How about building some big water diversion projects from WA and OR to CA? Government, private sector or a combination of both, but CA needs a reliable alternative to Sierra snow, which is dwindling from climate change.
3
I love California's politics, but the sense of entitlement is a bit off-putting if you know what I mean. Maybe you should have thought about the water thing before inviting 38 million people to move there.
28
This and the article on Iran paint a picture that has been all too obvious to those paying attention to simple physics as we exploit and waste our way to a disrupted planet.
I love Timothy Egan's writing, and his word portraits show all too well what no technical discussion of politically preferred temperature records and complaints about scientists doing science in closed door meetings can hide.
The increase in energy disrupting the world's circulatory system, caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions and described as global warming resulting in climate change, is here and crowding in on us. Each individual event is capable of comparison and attribution to the complex causes and effects of weather, but in sum the trend is obvious and disturbing.
No amount of separating into camps with enemies will solve a single thing. What might solve it is for us all to work in common and do what we can.
It would be a wonderful jobs program to develop, store, and deliver clean renewable energy when and where we can, conserving, and cutting back on the marketing infotainment nexus that wants us to buy and waste at an ever more feverish pace. The two dimensional universe is not more real than the world around us, which needs our attention. If we continue to ignore it and how it works, giving in to political advocacy, in the end it will cost us more than we can imagine. The 100:1 return on lobbying is not a good reason to let influence dominate our world.
I love Timothy Egan's writing, and his word portraits show all too well what no technical discussion of politically preferred temperature records and complaints about scientists doing science in closed door meetings can hide.
The increase in energy disrupting the world's circulatory system, caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions and described as global warming resulting in climate change, is here and crowding in on us. Each individual event is capable of comparison and attribution to the complex causes and effects of weather, but in sum the trend is obvious and disturbing.
No amount of separating into camps with enemies will solve a single thing. What might solve it is for us all to work in common and do what we can.
It would be a wonderful jobs program to develop, store, and deliver clean renewable energy when and where we can, conserving, and cutting back on the marketing infotainment nexus that wants us to buy and waste at an ever more feverish pace. The two dimensional universe is not more real than the world around us, which needs our attention. If we continue to ignore it and how it works, giving in to political advocacy, in the end it will cost us more than we can imagine. The 100:1 return on lobbying is not a good reason to let influence dominate our world.
26
"If self-interest, or fear, is what it takes to motivate a nation like China to join the world community in saving this troubled little orb of ours, then so be it."
Maybe a bit of empathy helps too. Can I ask Mr. Egan what it takes for Americans with Republican characteristics to join in saving "this troubled little orb of ours?" Or why it took LA more than 20 years to comply with clean air standards? Has America ever done anything that wasn't rooted in self-interest or fear, usually of the rapacious and hysterical kind respectively? For most of our history we led the world in every category of planetary destruction until very recently when China began aping us and because they're Goliath to our David they easily exceeded our excess, prodded by American corporations eager for cheap labor and laissez faire environmental regulation. Time-wise, China remains a sharp-eyed but clever and pragmatic toddler to America's sclerotic, embittered, myopic grandfather who's showing telling symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's. We've forgotten that our foreign policy since WW2 was to isolate and contain China, a major reason it's been playing catch up in joining the world community. Maybe the Republicans are hardwired genetically to blame the victim in all instances, but I'd hope for our own sake -- and the planet's -- that enough Americans see our primary responsibility for the ecological Armageddon at hand that we dispense with cluck-clucking China and address our own mess.
Maybe a bit of empathy helps too. Can I ask Mr. Egan what it takes for Americans with Republican characteristics to join in saving "this troubled little orb of ours?" Or why it took LA more than 20 years to comply with clean air standards? Has America ever done anything that wasn't rooted in self-interest or fear, usually of the rapacious and hysterical kind respectively? For most of our history we led the world in every category of planetary destruction until very recently when China began aping us and because they're Goliath to our David they easily exceeded our excess, prodded by American corporations eager for cheap labor and laissez faire environmental regulation. Time-wise, China remains a sharp-eyed but clever and pragmatic toddler to America's sclerotic, embittered, myopic grandfather who's showing telling symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's. We've forgotten that our foreign policy since WW2 was to isolate and contain China, a major reason it's been playing catch up in joining the world community. Maybe the Republicans are hardwired genetically to blame the victim in all instances, but I'd hope for our own sake -- and the planet's -- that enough Americans see our primary responsibility for the ecological Armageddon at hand that we dispense with cluck-clucking China and address our own mess.
23
If our coastlines become dotted with desalination plants like the one just opened for business in Carlsbad, we can ride out a drought of almost any length. The problem is the price tag, which dictates that water becomes a commodity of and for the wealthy, leaving the rest of the world in chaos. We need to plan for the chaos as well as we plan for the drought.
11
Not for the first time, Mr. Egan's musings bring tears to my eyes. Tears of joy at his vivid images of the creation. Tears of woe at the blind, stupid, vicious shortcomings of many of those we call 'leaders' -- private sector as well as public. (Pretty much all Republicans and the 'suits in Houston' and elsewhere!) Wistful tears that people like Mr. Egan, Professor Krugman, and such cannot supplant such leaders. Tears of regret that our gallant President cannot much longer continue his good fight for the wellbeing of all.
29
The Sierra's aren't exactly "snow-starved". The is snow pack is at about 80% of normal, which isn't bad for this time of year.
Land slides occur every winter here in the Pacific Northwest - an ever expanding population is the reason it effects us humans in such a negative way.
Land slides occur every winter here in the Pacific Northwest - an ever expanding population is the reason it effects us humans in such a negative way.
1
I believe you missed the point of the article
24
...It's pretty early in the season to be touting snow pack numbers as something meaningful.
The Sierras have indeed been starved for quite some time. A few November snows doesn't mean we're back to normal. There have been a number of "false starts" in the past half-decade.
The Sierras have indeed been starved for quite some time. A few November snows doesn't mean we're back to normal. There have been a number of "false starts" in the past half-decade.
18
Linda, the snowpack in the Sierra in mid-September 2015 was the lowest in 500 years! It is better at the moment thankfully!
14
What a great article. The issue of water is why I will never move to the Southwest, as beautiful as the desert is. Human beings can live in most climates but some places simply cannot support the population they have, even in the short term.
17
There's another piece in the Times about Iran and the seven-year drought that's devastating that country. The river running through Isfahan is a river of dust. The groundwater is 70% depleted. Agriculture is dying.
Yet, humanity remains gripped in fear of the neighbors, thirsts for war, seems to thrive on hatred rather than love for one another and for our only planet.
Can we, in the US, do better than the Middle East? Can we work the problem, figure out how to distribute water and other precious resources so that we have swamped and floods on the one hand and desertification on the other?
I'm doubtful, if a certain political party is determined to deny that we even have a problem, speculators will be figuring out how to buy the water and sell it at top dollar, and the voters are terrified of Muslims and unable to think for themselves.
Yet, humanity remains gripped in fear of the neighbors, thirsts for war, seems to thrive on hatred rather than love for one another and for our only planet.
Can we, in the US, do better than the Middle East? Can we work the problem, figure out how to distribute water and other precious resources so that we have swamped and floods on the one hand and desertification on the other?
I'm doubtful, if a certain political party is determined to deny that we even have a problem, speculators will be figuring out how to buy the water and sell it at top dollar, and the voters are terrified of Muslims and unable to think for themselves.
23
Sophia - don't be shy! That "certain political party" is the GOP!
18
Thanks Timothy Egan you are the best. By the way Don! (i'm on a first name basis) trump will simply build walls to protect all his waterfront properties. They will be great, the best ever built, gold paint,too. how impressive. what a winner. the losers will be inundated with the diverted water. big loser$.
18
And in the end, no walls will protect him. He needs to stop denying the undoubted truth crowding in on him and the people looking everywhere but at the real problem for somebody to blame for the earth's reaction to endless expansion and reliance on exploitation and waste.
5
sometimes I feel the human race has lost its senses.
I recall Annie Sullivan spelling W-A-T-E-R in Helen Keller's Hand. I expect when things get bad, many will not hear it, see it, nor talk about it.
What we have left is touching letters.
I recall Annie Sullivan spelling W-A-T-E-R in Helen Keller's Hand. I expect when things get bad, many will not hear it, see it, nor talk about it.
What we have left is touching letters.
7
I see the storm gathering over the Bay from my window. The rain is coming.
4
The Vincent Canby quotation in today's Times, about the original Star Wars film, is rather apt re this column: The story could fit on the head of a pin and still leave room for the Holy Bible. Mr. Egan and the editors let middle school writing class-level prose get in the way of an important piece. Disappointing.
1
Timothy Egan...I hold no cynicism or criticism for your words and work...simply Gratitude. In a world where we are besieged with the absolute power hunger of Trump and most of his "Partners", we, the Common People, desperately Need the depth and dedication of Leaders like You. (I was disappointed this morning when there was an absence of a "Comment Section". for "I Worry About Muslims"' because I no longer have any Muslim friends since moving to a small town where are None present.) At least you bring forth suc a gift of crucial discussion issues. Thank You!
11
You may have heard the news that the Bush family bought water rights for almost 300,000 acres of land in Paraguay.
Remember, Bush told us not to worry about climate change and keep on driving those hummers. Apparently they DID know better.
Makes you think about their commitment to this country + this planet.
Remember, Bush told us not to worry about climate change and keep on driving those hummers. Apparently they DID know better.
Makes you think about their commitment to this country + this planet.
38
As usual, a wonderful article by Mr. Egan, poet-journalist of the Pacific Northwest.
Not mentioned in Mr. Egan's article – cannot be expected to cover every base in an op-ed piece – is the uncertainty about the medium term impact of this abundance of rainfall, coming after a summer of drought (which, by the way, is not so unusual – the summer "drought" part – in the Northwest).
It will not bail the Northwest out of its water dilemma unless winter is cold enough to build and sustain the snowpack. Slow-release is a crucial element of the water-security of the Northwest. Without it, we have a cycle of flood and drought. Will our winter be cold enough to sustain the snowpack? It is not only skiers who pray for snow.
Not mentioned in Mr. Egan's article – cannot be expected to cover every base in an op-ed piece – is the uncertainty about the medium term impact of this abundance of rainfall, coming after a summer of drought (which, by the way, is not so unusual – the summer "drought" part – in the Northwest).
It will not bail the Northwest out of its water dilemma unless winter is cold enough to build and sustain the snowpack. Slow-release is a crucial element of the water-security of the Northwest. Without it, we have a cycle of flood and drought. Will our winter be cold enough to sustain the snowpack? It is not only skiers who pray for snow.
21
Another article on either climate change or resource scarcity, and not a single mention of runaway human population growth, which will have astronomically leaped from roughly 2 billion in 1950, to roughly 10 billion by 2050.
How is this not an extremely important aspect of this "troubled little orb of ours"? Why does a discussion and evaluation of its impact never enter into the equations of these allegedly clear-eyed appraisals and reports we read here?
How is this not an extremely important aspect of this "troubled little orb of ours"? Why does a discussion and evaluation of its impact never enter into the equations of these allegedly clear-eyed appraisals and reports we read here?
