-made. All data is always subject to manipulation. Always.
15
That is really a very handy meme. How well does that work out for you with your household budget; or who to believe from your news sources?
It's a self-confirming tautology that allows you believe that your opinions have been right all along. Always.
It's a way of looking at the world that can never be challenged even before any specific question comes up.
In short, it's the primary rhetorical device adopted by our new president.
It's a self-confirming tautology that allows you believe that your opinions have been right all along. Always.
It's a way of looking at the world that can never be challenged even before any specific question comes up.
In short, it's the primary rhetorical device adopted by our new president.
8
Well...in your closed off mind you can't. There are signs other than the rising mercury. Set aside the fact that several of the hottest years on record have occurred in this decade alone....ask fishermen in the coastal Carolinas, schools of fish they depended on have shifted away due to changes in aquatic food chain driven by temperature changes in currents. A small village in Alaska, not worth saving right now, has vanished into the sea. There are many canaries falling silent around us but only the open mind can notice.
8
More irrationality from the deniers, who prefer to believe corporate fat cats than scientists. Our climate is changing rapidly as the data shows. Plus, unless you are living under a rock, you can feel that our climate is changing much faster than predicted initially. Spring is here early in DC - a month and a half early with temps in the 70s in February, breaking records across the board.
Its people like you who are to blame for this and much worse to come.
Its people like you who are to blame for this and much worse to come.
7
One would doubt that "climate change" is the cause of water shortage in Mexico City. It is more likely to be the poor governance and management of water resources. Mexico has two oceans, from which desalinated water can be obtained.
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Desalination is energy-intensive.
8
This is not an either-or situation. I would put my money on a combination of bad governance and climate change. Short-term thinking and a failure to recognize the interrelatedness of us all is part of the problem.
3
The cost of desalinated water is about twice that of regular tap water.
6
The problems Mexico City faces are due more to the effects of over-centralized population. leading to unsustainable demands on water resources. For some reason, the authors of this piece are using this condition to drive 'Climate Change' as a story. The story is more one of poor land-use choices and of ignoring geographic reality.
We are riding on a living planet and the power of its natural processes exceeds our understanding. We could be able to deal with our impacts on the land, in this case through the difficult process of shifting population and changing the economy in the provinces. A better life in the countryside would make centralization in Mexico City unnecessary.
We are riding on a living planet and the power of its natural processes exceeds our understanding. We could be able to deal with our impacts on the land, in this case through the difficult process of shifting population and changing the economy in the provinces. A better life in the countryside would make centralization in Mexico City unnecessary.
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The reality is that the jobs are in the urbanized areas. Young people are moving where the jobs are. You are not going to make younger people into farmers, in the first place, and "a better life in the countryside" would basically mean "suburbia" with all of its' associated problems... longer commutes, water problems, trash disposal and recycling problems, and actually encroachment on farming. All of this leads to a changing climate. Shifting a population doesn't solve problems; it just complicates old ones and creates new ones.
No, the power of natural processes does not exceed our understanding; I don't know if this is some religious belief of yours, but scientifically, we do know what is going on; forty-some years ago, in my college days, I had an urban geography class that pretty well stated what I'm stating now. We had the first Earth Day. We talked of pollution and the environment.
This is nothing new.
No, the power of natural processes does not exceed our understanding; I don't know if this is some religious belief of yours, but scientifically, we do know what is going on; forty-some years ago, in my college days, I had an urban geography class that pretty well stated what I'm stating now. We had the first Earth Day. We talked of pollution and the environment.
This is nothing new.
8
Dear George Orwell,
Pumping water, or anything, out of the ground by the ton, always causes sinkholes and drops in altitude. Always. And this has to do with climate change because there is not enough precipitation now to replenish the water table.
Pumping water, or anything, out of the ground by the ton, always causes sinkholes and drops in altitude. Always. And this has to do with climate change because there is not enough precipitation now to replenish the water table.
3
The title of this series is "Changing Climate, Changing Cities"-- perhaps that explains the focus on Climate Change? The author(s) have done an admirable job emphasizing the impact of both flawed human decisions and climate change on Mexico City's problem.
3
Can you say "overpopulation"?
Mexico's population increased from 45 million in 1960 to 125 million today, and is on track to double by the end of the century. Even without climate change, there's no reason to think Mexico can support its current population sustainably over the long term, much less twice as many people.
It seems more accurate to call present and future migrants "overpopulation refugees" than "climate refugees."