Peak Water: Until Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

[RJBeery]

I note that you appear to be unfamiliar with the term "ad hominum" in the course of a logical argument. Please look it up and act accordingly in the future. It will garner you some of the respect that you appear to lack at the moment.

Wait, it's an "ad hominum" [sic] to call someones perspective Socialist? I just labeled it, you're the one apparently denigrating it.

 

[Syzygys]

Just in:

" Cost of Soybeans at All-Time High

As farmers across the U.S. struggle with persistent drought, Soybean costs hit their highest level since 2008. A bushel of Soybeans in Augusts now costs $16.84 as Wheat and corn prices are also on the rise. Unprecedented heat and lack of rain has deteriorated many Midwest crops and it doesn’t look like they’re going to see precipitation any time soon."

 

[spidergoat]

Why doesn't the free market fix it?

 

[billvon]

Exactly. You want to artificially manage society. You want government to invest more in infrastructure, you want to dictate how people live, asking them to "make do with less" and if they would just listen to the government all of our problems would magically go away.

And you want to abolish all laws and let corporations rule your life, putting anything they want in your air and drinking water. Seems a bit extreme.

In the end, the utopia you seek is just as much a fantasy as the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse, and now you can appreciate why I said

And your fantasy utopia ended with the breakup of the Standard Oil monopoly and the collapse of Enron, those two sterling examples of capitalism.

We'll just agree to disagree. I claim things will be just fine and that the markets will manage our energy resources on their own, while you claim that unless we "hand over our wallets, our car keys and our freedoms immediately" we'll all suffocate in 9 feet of horse manure. Well...I'm not selling my Hummer just yet.

Feel free to hang on to it. Also feel free to pay $10/gallon for gas - while thanking the oil companies for their service. But don't worry, everything's fine.

 

[RJBeery]

Why doesn't the free market fix it?

Better yet, why doesn't Obama declare an Executive Order for rain?

I'm sorry but you Chicken Little folks are creepy. It's cool though...blame your general unhappiness in life on corporate boogeymen; meanwhile, I'm checking out of this thread...

 

[spidergoat]

Way to avoid the question.

 

[Stoniphi]

Wait, it's an "ad hominum" [sic] to call someones perspective Socialist? I just labeled it, you're the one apparently denigrating it.

Yes, it is. No, I am not.

I'm sorry but you Chicken Little folks are creepy. It's cool though...blame your general unhappiness in life on corporate boogeymen; meanwhile, I'm checking out of this thread...

This is MOTS by way of ad homs, also a very cowardly exit, IMHO. Sort - of like the little kid that throws something at you then runs away as fast as his little feet will carry him to avoid the expected response.

 

[Syzygys]

OK dudes, focus and stay on topic or get the hell out of my thread! Nobody gives a shit about your offtopic banter...

 

[Stoniphi]

...way to kill the thread, Syzy.

 

[Syzygys]

It is OK if there is nothing more important to say. I just brought attention to an important issue.* If you guys want to fight offtopic, that's what PMs are for.

*By the way we have the biggest drought in 50 years...

 

[Diode-Man]

Since solar power gets 30% cheaper every year to produce, I would like to propose that we distill ocean water in massive quantities using solar power.

 

[Syzygys]

Just in:

World over-using underground water reserves for agriculture:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/10/us-science-environment-water-idUSBRE87713B20120810

" The world is depleting underground water reserves faster than they can be replenished due to over-exploitation, according to scientists in Canada and the Netherlands.The research suggests about 1.7 billion people, mostly in Asia, are living in areas where underground water reserves and the ecosystems that rely on them are under threat, they said.
The study, published in the journal Nature, found that 80 percent of the world's aquifers are being used sustainably but this is offset by heavy over-exploitation in a few key areas.
Those areas included western Mexico, the High Plains and California's Central Valley in the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, northern India and parts of northern China."

 

[Read-Only]

Just in:

World over-using underground water reserves for agriculture:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/10/us-science-environment-water-idUSBRE87713B20120810

" The world is depleting underground water reserves faster than they can be replenished due to over-exploitation, according to scientists in Canada and the Netherlands.The research suggests about 1.7 billion people, mostly in Asia, are living in areas where underground water reserves and the ecosystems that rely on them are under threat, they said.
The study, published in the journal Nature, found that 80 percent of the world's aquifers are being used sustainably but this is offset by heavy over-exploitation in a few key areas.
Those areas included western Mexico, the High Plains and California's Central Valley in the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, northern India and parts of northern China."

I see no surprise there. As I said early on, there's *plenty* of fresh water - it's just that the surplus isn't where it's needed. And engineering can solve that problem when it becomes a *serious* enough problem.

 

[Syzygys]

You could say the same about oil, that it is a problem of location, being in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, instead of in the USA... But a little military can solve the problem...
Of course your little engineering costs a pretty penny...

 

[Read-Only]

You could say the same about oil, that it is a problem of location, being in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, instead of in the USA... But a little military can solve the problem...
Of course your little engineering costs a pretty penny...

Show me where I said a "little" engineering. Like anything else, it's a matter of cost vs need/demand. My point remains - when the need is great enough the cost will be paid. Plus the fact that it CAN be done.

 

[Syzygys]

it's a matter of cost vs need/demand. My point remains - when the need is great enough the cost will be paid.

In your dreams yes, in reality, most often not. Let's say I need a surgery but it costs 50K bucks. I have nothing. Do you think the surgery will be done or not?

Also, what CAN be done is not always what WILL be done...

 

[Read-Only]

In your dreams yes, in reality, most often not. Let's say I need a surgery but it costs 50K bucks. I have nothing. Do you think the surgery will be done or not?

Also, what CAN be done is not always what WILL be done...

You're resorting to sheer nonsense. When the NEED for water becomes critical enough it WILL be done! Period.

 

[billvon]

You're resorting to sheer nonsense. When the NEED for water becomes critical enough it WILL be done! Period.

That's the issue. The need will never get there. We have more than enough water to drink; all the cost of water comes from golf courses, lawns, filling swimming pools, washing clothes, growing strawberries in the desert etc. Those are all things we can give up; a lack of strawberries in Yuma (or an early tee time in Vegas) does not constitute a critical crisis.

 

[Read-Only]

That's the issue. The need will never get there. We have more than enough water to drink; all the cost of water comes from golf courses, lawns, filling swimming pools, washing clothes, growing strawberries in the desert etc. Those are all things we can give up; a lack of strawberries in Yuma (or an early tee time in Vegas) does not constitute a critical crisis.

You're helping make my point. There are LOTS of more or less trivial things that could be given up if it becomes necessary. AND once we've conserved ALL we can possibly do, water will still run short for agriculture. And that's when drastic - and expensive - measures will have to applied. Thankfully, that's probably a century or so away - but the time WILL arrive eventually and we'll gladly pay the cost.

 

[spidergoat]

You're resorting to sheer nonsense. When the NEED for water becomes critical enough it WILL be done! Period.

Or we will just have to give up living where there is no water, either way.