28
To join "the world community" China had to abandon -- or at least soften -- its draconian and widely condemned population control policies. It eventually adopted UN sanctioned economic development and women's health guidelines that incidentally lower family size as the price of admission to the Global Trade convention. Estimates range but the consensus is that China, with its ruthless down-sizing of its cultural core of large families, slowed exponential population growth by 1 to 2 billion. No nation comes close to China's sacrifice but still nothing constrains our smug and self-satisfied vituperation of China, that inscrutable, sinister despotic nation-child of bespectacled barbarians. I have every reason to hate China's leadership for what they did to my mother's family, most of whom remain in China today. Instead I am grateful that China -- despite Western belligerence, xenophobia, hypocrisy and double-dealing -- has kept a powder keg of a billion and a half people from blowing up and disrupting the rest of the world. Nonetheless most Americans and all of our political leadership see fit to hurl cheap invective snot-balls at a nation that owes us nothing but we owe more than we'll ever acknowledge. Leadership with American characteristics. Formulated here but produced in China and sold everywhere hypocrisy, ignorance and cynicism are taken for moral superiority.
6
Probably the Times' best op-ed writer, blending tight, elegant writing with trenchant observations about the crazy nation (and world) in which we poor humans seem to live. One does wonder if we will ever wake up and act before calamity strikes. At least Mr. Egan does his best to wake up the sleepwalkers in an honest and deliberate fashion.
32
So much of global climate change can be traced back to overpopulation, and yet little ink is spilled on that topic. Big money philanthropy like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mark Zuckerberg's new foundation, and Warren Buffet's billions all ignore population control issues. Is it too controversial? I feel that without attending to population, every other intervention is a matter of spinning wheels, going nowhere. And ironically, countries with declining birth rates see it as an economic problem, as Germany basically invited a high birth rate culture into the heart of Europe, to solve a perceived demographic problem. Hey, wait it out; it's a one generation issue. The alternative of a constant spiral of growth to support elders is tragically, comically, and obviously not sustainable.
18
Timothy, Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The national media seems to have lost that thread concerning the refugee crisis from Syria.....global weirding is indeed going to cause some headaches for our national defense. And the national defense for the rest of the world.
It is estimated that 80% of all human beings live near coastal areas.
When those people turn inland for rescue will those of us on higher ground welcome them with open arms, helping them erect their tents in our back yards?
Judging by what I have seen, especially from the republican family values machine in the U.S., I would say the answer to my question will probably be no.
We can act to mitigate the coming deluge now, or we can let it overwhelm us in the not so distant future.
Maybe if those of us who accept the facts were to accept the whine from our right wing, fundamentalist brethren and say, "OK, humans can't affect the handiwork of God, so humans didn't cause the weirding, but humans are the only species on Earth with the ability to mitigate the problem, so let's get to work." After all, these are folks who say they value hard work.
The national media seems to have lost that thread concerning the refugee crisis from Syria.....global weirding is indeed going to cause some headaches for our national defense. And the national defense for the rest of the world.
It is estimated that 80% of all human beings live near coastal areas.
When those people turn inland for rescue will those of us on higher ground welcome them with open arms, helping them erect their tents in our back yards?
Judging by what I have seen, especially from the republican family values machine in the U.S., I would say the answer to my question will probably be no.
We can act to mitigate the coming deluge now, or we can let it overwhelm us in the not so distant future.
Maybe if those of us who accept the facts were to accept the whine from our right wing, fundamentalist brethren and say, "OK, humans can't affect the handiwork of God, so humans didn't cause the weirding, but humans are the only species on Earth with the ability to mitigate the problem, so let's get to work." After all, these are folks who say they value hard work.
11
A lovely piece. Thanks as usual, Mr. Egan.
However, heavy rains are the last things we in the west need. They'll destroy infrastructure by washing away parched ground. They'll flush torrents of pollution directly into the ocean. And worst, they'll convince a lot of people that the drought's over, if there ever was one, and they'll all go back to their old ways, lessons unlearned.
If ever there was an opportunity for us to change, it's slapping us in the face. I don't want the force of that slap to be attenuated.
However, heavy rains are the last things we in the west need. They'll destroy infrastructure by washing away parched ground. They'll flush torrents of pollution directly into the ocean. And worst, they'll convince a lot of people that the drought's over, if there ever was one, and they'll all go back to their old ways, lessons unlearned.
If ever there was an opportunity for us to change, it's slapping us in the face. I don't want the force of that slap to be attenuated.
4
Please remember your high school science. There is the same amount of water on this planet as there has ever been. It's called the Water Cycle.
2
Please remember your gardening. The finite amount of water is only useful when it's where you want, when you want it, and in the proper supply.
Or does the vast equivalence of all mean that you're drinking seawater now?
Or does the vast equivalence of all mean that you're drinking seawater now?
19
Ice is a solid that can stay in one place. When that turns into water, it "seeks its level." Spreads out. Moves over the planet. See the difference?
7
Cheer up!
The lies and hand ringing shall continue. New reservoirs won't be built but committees will be formed, plans proposed money funneled to friends and cronies of the venal elected officials at all levels of California government that can get in on the "action".
Pipelines and aqueducts won't be built but High speed rail will. Gasoline won't be cheaper but ethanol will be added to feed the gluttons in "Agribusiness even as it adds to pollution and destroys the engine in your car. Giant solar and wind power will be subsidized to further socialism even as they kill, maim and destroy wildlife and but water to the San Joaquin valley further rationed.
The lessons of climate will be ignored but Global "something" will be used to pander and engage the public. Above it all the slobs will raise rates and will spend our money for their comfort and use it to grow power and influence and still not solve the problems.
The lies and hand ringing shall continue. New reservoirs won't be built but committees will be formed, plans proposed money funneled to friends and cronies of the venal elected officials at all levels of California government that can get in on the "action".
Pipelines and aqueducts won't be built but High speed rail will. Gasoline won't be cheaper but ethanol will be added to feed the gluttons in "Agribusiness even as it adds to pollution and destroys the engine in your car. Giant solar and wind power will be subsidized to further socialism even as they kill, maim and destroy wildlife and but water to the San Joaquin valley further rationed.
The lessons of climate will be ignored but Global "something" will be used to pander and engage the public. Above it all the slobs will raise rates and will spend our money for their comfort and use it to grow power and influence and still not solve the problems.
Doc? Solar and wind = socialism? And yet you pretend that living in a desert doesn't mean water is going to be a REAL issue?
The American Southwest is an arid zone, even if residents don't find that convenient.
The American Southwest is an arid zone, even if residents don't find that convenient.
5
Arid conditions don't have to equal non-action. the region did not become arid yesterday nor did the population arrive an buses this morning. Global warming, if real, has results 100 years in the future and we are to panic "today". Water has been a problem for 100 years in the past but it's OK to ignore it every day... Pleas either grow up, wake up... preferably both.
You write so beautifully, Tim, it creates an odd juxtaposition with your topic.
4
Yeah, what will it take to convince the deniers of climate change that it is more than some liberal hokum? Don't expect Trump to be able to sort this one out. Can't be bothered with facts and details.
8
Every once in a while I'm glad to see the so talented Timothy Egan get back to
his roots. This Seattle native is married to a interesting Brooklyn born girl. JG-
his roots. This Seattle native is married to a interesting Brooklyn born girl. JG-
3
Here in the heart of the midwest, June 2016 was the wettest on record, followed by a near-record drought in autumn. We've been having rain/temperature extremes for some time. As of this week, we had yet to have a hard freeze. That usually occurs the week after Halloween.
After one extended period of rain, a huge old Shingle Oak came down on my property. The tree service said it had been healthy, it's roots loosened by unusually wet soil. I've seen tree services taking out trees all over town lately. A huge old oak fell in a street just this week, blocking traffic. The Parks Maintenance director has reported an uptick in tree diseases. And tree regeneration is choked out by invasive, non-native Asian Honeysuckle shrubs. That means when the big old trees die, there is nothing growing up to replace them.
Trees seem to be the first victims of weather extremes. Yet even with the evidence all around them, people deny climate change, and few volunteer to remove Asian Honeysuckle from parks or their own properties. Losing forests may wake some people up, but likely too late. It's a tragically high price to pay for stubborn obliviousness.
After one extended period of rain, a huge old Shingle Oak came down on my property. The tree service said it had been healthy, it's roots loosened by unusually wet soil. I've seen tree services taking out trees all over town lately. A huge old oak fell in a street just this week, blocking traffic. The Parks Maintenance director has reported an uptick in tree diseases. And tree regeneration is choked out by invasive, non-native Asian Honeysuckle shrubs. That means when the big old trees die, there is nothing growing up to replace them.
Trees seem to be the first victims of weather extremes. Yet even with the evidence all around them, people deny climate change, and few volunteer to remove Asian Honeysuckle from parks or their own properties. Losing forests may wake some people up, but likely too late. It's a tragically high price to pay for stubborn obliviousness.
25
Beautifully written, Timothy Egan. Thank you.
19
It would have been nice had Mr. Egan cited the ending of the novel "A River Runs Through It" as the source for the title of his editorial. Given that we live in a cut and paste world, no doubt I had expected too much
2
It's possible that Mr. Egan did not select the caption for his article.
6
Given what we see happening in CA and other parched places on earth, I hear a lot less complaining about the constant rain of the past month here in Seattle. Bring it on, the snow pack too, we need it!
6
We face the need for copious energy for desalination. And then we face the problem of disposing of the by-product, water of high salinity. But we'll go on growing our population and our consumption. After us, the deluge. Let's eat cake, but also let's bask in the glories of what is left of nature.
2
We should be capturing melting glacier water and XL piping it down to reservoirs in California to help grow produce. Either that or build massive desalination plants up and down the coast in the next few decades. Or do both. If water will be more valuable than oil, our infrastructure should start reflecting that.
3
Or maybe we should stop trying to grow tomatoes and melons in a semi-desert. If we weren't using tens of millions of acres of well-watered land in Iowa and Illinois and Indiana to grow corn to feed to hogs and convert into sweeteners for Mountain Dew and Little Debbie Snack Cakes so everyone can get diabetes and cost the health care system billions of dollars, there'd be plenty of room. Just a thought.
14
@Richard: touche
4
Entrepreneurs are salivating as they view Snoqualmie Falls & envision tankers & barges delivering life saving water to the toilets & lawns of parched California & making themselves multi-millionaires in the process. Pristine Alaskan water "owned" by companies will be exported for use as "drinking water", a classification that includes flushing & sprinkling. Water problems have a lot to do with our thinking.
7
The smartest thing the Great lakes Staes along with Canada has done is to make it impossible for our water to be exported. In order to draw from the lakes you have to live within the basin. Even towns that are in Great lakes states that are outside the basin are not allowed access.
18
Hi, Mike. Remember, too, that the smart thing that Chicago did was grandfather in our rights even as the reversing of the Chicago River means that we're part of the Mississippi watershed. I live just blocks from the lake, but technically not part of the watershed anymore.
1
Climate change is real, its republicans that are the hoax.
22
This piece is extraordinarily rich and meaningful. Mr. Egan is writing at a level reached by few.
13
The reality is most people are too self-serving to have any concern about some environmental disaster that will affect someone who they very likely will never know. Most people are also naturally selfish and irresponsible. It is far more convenient to turn a blind eye and become a climate denier than take steps to change the way we live, particularly when those steps will be costly in the short term. Without true leadership, most people are in favor of future generations paying the price for the excesses and conveniences we enjoy today.
If you're interested, here are comments on climate change from the only true leader running for president, Senator Bernie Sanders. http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/bernie6.htm
If you're interested, here are comments on climate change from the only true leader running for president, Senator Bernie Sanders. http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/bernie6.htm
9
"Elsewhere, the prospect of 200 million people on the move, most of them Muslim, may finally win over that other block of obstructionists, the Republican Party."
Nope. In the face of the evidence and for the foreseeable future, the Republican Party will keep doubling down on denial -- about environment, infrastructure, economic policy, fiscal policy, guns and pretty much everything else. Unable to adjust to a new reality that requires a more active, more communitarian stewardship of our planet and its life-sustaining biosphere, Republicans have entered an accelerating political death spiral. The only question is whether they'll take the rest of us with them.
Nope. In the face of the evidence and for the foreseeable future, the Republican Party will keep doubling down on denial -- about environment, infrastructure, economic policy, fiscal policy, guns and pretty much everything else. Unable to adjust to a new reality that requires a more active, more communitarian stewardship of our planet and its life-sustaining biosphere, Republicans have entered an accelerating political death spiral. The only question is whether they'll take the rest of us with them.
16
Meanwhile, Congress, along with help from the American Farm Bureau and others, continues to challenge the need for any regulations to protect Clean Water, wetlands, wildlife, and the human use of those waters. We must regulate the destruction of habitat and the pollution of our rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater if we expect to have a useable environment for the future. Denial of the fundamental need to protect our water will indeed lead to the wars of the future that the Pentagon warns about.
18
We could revamp our infrastructure to more efficiently use and transport resources. We could help developing countries in a similar manner. It would not be an overnight project. We would have to quit feeding the oil industry's best customer: the U.S. military via the American taxpayer.
On a day much like this, some eighteen years ago, the planet experienced a net gain of about 200,000 humans. During the years since, many of them learned to hate us, despite our best efforts to improve their lives with drone surveillance, air strikes, aircraft carriers lurking offshore, assorted invasions, and more recently, threats of carpet bombing and humorlessly wondering if sand can glow.
Every day since that day eighteen years ago, another 200,000 or so more humans have been added to the total. Tomorrow at this time, another 200,000. How many of those added today will learn to hate us?
At the same time, the habitable surface area of the planet is decreasing, agricultural production is increasingly disrupted by drought and floods, fish stocks are collapsing because of ocean degradation, and the best we can do is pass legislation to export more coal and oil, and give tax breaks to those who are wealthier than most of us can even imagine because they control coal and oil, the manufacture of weapons, and increasingly, the production of food.
When they own the water, who will be left to buy it? How will they pay?
On a day much like this, some eighteen years ago, the planet experienced a net gain of about 200,000 humans. During the years since, many of them learned to hate us, despite our best efforts to improve their lives with drone surveillance, air strikes, aircraft carriers lurking offshore, assorted invasions, and more recently, threats of carpet bombing and humorlessly wondering if sand can glow.
Every day since that day eighteen years ago, another 200,000 or so more humans have been added to the total. Tomorrow at this time, another 200,000. How many of those added today will learn to hate us?
At the same time, the habitable surface area of the planet is decreasing, agricultural production is increasingly disrupted by drought and floods, fish stocks are collapsing because of ocean degradation, and the best we can do is pass legislation to export more coal and oil, and give tax breaks to those who are wealthier than most of us can even imagine because they control coal and oil, the manufacture of weapons, and increasingly, the production of food.
When they own the water, who will be left to buy it? How will they pay?
8
When I read the new $1 billion desalination plant will provide 10% of the "county's water needs", I said, wow, 10% of the country's water needs is pretty good. But then the reading teacher with the reading problem reread the sentence and saw that, at huge expense, this plant is going only provide 10% of one COUNTY'S needs. If we have to resort to such massive expenditures to solve our water problems then we're deep trouble.
14
Would someone please make Timothy Egan a full-blown op-ed columnist, on the same par as Tom Friedman and Maureen Dowd? As the Western drought continues, and with earthquake threats and challenges to California agriculture, coverage of the West will be even more important in the coming years. Let Egan lead the way!
51
Plus, it is so nice to hear from someone not a New Yorker or a Washington DC person. NYT is a global paper after all, and writers from many places help make it great.
18
Better yet, relegate Maureen Dowd to sometimes contributor, Mr. Egan regular contributor.
6
This is WAY beyond a 'Republican' / 'Democrat' issue. It is a manifestation of human failing on a much grander scale. While we progressively trash the ONLY home we have in defense of this year's GDP, we spending most of our intellectual and political capacity inventing new ways to kill one another, primarily over competing and patently ridiculous mythologies.
Let's face it we are a failed species. We got very 'clever' before we got remotely wise. It is a terrible waste of an amazing opportunity and a lovely planet but the universe will move on...
Let's face it we are a failed species. We got very 'clever' before we got remotely wise. It is a terrible waste of an amazing opportunity and a lovely planet but the universe will move on...
26
Val in Brooklyn to Graham in Portsmouth
If I could've recommended your comment 5 zillion times, believe me, I'd have done so. Unfortunately, I'm only allowed to do so once.
Everything you've said is spot on. How tragic for us, but, as you said...
Submitted 12/18/15@10:58 a.m. e.s.t.
If I could've recommended your comment 5 zillion times, believe me, I'd have done so. Unfortunately, I'm only allowed to do so once.
Everything you've said is spot on. How tragic for us, but, as you said...
Submitted 12/18/15@10:58 a.m. e.s.t.
4
Among the symptoms of advanced capitalism: a languid declaration that there's no hope, it's all just biology, oh well, let's have another sherry.
Get off your butt and at least, go vote.
Get off your butt and at least, go vote.
2
Val in Brooklyn to Robert
With respects, did you read Graham's comment carefully? How do you get "it's just biology..." out of what he said? He's protesting the collective denial of those running for office and the people who support them. That's quite different from what you speak of. And why assume that neither he nor the rest of us won't vote?
My family's quite concerned. We've marched, including The People's Climate in Sept., we sign petitions, we do what we can, as have many others--gerrymandering or not--so the "least" that you refer is barely a starting point (for us). I can't speak for you, but I'm for Sanders.
BTW, we're teetotalers and with my mom's kidneys, sherry's completely off the menu, anyway.
I bid you peace and a tad more germaness in your replies.
Submitted 12/18/15@1:08 p.m. e.s.t.
With respects, did you read Graham's comment carefully? How do you get "it's just biology..." out of what he said? He's protesting the collective denial of those running for office and the people who support them. That's quite different from what you speak of. And why assume that neither he nor the rest of us won't vote?
My family's quite concerned. We've marched, including The People's Climate in Sept., we sign petitions, we do what we can, as have many others--gerrymandering or not--so the "least" that you refer is barely a starting point (for us). I can't speak for you, but I'm for Sanders.
BTW, we're teetotalers and with my mom's kidneys, sherry's completely off the menu, anyway.
I bid you peace and a tad more germaness in your replies.
Submitted 12/18/15@1:08 p.m. e.s.t.
2
The drought that has grown the Sahara, seared Syria and baked the Southwest from the Pacific to Texas-Louisiana border to an un-golden brown is second only to the drought of intelligent proposals from what passes for the well of Republican intellect. That hole is bone dry, and yet they keep dropping the bucket into it and drawing up nonsense by the barrel.
166
"...yet they keep dropping the bucket into it and drawing up nonsense by the barrel. " I love it.
8
Climate Change affects areas in different ways - here in eastern Idaho for the past several years we don't get a killing frost until late September or October! We used to get a killing frost in late August! Collateral damage though in the Tetons affecting food supplies for animals - grizzlies venturing closer to human habitat!!
8
Nice piece. You (or your headline editor) should have foot-noted Norman Maclean, for his gem of a novella.
4
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
2
"saving this troubled little orb of ours"
Egan, I'm a big fan of yours, but the above is my pet peeve - and one that is emulated by journalists all over.
The Earth does not need saving. It was here before us, it will be here after we are long extinct. The fight to curb climate change is about saving our own hides, and those of thousands of species across the planet. That's who needs saving.
Egan, I'm a big fan of yours, but the above is my pet peeve - and one that is emulated by journalists all over.
The Earth does not need saving. It was here before us, it will be here after we are long extinct. The fight to curb climate change is about saving our own hides, and those of thousands of species across the planet. That's who needs saving.
13
Vin,
I wish it were so but I'm not so sure this is true these days. Pre-industrial maybe, but we have now set so many ferociously ugly traps for the planet that we barely manage to control when we are trying; nuclear power stations, chemical plants, weapons dumps, etc. that we are going to leave one hell of a mess, and that all assumes we will go quietly - which we will not. I understand cockroaches are VERY robust......
I wish it were so but I'm not so sure this is true these days. Pre-industrial maybe, but we have now set so many ferociously ugly traps for the planet that we barely manage to control when we are trying; nuclear power stations, chemical plants, weapons dumps, etc. that we are going to leave one hell of a mess, and that all assumes we will go quietly - which we will not. I understand cockroaches are VERY robust......
A fine summary of our dire straits. The northwest needs to do two things to secure a peaceful, prosperous future for itself. Succeed from the USA is number one. Two would be to build a wall to keep out climate refugees who don't believe in science (This would be everyone who has voted republican in the last twenty years. And yes, if they already live here and leave the region for whatever reason, they will be denied re-entry.). As for the latter, there will be a written, closed book test.
As for the wall, Trump can pay for it.
As for the wall, Trump can pay for it.
13
Ultimately you can't get around the fact that there are just too damn many of this species. Sooner or later that issue will resolve itself, and it won't be pretty.
21
Since Mr. Egan quoted Joni Mitchell lyrics, I suggest you check out her song "Ethiopia" written in 1985 in response to the drought.
"Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on the human need
On and on the human greed profanes...
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
hacking rain forests down
On and on insanities...
On and on stupidity
On and on the basic needs are defiled
Good air good water good earth...
Little garden planet oasis in space
Some hearts hurt they can hardly
stand the waste..."
"Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on the human need
On and on the human greed profanes...
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
hacking rain forests down
On and on insanities...
On and on stupidity
On and on the basic needs are defiled
Good air good water good earth...
Little garden planet oasis in space
Some hearts hurt they can hardly
stand the waste..."
86
Great quote Luke. You must be a true fan, that song is not very well known or appreciated. Thanks!
2
The response to the 1985 drought in Africa, and to all crisis there since was completely off: first and foremost should have been population control. birth control or death, take a pick.
5
This beautifully written piece actually made me think of the concluding lines from Norman Maclean's wonderful "A River Runs Through It":
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
3
In 1998 the late Senator Paul Simon wrote the book "Tapped Out" describing the coming world crisis in water and what we can do about it. The book was not a best seller but Simon spotted a looming challenge before most. Paul never wanted a statue or building raised in his memory but I have created a Paul Simon Water for the World program at our State Department to focus a small part of our global effort towards providing clean drinking water to underdeveloped nations. I saw the fruits of this effort when a Haitian doctor pointed with pride to a well providing safe drinking water for 10,000 residents of Port au Prince while they battled a water-borne cholera epidemic. She said the twenty thousand dollar US investment would save many lives.
26
Social science research demonstrates how liberals and conservatives view the world through different moral frameworks. For conservatives, security is a much higher priority. Framing threats of ecological degradation in the terms of environmental security may well be the path to broker necessary agreements with a Republican party that stands alone among major parties of the industrialized democratic world in its obstinate denial of climate change. Good luck in that, Senator.
4
With all respect to Sen. Durbin, it's certainly possible to solve some local water problems with a good well in small, circumscribed watersheds like Haiti; or, as the blogger above notes, in Israel, where they have created a massive and apparently successful desalination system.
But it won't work on a planetary basis, the most alarming example being the 2-3 billion people, from Pakistan to China, who depend on the rivers descending from the Himalayas, whose glaciers are rapidlly disappearing.
The only solution in that region would be to have fewer people to depend on whatever water is available. Easily said, I know; and even easily done, with modern techniques of birth control -- if it weren't for the politics and the economics which impede its realization.
But it won't work on a planetary basis, the most alarming example being the 2-3 billion people, from Pakistan to China, who depend on the rivers descending from the Himalayas, whose glaciers are rapidlly disappearing.
The only solution in that region would be to have fewer people to depend on whatever water is available. Easily said, I know; and even easily done, with modern techniques of birth control -- if it weren't for the politics and the economics which impede its realization.
7
How can we have an article using that wonderful picture of Snoqualmie Falls and not mention David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" which opened with that very image and angle? ;)
1
Refreshing and scary your piece on the power of water in the Pacific Northwest. Clean water is life. The Pentagon has warned of coming wars over water but nary a drop of water was mentioned by any of the 13 Wannabe POTUS GOP candidates in their five debates on TV. Miami, the Keys, China, Bangladesh, Donald Trump avers climate change is a hoax. The last Republican debate of 2015 took place in Las Vegas at Shelson Adelson's The Venetian - fake water, fake Venice, fake city in the Nevada desert that will, one of these days - when The Big One hits the Pacific Coast in California - make Lake Tahoe seafront property. Beyond horrific, the $1 billion Desal plant in San Diego County. Bottled Canadian air and water are being sold to the Chinese. Climate refugees will be crowding the western hemisphere soon. How can it be that the Republicans, Tea Party Conservatives, don't mention climate change, climate warming except with a sneer? Thank you, Tim Egan for your gorgeous truth. the breath of fresh air and mist from the Snoqualmie Falls east of Seattle. And may the New Year bring water to thirsty countries.
9
The Republican greed, over rides any concerns, whatsoever, of the health and well being of their own children and grandchildren, etc. How can you fight them with greed like that?
7
Historically, waterfront property is the most expensive and I'm sure that the GOP Billionaires Club owns a lot of it. Developers want to make sure they can sell beachfront condos at top dollar, so there is a build in need to maintain an upscale vision for future sales. Hence the Big Denial.
At some point, when data relating to sea level rise becomes indisputable, there will be a Big Sale. "For years you've dreamed of owning your own beachfront paradise! Now that time is here!" Those who have bought into the Big Denial will buy properties that could well be underwater twice a day before the last mortgage payment. By that time bankruptcy laws will have been rigged to insure that payments will be made regardless of topographical change.
Frankly, anyone who has put their hopes, dreams and money into a little place by the sea will be vulnerable to the fantasy of escaping the worst; that maybe all the climate scientists got it wrong or are trying to scam the rest of us; because, if climate change is real, they will lose everything. I can't really blame them for holding onto hope.
In the meantime, the Big Money, the Smart Money, will be invested in places like Wyoming which will never sea a drop of salt water.
At some point, when data relating to sea level rise becomes indisputable, there will be a Big Sale. "For years you've dreamed of owning your own beachfront paradise! Now that time is here!" Those who have bought into the Big Denial will buy properties that could well be underwater twice a day before the last mortgage payment. By that time bankruptcy laws will have been rigged to insure that payments will be made regardless of topographical change.
Frankly, anyone who has put their hopes, dreams and money into a little place by the sea will be vulnerable to the fantasy of escaping the worst; that maybe all the climate scientists got it wrong or are trying to scam the rest of us; because, if climate change is real, they will lose everything. I can't really blame them for holding onto hope.
In the meantime, the Big Money, the Smart Money, will be invested in places like Wyoming which will never sea a drop of salt water.
3
multi million dollar homes are still being built on th shore
those that can afford to do so dont care if their property is inundated some day
all your insurance rates will go up to cover their l;oss
those that can afford to do so dont care if their property is inundated some day
all your insurance rates will go up to cover their l;oss
11
Watching a falls is a magical experience.
I grew up in south Minneapolis, and we had Minnehaha falls to watch.
This park is magical. There is a statue of Hiawatha, there is a creek you can walk in, and there is the falls you can be in awe...
I grew up there, so falls don't impress me so much. But I visited Snoqualmie falls in my youth. It was very impressive. On par with Minnehaha falls.
I've been to niagra falls also. I like Miinnehaha falls, because I grew up with it. It was a fixture of my life.
Falls are magical.
I grew up in south Minneapolis, and we had Minnehaha falls to watch.
This park is magical. There is a statue of Hiawatha, there is a creek you can walk in, and there is the falls you can be in awe...
I grew up there, so falls don't impress me so much. But I visited Snoqualmie falls in my youth. It was very impressive. On par with Minnehaha falls.
I've been to niagra falls also. I like Miinnehaha falls, because I grew up with it. It was a fixture of my life.
Falls are magical.
3
Climate-change denier's: no need to worry. These threats to mankind will probably not come to fruition during your lifetimes. Most likely, they'll only affect your children and grandchildren. Feel better now?
11
I'm holding my breath to see what happens in the High Sierra this winter--and it doesn't feel good. Let it snow. And thanks for another great piece.
3
The High Sierra's store the water in the form of snow. Problem is, with temperatures going up, much of the water is going to fall as rain and quickly run off.
I'm agnostic as to whether global warming caused the drought. But one thing is clear; when precipitation finally comes, the rising temperatures have altered the form it comes in.
I'm agnostic as to whether global warming caused the drought. But one thing is clear; when precipitation finally comes, the rising temperatures have altered the form it comes in.
1
Ever wonder what this website would be like without Tom Egan"s writings?
5
I visited and loved this falls in my youth.
The feeling is that this is something beyond our control. We're here for a reason, but that reason is unknown, and this falls is proof that we don't control our existence.
I would like rich people to visit this falls.
You are not in control, rich people!
The feeling is that this is something beyond our control. We're here for a reason, but that reason is unknown, and this falls is proof that we don't control our existence.
I would like rich people to visit this falls.
You are not in control, rich people!
3
So well said!
I live in was-about-to-be fracked country along the Marcellus Shale in central New York, but a huge grass-roots movement kicked into action here. The smart thing the state did was commission a health report--nothing healthy on a number of fronts about hydrofracking, which helped to change the conversation from the gas industry's emphasis jobs and money (never mind the "costs") to health and fresh water. New York has a temporary ban on hydrofracking. Thank you Governor Cuomo for doing the right thing for New Yorkers and the future.
Now we know why the likes of the Kochs, the fossil fuel industry, and the Republicans are working arduously (more-or-less behind the scenes) to take over politics and government at the state and local levels.
My mother used to say a little rhyme to us kids: "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink." It made no sense to me as a child, but it sure makes sense to me now.
I live in was-about-to-be fracked country along the Marcellus Shale in central New York, but a huge grass-roots movement kicked into action here. The smart thing the state did was commission a health report--nothing healthy on a number of fronts about hydrofracking, which helped to change the conversation from the gas industry's emphasis jobs and money (never mind the "costs") to health and fresh water. New York has a temporary ban on hydrofracking. Thank you Governor Cuomo for doing the right thing for New Yorkers and the future.
Now we know why the likes of the Kochs, the fossil fuel industry, and the Republicans are working arduously (more-or-less behind the scenes) to take over politics and government at the state and local levels.
My mother used to say a little rhyme to us kids: "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink." It made no sense to me as a child, but it sure makes sense to me now.
87
Your mother's rhyme was a paraphrase from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." A Gothic fantasy 200 years ago. Today, a pending reality.
7
To a friend deemed 'Extraordinary' status by the U.S. Government and has traveled the world on humanitarian mission for decades, Irish and a brilliant water engineer, she loves America, it has become 'Home' in a far greater way to this American born. An award presentation in the early new year in Asia, other assignments to Africa on her schedule, and I keep reminding her 'We need you here on our homeland. We are running out of our water resources, and few have your skills and knowledge. 'I could work for Jeb Bush and Hillary, but not for Donald Trump', she replies. 'Never mind about Trump & Co., remain neutral and don't place anything political on Facebook', I caution.
'When we go to the country this weekend, I want to sit and look out to sea. I need to be near water'. It's a cold world out there, and I may stay in the car, but my friend will be standing tall on the beach, looking at the tide ebb and flow, expanding her mental horizons. A lot of work to be done this year, she likes nothing better than a challenge. And the only thing I can do to help is not weep, while America is having a break-down.
'When we go to the country this weekend, I want to sit and look out to sea. I need to be near water'. It's a cold world out there, and I may stay in the car, but my friend will be standing tall on the beach, looking at the tide ebb and flow, expanding her mental horizons. A lot of work to be done this year, she likes nothing better than a challenge. And the only thing I can do to help is not weep, while America is having a break-down.
2
When ice melt raises sea levels, Florida becomes an archipelago, the East Coast is redrawn 20 miles further west, and Oklahoma to California is a desert, then the Republican Party will not only acknowledge global warming, it will claim they have been warning of it and fighting Democrats to end fossil fuel burning since Saint Reagan put solar panels on the White House. The Republican propaganda machine will rewrite history and loyal republican voters will blame former President Barack Obama for ignoring the glaring warning signs, calling him a secret Muslim traitor for doing nothing.
159
A lot of readers are going to read your post and think it's silly. To those who think that, I suggest they read some of the conservatives' writings on the financial crisis and how it was fault of the victims of the crisis and not of Wall Street.
5
Actually, Saint Reagan removed the solar panels that Jimmy Carter had installed.
3
Carter put on the solar panels; Reagan removed them.
3
Thank you! I thought everyone else had forgotten that Syria started with a drought. Nothing drives extremism like a lack of basic human needs. Yes, terrorism is a threat, but if you're only treating the symptoms, the disease will recur again and again.
8
I live by a coastal area that in the last few years is dramatically losing beachfront. My neighbors, the ones living right on the beach, who have invested quite a sum of money in their properties, are looking for answers. In these conversations, you are not permitted to mention climate change. The only accepted contribution to these conversations is building some type of edifice that will stop the sea---think about that, another wall to build. The bad news for my neighbors, is so far all the experts that have been called in on this problem say the same thing: basically, those on the beach will eventually lose their homes and there is no structure that will stop the sea.
19
I strongly recommend reading "The Water Knife" (by Paolo Bacigalupi), a waterless dystopia of the near-future American West. The 1 percent live in water-rich "arcologies" and control water supply to municipalities while the rest of the population fights each other in a daily battle for water dispensed from pay-as-you-go, priced-by-demand meters. It's all too real. Sometimes fiction drives home what facts alone cannot.
8
"Adaptation" might be the magic term that turns the rightwing deniers into believers. After all, it will be the giant corporations who do the giant jobs of sea-walling cities against the encroaching super tides, and as "sherm" notes, redistributing water. I can see Haliburton making billions on that. One plan the plutocrats could get behind is this:
http://seniorjunior.blogspot.com/2011/11/big-water-moving.html
2
There's plenty of fresh water, and likely always will be. The question is WHERE the water is, relative to WHERE humans choose to live (or futilely hang on, long after the water is gone. Los Angeles, we're calling you.). Global warming will add incalculable fresh water as glaciers and ice sheets melt, and increased evaporation and ensuing rainfall brings epic storms, the stuff formerly of sci-fi movies.
Civilization as we know it is primarily an accident of nature, otherwise known as the end of the last Ice Age. Most modern farmland wasn't feeding anyone while buried a mile under accumulated snow and ice. Without the proliferation of grazing game animals and agriculture made possible by the retreating ice sheets, our species would likely be only a few percent of its present-day numbers.
And presumably the Earth will have another Ice Age, out there somewhere in the next 5-15,000 years. If we're still here, we'll have much bigger problems to confront as growing seasons and arable land shrink in response to cooling temperatures, and drinking water is once again locked up in snow and ice. Maybe humans will be long gone by then, and the Earth can just keep doing its thing without regard to what one self-absorbed yet insignificant species thinks or wants.
Civilization as we know it is primarily an accident of nature, otherwise known as the end of the last Ice Age. Most modern farmland wasn't feeding anyone while buried a mile under accumulated snow and ice. Without the proliferation of grazing game animals and agriculture made possible by the retreating ice sheets, our species would likely be only a few percent of its present-day numbers.
And presumably the Earth will have another Ice Age, out there somewhere in the next 5-15,000 years. If we're still here, we'll have much bigger problems to confront as growing seasons and arable land shrink in response to cooling temperatures, and drinking water is once again locked up in snow and ice. Maybe humans will be long gone by then, and the Earth can just keep doing its thing without regard to what one self-absorbed yet insignificant species thinks or wants.
11
Well, now. The squeaky voice of reason Mr Hamilton. You say that the present hominid species might have trouble reaching the over 100 millions of years of dinosaurian existence?
Great column.
Maybe Big Carbon is on to something. As fossil fuel demands vanish (not saying in whose lifetime) that huge pipeline infrastructure, coastal refineries and distribution points could shift to a fresh water system, refineries replaced by monster desalinization plants powered by green energy.
I know, pipe dreams (no pun intended) are a dime a dozen. But water starvation deserves more than a few tut tuts, or sorry-about-thats.
Maybe Big Carbon is on to something. As fossil fuel demands vanish (not saying in whose lifetime) that huge pipeline infrastructure, coastal refineries and distribution points could shift to a fresh water system, refineries replaced by monster desalinization plants powered by green energy.
I know, pipe dreams (no pun intended) are a dime a dozen. But water starvation deserves more than a few tut tuts, or sorry-about-thats.
5
Yet people and businesses keep relocating to desert and semi-desert environments like southern California, Arizona and Utah. They simply count on the government to provide all the water they want, whenever they want it. If the reservoirs run dry due to cyclical drought, they cry "climate change". Next up will cries to transfer water from places like Snoqualimie Falls and the Great Lakes to the dry western states. After all, why should we in the east and northwest have all the water we need when the desert west is thirsty? Maybe because we chose not to move to paradise where it seldom rains in the first place.
5
While I tend to nix the Malthusian model that the earth can only support a certain population due limits on our ability to produce enough food, the problems with water in the western states are in all likelihood related to population growth. You've got 40 million people or so in California, but CA has always been dry (see the movie Chinatown). Keep throwing more people in and unless you innovate and produce more water, you're going to have problems regardless of whether the Climate is changing.
And as for the Florida Keys being challenged by rising waters sometime around 2100 -- interesting theory. Can you prove it? Of course not. That's another example of a CC hypothesis that can't be falsified -- at least until most of us alive now are gone. But it makes for good theater and stokes the flame of true belief.
The assertion that any negative outcome is a result of climate change is absurd, but as the eminent Chicago mobster (oops, I meant politician) Rahm Emanuel has said -- never let a serious crisis go to waste. In the world of climate change alarmists, that means any weather event that deviates from the norm is due to CC, without question. I would classify this type of mental processing as silly if it weren't so dangerous.
Well, I'd write more but I have to take out the trash. You see, because of climate change I've started drinking more bottled water, thus more recyclables. All that water has made me hungry, so more trash. Darn that climate change.
And as for the Florida Keys being challenged by rising waters sometime around 2100 -- interesting theory. Can you prove it? Of course not. That's another example of a CC hypothesis that can't be falsified -- at least until most of us alive now are gone. But it makes for good theater and stokes the flame of true belief.
The assertion that any negative outcome is a result of climate change is absurd, but as the eminent Chicago mobster (oops, I meant politician) Rahm Emanuel has said -- never let a serious crisis go to waste. In the world of climate change alarmists, that means any weather event that deviates from the norm is due to CC, without question. I would classify this type of mental processing as silly if it weren't so dangerous.
Well, I'd write more but I have to take out the trash. You see, because of climate change I've started drinking more bottled water, thus more recyclables. All that water has made me hungry, so more trash. Darn that climate change.
2
The main problem with your cute posts is they're not very cute.
8
A beautifully written column on the preciousness of our fresh water, especially here in the West. Here in the Bay Area, we expect rain every day for the next week now, and it's injected an extra measure of joy in most people's holiday spirits.
I have changed my water usage habits for good; I'm fine with fewer flushes, drip irrigation and modified Navy showers. I hope others feel the same.
I was glad to see that the tax incentives for solar and wind were extended in this week's Congressional spending package. People, get solar leases and slap some solar panels on those roofs - the cost is the same or less as your monthly electric bill, and it will contribute to saving our species and a whole lot of other species (like the delicious salmon). And next time you need to buy a car, stop whining about the range and buy a freaking electric. (I will.) Most families have two cars anyway; use the other one to drive to Tahoe.
I agree with other commenters that the core problem is too many people on the planet, but that will take a long time to fix (even to persuade others of the problem), so let's not wait, OK? Do everything you can today to help. Everything.
I have changed my water usage habits for good; I'm fine with fewer flushes, drip irrigation and modified Navy showers. I hope others feel the same.
I was glad to see that the tax incentives for solar and wind were extended in this week's Congressional spending package. People, get solar leases and slap some solar panels on those roofs - the cost is the same or less as your monthly electric bill, and it will contribute to saving our species and a whole lot of other species (like the delicious salmon). And next time you need to buy a car, stop whining about the range and buy a freaking electric. (I will.) Most families have two cars anyway; use the other one to drive to Tahoe.
I agree with other commenters that the core problem is too many people on the planet, but that will take a long time to fix (even to persuade others of the problem), so let's not wait, OK? Do everything you can today to help. Everything.
19
"In this century, water will be more precious than oil, an Enron executive told me some years ago."
Those same interests have been making major efforts to privatize water. They tried it in South America, charging the poorest people to drink their own local water. That led to revolt.
They have not given up. They tried to privatize the City of Detroit water supply, which supplies much of South Eastern Michigan, not just Detroit. They're coming for our water.
Trump's resort that would sink? He doesn't care. He makes money from operating it and branding it. If it goes under, that is somebody else's money, not his, and the bankruptcy (number 5) would not touch him.
Privatize profits, socialize the costs? The big money people are beyond that. Rich people earn the profits. Someone else loses their retirement funds.
That was the real core of the financial crisis too. Banks made money off bad loans. They then sold those loans in packages to people who trusted them to have made good loans. Those who trusted them lost that money, while those who abused that trust kept all that they made.
So Trump and eople like him are not worried. No water? They'll make money selling the Great Lakes to Michigan and the Cascades to the Pacific Northwest. Too much water? Someone else will take the loss for their early profits, and they'll just move on to do it again.
We hear wonder that the big boys don't see this could hurt them too. No, it won't. They'll make money on that too.
Those same interests have been making major efforts to privatize water. They tried it in South America, charging the poorest people to drink their own local water. That led to revolt.
They have not given up. They tried to privatize the City of Detroit water supply, which supplies much of South Eastern Michigan, not just Detroit. They're coming for our water.
Trump's resort that would sink? He doesn't care. He makes money from operating it and branding it. If it goes under, that is somebody else's money, not his, and the bankruptcy (number 5) would not touch him.
Privatize profits, socialize the costs? The big money people are beyond that. Rich people earn the profits. Someone else loses their retirement funds.
That was the real core of the financial crisis too. Banks made money off bad loans. They then sold those loans in packages to people who trusted them to have made good loans. Those who trusted them lost that money, while those who abused that trust kept all that they made.
So Trump and eople like him are not worried. No water? They'll make money selling the Great Lakes to Michigan and the Cascades to the Pacific Northwest. Too much water? Someone else will take the loss for their early profits, and they'll just move on to do it again.
We hear wonder that the big boys don't see this could hurt them too. No, it won't. They'll make money on that too.
93
One of the reasons we the people are blase about the current situation is because of the phenomenon many readers of the NYT will know - The Tragedy of the Commons. Simply put, we do not believe that each one of us doing a little will add up to a whole lot and hence each one of us merrily continues doing whatever and hoping that others will pick up the slack. Our collective doom is thus ensured.
Most humans are hardwired thus and so it is important to constantly put pressure on our politicians so that at least they can be nudged to move in the right direction. Sadly with the current crop of politicians in America (especially but not exclusively the GOP) that too seems impossible.
Most humans are hardwired thus and so it is important to constantly put pressure on our politicians so that at least they can be nudged to move in the right direction. Sadly with the current crop of politicians in America (especially but not exclusively the GOP) that too seems impossible.
104
I live in NJ and lived at the Jersey Shore for several years. That iconic photograph of the Seaside Heights roller coaster - which I had ridden many times - still brings uncontrollable tears to my eyes. I have many happy memories (and some not so happy, but that's life) of living in that area, and still know people there.
But the eagerness to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy made my jaw drop. We have everything from modest bungalows to multimillion-dollar palaces going up. The Leni Lenape tribe that inhabited the place before us knew enough not to make their homes on a sandbar.
Similarly, every year the sea washes away the beaches. And every year the government spends millions to a Sisyphean effort to pump the sand back, in order to keep NJ's profitable vacation trade going.
Every individual has his own small reason: he sank his life savings into that house or boardwalk concession, and understandably is resistant to being told he's the one who must take a hit for the greater good.
But the eagerness to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy made my jaw drop. We have everything from modest bungalows to multimillion-dollar palaces going up. The Leni Lenape tribe that inhabited the place before us knew enough not to make their homes on a sandbar.
Similarly, every year the sea washes away the beaches. And every year the government spends millions to a Sisyphean effort to pump the sand back, in order to keep NJ's profitable vacation trade going.
Every individual has his own small reason: he sank his life savings into that house or boardwalk concession, and understandably is resistant to being told he's the one who must take a hit for the greater good.
3
Unless and until humans start paying the full cost for their folly (commons or NJ seashore), they will continue to build, degrade or otherwise misuse the environment. However, all is not lost. If Congress reformed the flood insurance program, and started doing what insurance companies are doing world wide and pricing the true cost of building on a sand dune or a floodplain or polluting, the pain in their pocket would make them reconsider their folly.
4
Perhaps we have the "current crop of politicians" because voting citizens put them there. What comes first: misinformed voters, or misinformed politicians? Or is it the result of inflammatory "news" sources (you know which ones) that don't tell us the truth?
1
What Enron executive told you is already happening in the world. Why do we have jockeying going on in the Middle East? It was easy for Israel to have a peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan, no water involved - cant have peace with Lebanon and Syria as both want the water from the valley and Sheba Farms area. The same is true in any deal with the so called Palestinian Authority.
India and Pakistan in the last 60 years already had three wars on Kashmir as most of the rivers that feed Pakistan comes from Kashmir.
We have a strange setup in California re water distribution of Colorado river. We already have the US Army corp of Engineers in managing most of our rivers and lakes to ensure distribution and flood prevention throughout the country, I hope they are not needed to curb violence on water.
One of our generals have already said a few years ago that the last century wars were on Oil, next the wars would be on Water.
Water is strange it is not particularly owned by any country although its passage maybe. sooner or later it just moves where ever it wants to go telling us to share resources.
India and Pakistan in the last 60 years already had three wars on Kashmir as most of the rivers that feed Pakistan comes from Kashmir.
We have a strange setup in California re water distribution of Colorado river. We already have the US Army corp of Engineers in managing most of our rivers and lakes to ensure distribution and flood prevention throughout the country, I hope they are not needed to curb violence on water.
One of our generals have already said a few years ago that the last century wars were on Oil, next the wars would be on Water.
Water is strange it is not particularly owned by any country although its passage maybe. sooner or later it just moves where ever it wants to go telling us to share resources.
20
It is curious that we never discuss population control in these sorts of articles. The simple fact is that the world is becoming over populated, and, as growing human populations demand more energy to sustain their activities, pollution of some sort is inevitable. We cannot sustain our energy needs on non-polluting power sources alone, and we certainly cannot continue to use coal, oil, and gas to the degree we now are to generate the energy we need. For the most part, we have renounced nuclear power generation in its present form. So, what is really left? Either we reduce population or we will dramatically reduce our standard of living, if we do not kill ourselves first by destroying the environment in the only place we have to live.
36
Poetically described man-made disaster, the acceleration of climate change (warming!) that will haunt us from now on, whether we like it or not, and whether the republican obstinate stupidity in denying the facts remains or not viable. It is almost insulting to reason that the G.O.P.'s ideological purity demands willful ignorance of Earth's cry for relief. And the majority of the people, innocent of the assault on Earth's plundering, are paying the price.
8
The note by Dr. George Gitlitz is important, and a point too seldom addressed: increasing population. This is the elephant in the room that no one talks about. In addition to measures for cleaner energy, attention must be given to access for birth control and family planning worldwide.
54
Muslim countries, taken as a whole, have grown by a factor of 4x since 1950: within the lifetime of a single person these countries have increased their population fourfold. Pakistan, for example, already teeming with humanity in 1950 with its 40 million souls, today is a human biological disaster of some 200,000,000.
This would be centrally critical information for biologists studying the reason for the causes of a species dysfunctionality. For social scientists and other researchers, however, this simple fact barely gets a passing mention in their studies.
Whereas Richard Nixon as president openly made over-population a central theme in his administration, public figures today, whether scientists or politicians, are terrified to discuss this or to make it an issue. This fear, more than Egan's musing on why nature is acting so "weirdly", should become a central topic in the news: why humanity today is terrified of squarely facing this crisis. Is it because we feel we can't do anything about it, that the drive to reproduce is simply too strong? Is it because over-population is tightly interwoven with religion? For heaven's sake, it's not an "environmental" crisis, it's a too-many-people crisis!
This would be centrally critical information for biologists studying the reason for the causes of a species dysfunctionality. For social scientists and other researchers, however, this simple fact barely gets a passing mention in their studies.
Whereas Richard Nixon as president openly made over-population a central theme in his administration, public figures today, whether scientists or politicians, are terrified to discuss this or to make it an issue. This fear, more than Egan's musing on why nature is acting so "weirdly", should become a central topic in the news: why humanity today is terrified of squarely facing this crisis. Is it because we feel we can't do anything about it, that the drive to reproduce is simply too strong? Is it because over-population is tightly interwoven with religion? For heaven's sake, it's not an "environmental" crisis, it's a too-many-people crisis!
71
Those two issues are distinct, but not mutually exclusive, Renaldo, and both are of equal urgency. It is absolutely an environmental crisis, but it is also a crisis of too many people for a planet struggling to survive. If only we didn't have an entire party, and a swath of Christian extremists who categorically refuse to endorse full, unfettered access to contraception - not only in this country, but around the globe - that gag rule has decimated women all over the world. If only we didn't have an entire party which categorically refuses to accept and embrace the scientific fact that our planet is in grave danger due to our reckless plunder and desecration of her bounty.
10
Well said, and I agree with all that you say, but my concern is that monikers like "environmental crisis" and "global warming" are just smoke screens hiding the underlying crisis of over-population, a way of deflecting our attention from the real problem.
3
Pakistan is an exception, the Philippines is another, but basically the issue of further growth in the world's population is largely confined to Africa. Its population is projected to rise from about 1.1 billion today to over 4 billion by 2100.
Populations are falling in some places such as Japan and Russia. It's not simply a matter of how many people there are but how their lifestyles are fuelled. Developed countries need to kick their fossil-fuel habit, eat less red meat, and consume more responsibly generally. Further development in developing countries can't be fuelled by fossil fuel use too much. They need to be assisted to utilise the renewable non-CO2 emitting alternatives as much as possible.
Generally birth-rates fall when people's lives become less precarious. Removal of religious prescriptions against use of artificial contraception would also help. Such are ignored in Europe and elsewhere, but in Africa and some other less developed and educated Christian and Islamic communities they are still followed.
It is an environmental crisis, it is an over-consumption crisis, it is an inappropriate development crisis, it is an over-population crisis. It is not a this-and-not-the-other situation. You are also forgetting that population decrease is a projected consequence of further global warming and climate change. So it is a solution if "too-many-people" is the problem.
That's why Africa is likely to get nowhere near that more than 4 billion by 2100 projection.
Populations are falling in some places such as Japan and Russia. It's not simply a matter of how many people there are but how their lifestyles are fuelled. Developed countries need to kick their fossil-fuel habit, eat less red meat, and consume more responsibly generally. Further development in developing countries can't be fuelled by fossil fuel use too much. They need to be assisted to utilise the renewable non-CO2 emitting alternatives as much as possible.
Generally birth-rates fall when people's lives become less precarious. Removal of religious prescriptions against use of artificial contraception would also help. Such are ignored in Europe and elsewhere, but in Africa and some other less developed and educated Christian and Islamic communities they are still followed.
It is an environmental crisis, it is an over-consumption crisis, it is an inappropriate development crisis, it is an over-population crisis. It is not a this-and-not-the-other situation. You are also forgetting that population decrease is a projected consequence of further global warming and climate change. So it is a solution if "too-many-people" is the problem.
That's why Africa is likely to get nowhere near that more than 4 billion by 2100 projection.
3
What Egan is presenting us with is the reason Obama called climate change the biggest threat to national security. People living where the water is rising, like people living where the water is disappearing, will have no choice. They have to move or die. They are risking their lives now in tiny boats or long treks against harsh landscapes and dangerous conditions to escape water, drought, famine, diseases associated with disruption and war. Their choice is certain death now versus the hope of life if they survived the journey.
The very young, the old, people with disabilities will not survive. They will be sacrificed as they always have been to the raw power of nature or the indifference of governments.
This tide of human migration cannot be held back any more than the flood waters can. It, too, is a force of nature. We must prepare for it the same way we would prepare for predicted mega storm. We must plan internationally. Areas that have lost population, like Russia with its vast empty spaces and this country with the equally empty spaces, must invite the people who have to move. We must invite them, make room for them, or face the warfare that will result from inaction and denial.
Denial has lead us to this place. Denial will not get us out of it.
The very young, the old, people with disabilities will not survive. They will be sacrificed as they always have been to the raw power of nature or the indifference of governments.
This tide of human migration cannot be held back any more than the flood waters can. It, too, is a force of nature. We must prepare for it the same way we would prepare for predicted mega storm. We must plan internationally. Areas that have lost population, like Russia with its vast empty spaces and this country with the equally empty spaces, must invite the people who have to move. We must invite them, make room for them, or face the warfare that will result from inaction and denial.
Denial has lead us to this place. Denial will not get us out of it.
105
Val in Brooklyn to Nora01 New England
Yep. No arguments here. Sanders said the same thing in the 1st Democratic debate. I concur tenfold, especially with you last sentence.
The problem, question, whatever you call it: the deniers. What to do about them; how to work around them; can we work around them to save any creature(s) on this planet?
Submitted 12/18/15@11:20 a.m. e.s.t.
Yep. No arguments here. Sanders said the same thing in the 1st Democratic debate. I concur tenfold, especially with you last sentence.
The problem, question, whatever you call it: the deniers. What to do about them; how to work around them; can we work around them to save any creature(s) on this planet?
Submitted 12/18/15@11:20 a.m. e.s.t.
1
A superbly formulated appeal for clean water for all.
The only reasonable solution, without a drastic decrease in the human population of the world, is desalination.
Here the current energy costs are a big barrier and humankind continues to have an almost superstitiously irrational fear of nuclear energy sources. A vicious circle, indeed.
The only reasonable solution, without a drastic decrease in the human population of the world, is desalination.
Here the current energy costs are a big barrier and humankind continues to have an almost superstitiously irrational fear of nuclear energy sources. A vicious circle, indeed.
2
Fear of nuclear energy is not irrational. Just ask the people of Chernobyl or Fukushima.
6
"Elsewhere, the prospect of 200 million people on the move, most of them Muslim, may finally win over that other block of obstructionists, the Republican Party."
I doubt it. Money always wins, and for the GOP, there's a lot of financial skin in the game when it comes to getting elected. This country is more obsessed with who's in power than how they got elected and what they'll afterward. We now seem to have a 4-year election cycle, focusing on the wrong thing, the people, not the policies.
Mr. Egan yours is a voice crying in the wilderness, joining scientists and thinking people all over the world, except in the US where the industry most responsible for the US share of globing water is at it again: funding politicians that will allow them to keep on polluting. I'm sure even they acknowledge the dangerous shifts in weather patterns but it's too easy to take the profits and run, future be damned.
We reap what we sow, and the US electorate is just as responsible for the effects of climate change as big oil and gas.
I doubt it. Money always wins, and for the GOP, there's a lot of financial skin in the game when it comes to getting elected. This country is more obsessed with who's in power than how they got elected and what they'll afterward. We now seem to have a 4-year election cycle, focusing on the wrong thing, the people, not the policies.
Mr. Egan yours is a voice crying in the wilderness, joining scientists and thinking people all over the world, except in the US where the industry most responsible for the US share of globing water is at it again: funding politicians that will allow them to keep on polluting. I'm sure even they acknowledge the dangerous shifts in weather patterns but it's too easy to take the profits and run, future be damned.
We reap what we sow, and the US electorate is just as responsible for the effects of climate change as big oil and gas.
103
Great article--but he stops short of articulating the most important strategy of all -- fewer people on the planet! When will mainstream contributors to the Times begin talking about that? How much longer will that discussion be relegated to paper airplane blog postings like this? When will someone tell Thomas Friedman that he's nuts if he thinks the planet can hold another two billion people if we can only get rid of fossil fuels? That symbiosis is more complicated than just the management of that one commodity. When will we learn that the problem is not just the Republican ostriches, but our fellow liberals, like Friedman, who think we can have it all, that we can just "innovate" our way out of every mess we have created? We must begin talking about population reduction -- or we're cooked!
87
Fear not. There are time honed ways of achieving decreases in population. If we don't do it ourselves, war, famine, drought, disease, fire and flood will do it for us.
6
The depopulation process has already begun. It's called war, and the root cause of war is a battle for resources.
Already the have nots outnumber the haves by a huge margin and with so little to lose they have begun to take what they have been refused.
Right now it's ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Taliban but within a few years it will be here, and it won't be imported. It will be home-grown.
Already the have nots outnumber the haves by a huge margin and with so little to lose they have begun to take what they have been refused.
Right now it's ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Taliban but within a few years it will be here, and it won't be imported. It will be home-grown.
2
I have an eerie feeling that Mother Nature is going to take care of that by reducing world population in a way that ain't gonna be pretty.
4
We should note that we’ve always had wars over water, far more intense in the past than lately, when we’ve harnessed means more sophisticated than Roman aqueducts (that were pretty sophisticated) of moving water from where it is to where it’s needed. Some of our oldest laws as humans are about the control and use of water. CA’s byzantine maze of water laws is testimony that we haven’t fully thrown off this leash that binds us all to the most valuable of commodities. Water empires once existed and were stable – they would reward their internal supporters and destroy their internal enemies by allocation of water resources; and were only toppled by external forces … sometimes seeking their water.
But never underestimate the unwillingness of humans to inconvenience themselves – and that has no more to do specifically with Republicans than it has to do with Chinese. If water surrounding Florida’s Keys won’t rise five feet until 2100, then nobody reading this comment and eligible to vote is likely to be alive then unless we make VERY successful inroads into senescence; and if we do, rising water will pale as a problem compared to the waste products of billions more humans that we hadn’t anticipated still would be around.
CA likely will need to build MANY more $1 billion desalination plants, then get clever at moving the water around CA’s aqueduct and piping systems. But given the means we have to live WITH climate change, water wars that affect us are unlikely.
But never underestimate the unwillingness of humans to inconvenience themselves – and that has no more to do specifically with Republicans than it has to do with Chinese. If water surrounding Florida’s Keys won’t rise five feet until 2100, then nobody reading this comment and eligible to vote is likely to be alive then unless we make VERY successful inroads into senescence; and if we do, rising water will pale as a problem compared to the waste products of billions more humans that we hadn’t anticipated still would be around.
CA likely will need to build MANY more $1 billion desalination plants, then get clever at moving the water around CA’s aqueduct and piping systems. But given the means we have to live WITH climate change, water wars that affect us are unlikely.
16
I read somewhere that earth's human population will peak at 9 billion, then precipitously fall to about 7 via some mix of natural disasters, war and/or disease. After that it's projected to gradually decline more over time as nature and human foibles continue to winnow out the less fit and less adaptable. Perhaps those left will burn or recycle all the excess garbage, allowing nature to better approach the balance, cleaning the air and water, seeking it's own level, so to speak. I don't remember who wrote all this, though I vaguely recall they had some serious intellectual chops and professional cred. It's a chilling thought, for anyone willing to take a peek at the long game. It reminds me of a quote from Einstein, repeated by Bucky Fuller; "I don't know what weapons will be used to fight WW-III, but I can tell you that WW-IV will be fought with stones and spears". With a nod to Stanley Kubrick, I'd add they'll probably also use our own bleached bones they find laying about the rubble.
18
EricR:
I've heard somewhat different projections. Some say 9 billion, some say 10 by 2050, some say 11 billion. Most see a leveling off due to fertility rate drop-offs after that but a gradual uptick over time to 2100 that definitely would see us at 11 billion or above. In any event, feeding all these people and affording them an adequate standard of living in the face of increasing automation seems to me a bigger problem than climate change.
Einstein always did have a great sense of humor and an absurdist view of the world -- when you truly understand how insignificant we really are, it tends to develop an absurdist sense of humor.
I've heard somewhat different projections. Some say 9 billion, some say 10 by 2050, some say 11 billion. Most see a leveling off due to fertility rate drop-offs after that but a gradual uptick over time to 2100 that definitely would see us at 11 billion or above. In any event, feeding all these people and affording them an adequate standard of living in the face of increasing automation seems to me a bigger problem than climate change.
Einstein always did have a great sense of humor and an absurdist view of the world -- when you truly understand how insignificant we really are, it tends to develop an absurdist sense of humor.
2
Seems to be the republican way: do nothing until the crisis is overwhelming then throw lots of money at it. Undoubtedly, some of that money will fall into the laps of the oligarchs, but still, no need to worry our pretty little heads about it now.
3
Conservative conservation. An oxymoron. Environmental regulations just get in the way of making money. Ask any Republican presidential candidate. Just don't ask their grandchildren.
213
Brilliant, Mr. Egan! The best "wall" is one built with peace and stability. Both hinge critically on the earth's and atmosphere's generosity in furnishing us our basic needs for survival.
Instability induced by war or climate change (man-made or other) have always been the cause of massive migrations. Yet Trump insists on building a physical wall while fomenting war and instability with reckless hate-filled language.
Puzzling and sad to see how many Americans are blindly enamored with him.. and Cruz... while Rome burns.
Instability induced by war or climate change (man-made or other) have always been the cause of massive migrations. Yet Trump insists on building a physical wall while fomenting war and instability with reckless hate-filled language.
Puzzling and sad to see how many Americans are blindly enamored with him.. and Cruz... while Rome burns.
21
The question I have is: who is profiting off the sea rise? To the top 0.1% the effect of sea level rise has a negligible effect on their net worth; the real estate market really isn't going to effect them much, if at all. What I am reading is how billions of dollars will have to be spent to ameliorate (not really possible) the negative consequences and what I am seeing is how the tax payer -- the 99.9 % of us -- will be paying through the nose while the 0.1% will be profiting tax free.
8
Of course, actual taxpayers are less than 55% of us.... Also, the liberals and the Obama Administraton want us to pay for steps by "poor" China to make their air more breathable, as if it were our fault that China undercut US prices by ignoring environmental concerns. Actually, China should be paying the rest of the world to make up for its massive pollution of the Earth's environment.
Why is it that liberals always want to transfer money from people who earned it to people who don't bother earning it?
Why is it that liberals always want to transfer money from people who earned it to people who don't bother earning it?
4
@James Alas, James, you are falling for the old Republican saw that the "other" 45% pay no income taxes. Actually most have payroll deductions called payroll taxes, including taxes for social security and medicare, and these not classified as "income taxes". But believe on; how else can you justify the republican hatred and lack of compassion for the "those people"?
9
James, you are absolutely and completely incorrect when you claim that "less than 55% of us" pay taxes. Have you heard of property taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes? These are paid by all of us, including property taxes paid indirectly by renters. By the way, study your English grammar; it should be "fewer than 55%."
7
Real estate is the thing. When people feel their property values threatened by rising waters their will to act will be energized and the Republican know-nothings will change their tune (one can already hear Ted Cruz in proclaiming in 2040, "I led the fight against Climate Change when no one would listen!"). That's why the Chinese are likely to emerge as leaders in the fight against man-made global warming. Many billionaires live and work in and around Shanghai and Guangzhou. A 3-meter rise in those areas will be catastrophic, much more so than even Miami (or Cape Cod for that matter).
68
If an evil genius had created the climate crisis, he could not have designed it better to expose the weaknesses of the human intellect. The cost/benefit relationship discourages a sustained campaign to correct the problem, while the negative character of success also weakens the resolve needed to achieve our goals.
The costs associated with the climate accord will affect the current generation. The transition to new sources of energy will undoubtedly create many new jobs, but before a large proportion of those jobs come online, workers in the fossil fuel industries will lose theirs. Only vague estimates can identify the costs of this shift, but they will not be low. And most of the benefits, in the form of new jobs and a preserved environment, will accrue to a later generation. The incentives, in other words, are upside down.
The nature of the benefits, moreover, creates its own problems. Preservation of a livable environment should be the top priority of the human race. But we will measure progress toward that goal in terms of islands not submerged and rain patterns not altered. The environment will not improve dramatically; it simply won't deteriorate. Millions of people will make at least temporary sacrifices in their living standards, but the payoff will be difficult for them to detect in a positive way.
Our future depends on the campaign outlined in Paris, but it is only prudent to acknowledge the difficulties it presents.
The costs associated with the climate accord will affect the current generation. The transition to new sources of energy will undoubtedly create many new jobs, but before a large proportion of those jobs come online, workers in the fossil fuel industries will lose theirs. Only vague estimates can identify the costs of this shift, but they will not be low. And most of the benefits, in the form of new jobs and a preserved environment, will accrue to a later generation. The incentives, in other words, are upside down.
The nature of the benefits, moreover, creates its own problems. Preservation of a livable environment should be the top priority of the human race. But we will measure progress toward that goal in terms of islands not submerged and rain patterns not altered. The environment will not improve dramatically; it simply won't deteriorate. Millions of people will make at least temporary sacrifices in their living standards, but the payoff will be difficult for them to detect in a positive way.
Our future depends on the campaign outlined in Paris, but it is only prudent to acknowledge the difficulties it presents.
140
And yet every time Carolyn Egeli or I or one or two others comment that renewable energy - heat pump, geothermal heat pump, solar, wind, hypermodern solid-waste incineration, solar, wind - must happen faster and faster Times readers and our politicians have a standard answer.
"Fossil fuel is cheaper whatever the damage done to the air, the water, the climate." Fossil fuel cheaper, not on your life.
And did the great debaters talk at all about the subject presented here by Tim Egan? Not a chance. Not in an America in Science Denial, world leader in that field.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen-USA SE
"Fossil fuel is cheaper whatever the damage done to the air, the water, the climate." Fossil fuel cheaper, not on your life.
And did the great debaters talk at all about the subject presented here by Tim Egan? Not a chance. Not in an America in Science Denial, world leader in that field.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen-USA SE
184
Val in Brooklyn to Larry Lundgren
Oh really? Where have you been?
It would have been more helpful, and certainly more accurate, if you had put "some" before Times readers and our politicians..." But, perhaps you felt it more important to make your point--any way you could--even if what you say is inaccurate, therefore untrue and unfair. I watched and heard Obama speak of solar and wind power, during his history making inaugural address. Not to mention his and Kerry's work in Paris; not to mention NASA.
Bernie Sanders cited climate change as the biggest threat to national security, when asked, during the first Democratic debate. Sanders' website is packed with information on the work he's done to meet those goals. Not to mention, the number of comments I've read and recommended which refer to the things you speak of here. Heck, my 81 yr mother and I have participated in climate marches, including The People's Climate March in NYC this year.
Please remember, many of us wish to save ourselves--not to mention Mother Earth--and it's quite off-putting to be lumped into the denial category, simply because you choose to ignore and not give credit where it's due.
Submitted 12/18/15@11:57 a.m. e.s.t.
Oh really? Where have you been?
It would have been more helpful, and certainly more accurate, if you had put "some" before Times readers and our politicians..." But, perhaps you felt it more important to make your point--any way you could--even if what you say is inaccurate, therefore untrue and unfair. I watched and heard Obama speak of solar and wind power, during his history making inaugural address. Not to mention his and Kerry's work in Paris; not to mention NASA.
Bernie Sanders cited climate change as the biggest threat to national security, when asked, during the first Democratic debate. Sanders' website is packed with information on the work he's done to meet those goals. Not to mention, the number of comments I've read and recommended which refer to the things you speak of here. Heck, my 81 yr mother and I have participated in climate marches, including The People's Climate March in NYC this year.
Please remember, many of us wish to save ourselves--not to mention Mother Earth--and it's quite off-putting to be lumped into the denial category, simply because you choose to ignore and not give credit where it's due.
Submitted 12/18/15@11:57 a.m. e.s.t.
4
@ val - val thank you, often complain about the absence of "some". I think I know what happened even if knowing does not excuse me. I had read Diane Caldwells report in business stating that "geothermal" had not been given any help as have solar and wind. I clicked on the "geothermal" link and was taken to the usual NYT wrong "geothermal" - picture of steam rising above the ground. The geothermal is ground-source heat pump geothermal, not hight temp. Then I wrote my comment above which is correct as concerns the Times but not readers. I hope readers will read your reply and mine.
Larry
PS the link the Times should be giving is: https://www.geoexchange.org/
Larry
PS the link the Times should be giving is: https://www.geoexchange.org/
2
Val in Brooklyn, NY to Larry in Sweden
I really, really hope the NYT takes this one, please.
Thanks in return and I hear you--completely. Please bear with me, since I'm almost never in the business section. Re: "as usual" are you saying that the NYT screwed up-- again? Some kind of technical glitch? Have you had a chance to send a comment to the Public Editor about this, assuming that's the correct place to go to?
There are many problems, technical and otherwise, with this paper, we're thinking of canceling our subscription. And what you're speaking of is no small thing. Thanks for attaching the other link. I'll go to it.
Not that you couldn't have guessed, but, I'm trying to to have "night sweats" about the upcoming elections, when I think of what's riding on them. I won't even go into the thugs like the our new Speaker, whom we're stuck with now. Oh, Gaia!!
I bid you peace and I'll try not to envy you're living out of this country.
Submitted 12/18/15@1:28 p.m. e.s.t.
I really, really hope the NYT takes this one, please.
Thanks in return and I hear you--completely. Please bear with me, since I'm almost never in the business section. Re: "as usual" are you saying that the NYT screwed up-- again? Some kind of technical glitch? Have you had a chance to send a comment to the Public Editor about this, assuming that's the correct place to go to?
There are many problems, technical and otherwise, with this paper, we're thinking of canceling our subscription. And what you're speaking of is no small thing. Thanks for attaching the other link. I'll go to it.
Not that you couldn't have guessed, but, I'm trying to to have "night sweats" about the upcoming elections, when I think of what's riding on them. I won't even go into the thugs like the our new Speaker, whom we're stuck with now. Oh, Gaia!!
I bid you peace and I'll try not to envy you're living out of this country.
Submitted 12/18/15@1:28 p.m. e.s.t.
1
Go back to sleep, America. Your government will allot you a portion of that precious H2O if you can prove you voted for the proper party and support its policies. Those other losers, well...it's probably too late for them. They supported Commies like Bernie Sanders, so we'll just let them dessicate out in a desert somewhere.
14
Socialist governments "allot" goods to their subjects; in a free country you earn your own way and pay for your own goods.
Bernie Sanders a commie? That's laughable. He may be a leftist but no communist party would have him.
Go look up the tax code under Republican President Eisenhower. He would have been considered an unelectable communist by today's GOP standards.
Go look up the tax code under Republican President Eisenhower. He would have been considered an unelectable communist by today's GOP standards.
5
@Mountain Ape, too bad you never learned what sarcasm and irony are...
8
We could begin saving water by stopping producing unnecessary clothing that takes up too much water. It does not make sense.
5
As floods and draughts floods beleaguer my keyboard, only a few heated remarks, dashed out between insect plagues, can I manage in response to Timothy Egan’s latest sermon from the mount.
--The idea that the pollution that we have put into the air is the cause of something like, say, Islamic extremist terrorism, is so convoluted, and based on so many unproven assumptions, that one would have to be a very intelligent person with absolutely no common sense to entertain it.
--That a matter as complex as “climate change” is “settled science” is antithetical to every way we are taught to think about science. Pres. Obama himself has repeated such a claim many times. How can such an intelligent man say such a thing?
--People skeptical of man-made climate change are denigrated. But isn’t skepticism a virtue?
--People also say that climate change skepticism is based on economic self-interests, despite the danger to the plant. I say that ideological rigidity can be just as dangerous.
--With no snow on the ground, we here in Minnesota face the tragedy of a brown Christmas. Can I blame global warming on that too? Somehow I know that will make me feel better.
Merry Christmas, Timothy Egan. I enjoy your columns every week, which stand as shining testimony to the joy of free speech, of which we here in this country are so grandly blessed.
--The idea that the pollution that we have put into the air is the cause of something like, say, Islamic extremist terrorism, is so convoluted, and based on so many unproven assumptions, that one would have to be a very intelligent person with absolutely no common sense to entertain it.
--That a matter as complex as “climate change” is “settled science” is antithetical to every way we are taught to think about science. Pres. Obama himself has repeated such a claim many times. How can such an intelligent man say such a thing?
--People skeptical of man-made climate change are denigrated. But isn’t skepticism a virtue?
--People also say that climate change skepticism is based on economic self-interests, despite the danger to the plant. I say that ideological rigidity can be just as dangerous.
--With no snow on the ground, we here in Minnesota face the tragedy of a brown Christmas. Can I blame global warming on that too? Somehow I know that will make me feel better.
Merry Christmas, Timothy Egan. I enjoy your columns every week, which stand as shining testimony to the joy of free speech, of which we here in this country are so grandly blessed.
5
Scepticism is a virtue... dogmatism is not.
11
If 97% of medical doctors recommended that you undergo a certain course of treatment or else face life-threatening disease, would you follow their advice? Or would you talk about how "skepticism is a virtue" and "ideological rigidity"?
My only disclaimer: You could be a religious fundamentalist who doesn't believe in doctors, either.
My only disclaimer: You could be a religious fundamentalist who doesn't believe in doctors, either.
16
For all the water of the Northwest they have plenty of water issues ongoing, among them water quality as well as drought. The Pacific Northwest was on fire last summer- something that has not happened in the time white men have lived there and something that could become a lot more common as the Earth's climate changes.
107
Mr. Egan, you have reason to be gloomy.
But here's the thing, you also have reason to be optimistic.
You see, even lacking a particular faith in mankind's destiny as guided by a Creator, there are also positive signs which doomsayers never highlight.
While you speak of "wars over water," Jordan, the PA and Israel just signed a huge water deal which will not only provide fresh water to those three countries, but will also rehabilitate the lowest water point on Earth, the Dead Sea. The technology is Israeli; desalination which actually works. The water pipes will run through the three countries.
Now, such good news is often not reported. And if reported, it is not often cited.
But its alright, its a Zionist vision thing. We don't always get it right, but to paraphrase former Mayor LaGuardia, when we do, its a "beaut."
Now. if you wish to return to doom and gloom, we can always report on Hamas's recent stated desire to graduate young Arabs from knife and car-ramming attacks on Israelis to suicide bombings. They will have plenty of money to do so once Iran gets sanction relief this week.
Guess they did not get the memo about the water sharing plan.
But here's the thing, you also have reason to be optimistic.
You see, even lacking a particular faith in mankind's destiny as guided by a Creator, there are also positive signs which doomsayers never highlight.
While you speak of "wars over water," Jordan, the PA and Israel just signed a huge water deal which will not only provide fresh water to those three countries, but will also rehabilitate the lowest water point on Earth, the Dead Sea. The technology is Israeli; desalination which actually works. The water pipes will run through the three countries.
Now, such good news is often not reported. And if reported, it is not often cited.
But its alright, its a Zionist vision thing. We don't always get it right, but to paraphrase former Mayor LaGuardia, when we do, its a "beaut."
Now. if you wish to return to doom and gloom, we can always report on Hamas's recent stated desire to graduate young Arabs from knife and car-ramming attacks on Israelis to suicide bombings. They will have plenty of money to do so once Iran gets sanction relief this week.
Guess they did not get the memo about the water sharing plan.
7
what you say is fine but you forgot to mention the west bank expansion of Israeli settlements. No amount of fresh water is going to change a Palestinian's mind after he or she has been forced out of their ancestral home.
6
It's not just unequal water distribution that threatens humans. It's unequal economic distribution, unequal opportunity distribution, unequal health distribution. The 1%, around the globe, is seeking to hoard all wealth, health, and opportunity for themselves and their progeny.
The planet is already overpopulated. We can produce enough flip flops and tee shirts for even more humans than are already here, but we can't manufacture clean air, and we haven't figured out how to redistribute clean water, and our economic system has very narrow opportunity portals left. If you are not already inside the gates you are going to die of lung disease, dehydration, drowning, or despair.
The planet is already overpopulated. We can produce enough flip flops and tee shirts for even more humans than are already here, but we can't manufacture clean air, and we haven't figured out how to redistribute clean water, and our economic system has very narrow opportunity portals left. If you are not already inside the gates you are going to die of lung disease, dehydration, drowning, or despair.
47
It's not just parts of Key Largo underwater for three weeks without a storm in sight.
The City of Miami Beach is in the process of spending $500 million for 81 water pumps to pump the ocean back into the ocean.
Oddly enough, we have two local republican pretenders to the throne from here, Third! Bush and Marco Rubio, who continue to lie about the urgent need to decarbonize our economy. Of course they have to, to keep the checks from Exxon and Koch Propaganda & Pollution coming.
The City of Miami Beach is in the process of spending $500 million for 81 water pumps to pump the ocean back into the ocean.
Oddly enough, we have two local republican pretenders to the throne from here, Third! Bush and Marco Rubio, who continue to lie about the urgent need to decarbonize our economy. Of course they have to, to keep the checks from Exxon and Koch Propaganda & Pollution coming.
267
Are they pumping it into some different, lower ocean?
5
ER,
Sending the ocean water that floods their streets back. It's coming up storm drains and percolating through the limestone. They are also planning to raise streets and sidewalks. Once they have to start diking the place in, it's bye bye beach.
Sending the ocean water that floods their streets back. It's coming up storm drains and percolating through the limestone. They are also planning to raise streets and sidewalks. Once they have to start diking the place in, it's bye bye beach.
5
Now I got it, they're going to build levies to keep out water which will be undermined by the sinkholes that swallow everything else down that way, aided and abetted by fresh supplies of water they're returning to it's source. Does this come with a Rube Goldberg illustration?
6
Mr. Egan: good piece of reporting. You don't go far enough on that Southern California desalination plant, the biggest in the world (sigh). That plant uses far too much energy, so only Enron types can love it, who would have thought that Enron would ever be invoked in otherwise responsible writing. That plant also is a sea life and reef threat that has thoughtful people setting themselves on fire. These things give hope to the canard that we can innovate ourselves out of this fry up in time. Wishful thinking probably. I do not have characters to warn you off desalination fantasies. Go to buzzfeed and check the reporting on that disaster coming online in California. I fear for the children. That sea rise flooding may come faster than 2100 AD. See Newyorker for the tides swamping Miami prime this afternoon. So it goes on.
36
Expect nothing from the GOP propaganda machine because science is nothing but a liberal conspiracy.
201
Yes it must be a massive conspiracy too, all those scientists, all those leaders, all those Pentagon reports. And for what, why would all those people work so hard and so long? The real conspiracy is CNN not asking one question of those deniers during a 2 hour stump speech forum. The DOD is terrified. Can you not fit global warming into a fake debate as at least a DOD-pentagon security threat multiplier? That is the the real conspiracy and it is not a liberal one.
176
They remind me of the Wickersham Brothers:
We know what you’re up to, pal:
You're trying to shatter our morale.
You're trying to stir up discontent
And seize the reins of government.
You’re trying to throw sand in our eyes.
You're trying to kill free enterprise
And raise the cost of figs and dates
And wreck our compound interest rates.
And shut our schools, and steal our jewels,
And even change our football rules;
Take away our garden tools
And lock us up in vestibules!
But fortunately, we're no fools.
We know what you’re up to, pal:
You're trying to shatter our morale.
You're trying to stir up discontent
And seize the reins of government.
You’re trying to throw sand in our eyes.
You're trying to kill free enterprise
And raise the cost of figs and dates
And wreck our compound interest rates.
And shut our schools, and steal our jewels,
And even change our football rules;
Take away our garden tools
And lock us up in vestibules!
But fortunately, we're no fools.
21
If I could truly expect "nothing" from the GOP, that would be much better than what I do expect, namely the promotion of greater carbon intensity, environmental degradation, and plundering of natural resources.
70
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. One party is the captiive
of the extraction industries and refuses to anything to save
the planet. Worry.
of the extraction industries and refuses to anything to save
the planet. Worry.
114
Second, birth rates may be falling in developed countries such as those in Europe, but population continues to grow because people live much longer today. Environmentally a country like Germany should have no more than 10 million people, which would bring it in line with similarly sized countries like Sweden, but instead--at 80 million (!!)--is on environmental life-support with an totally overstressed population. There's no way nature can sustain Germany's 80 million people over the longer term without dire consequences.