california drought

Good summary of the California drought in Macleans.

California’s water woes are man-made—and so is the solution
http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/californias-water-woes-are-man-made-and-so-is-the-solution/

Good summary of the California drought in Macleans.

California’s water woes are man-made—and so is the solution
http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/californias-water-woes-are-man-made-and-so-is-the-solution/

It's incredible that there can be a discussion around California's water problems without mentioning golf courses.

"Each of the 124 Coachella Valley courses, on average, uses nearly 1 million gallons a day due to the hot and dry climate, 3-4 times more water per day than the average American golf course."
(from http://time.com/7853/obama-golfs-water-guzzling-desert-courses-amid-the-drought/)

We should pave over the ALR and build moar container ports so that the rest of the world can feed us while we fill our shelves with moar cheap trinkets from China. Its Global Economy 101.

But what about the frogs?

It's incredible that there can be a discussion around California's water problems without mentioning golf courses.

"Each of the 124 Coachella Valley courses, on average, uses nearly 1 million gallons a day due to the hot and dry climate, 3-4 times more water per day than the average American golf course."
(from http://time.com/7853/obama-golfs-water-guzzling-desert-courses-amid-the-drought/)

What are you suggested sir? Golf on brownish grass?

It's incredible that there can be a discussion around California's water problems without mentioning golf courses.

"Each of the 124 Coachella Valley courses, on average, uses nearly 1 million gallons a day due to the hot and dry climate, 3-4 times more water per day than the average American golf course."
(from http://time.com/7853/obama-golfs-water-guzzling-desert-courses-amid-the-drought/)

Their waterbill obviously is not expensive enough.

My grandparents in east germany save their old dish water to flush the toilet with..

What are you suggested sir? Golf on brownish grass?

Golfing on dried out grass is pointless. The ball just starts rolling and doesn't stop.

Sure but what about sand greens? That's all the outback Aussie courses had when I was there.

Sure but what about sand greens? That's all the outback Aussie courses had when I was there.

Actually, the rough and fairway are sand and rocks, the "greens" are smoothed with heavy oil. Curiously enough, there don't seem to be many sand traps

Supposedly there is a "brown is the new green" movement on Socal golf courses. But the ones I see all look pretty green to me.

I guess once the state runs out of water people will have to resort to drinking out of their swimming pools. Once they filter out their kids' pee, of course.

SoCal will be a scene right out of Tank Girl. People paying crazy fees for water. Grass and gardens across the state die off. And behind the fences wealthy folks playing golf on luscious green turf.

I really don't think even the policy makers are getting it yet. According to the California Drought info page http://ca.gov/drought/, they have imposed mandatory water restrictions:

July 29, 2014 - On July 29, 2014, an emergency regulation to increase conservation practices for all Californians went into effect. The new conservation regulation targets outdoor urban water use. In some areas of the State, 50 percent or more of daily water use is for lawns and outdoor landscaping. With this regulation, all Californians are expected to stop: washing down driveways and sidewalks; watering of outdoor landscapes that cause excess runoff; using a hose to wash a motor vehicle, unless the hose is fitted with a shut-off nozzle, and using potable water in a fountain or decorative water feature, unless the water is recirculated.

But, I live in Aldergrove, and since early summer we've been on a stage three water restriction:

Lawn sprinkling is not allowed
Hoses must be fitted with a spring-loaded shut-off device
Gardens, shrubs, trees, and flower beds may only be watered by hand or through drip irrigation; soaker hoses and sprinklers are not permitted
Pressure washing is only allowed if the work is performed commercially and the purpose is for reasons of health, safety, or painting preparation
Decorative fountains must be shut down
Swimming pool filling or refilling is prohibited
Vehicle and boat washing is prohibited, except hand washing safety features such as windows, lights, and licence plates. Hand washing at commercial car washes is allowed.

I think things are far more dire in California, yet they are still not limiting water use as much as we are. Still allowing car washing? Decorative fountains OK if recirculating (hint: they'll still need to be topped up periodically). Landscape watering ok "As long as there isn't excessive runoff". WTF?

They're not even trying and so deserve all the trouble they are about to be in for.

Decorative fountains OK if recirculating (hint: they'll still need to be topped up periodically).

My neighbors have a fake stream running along their driveway, which is actually only about 10 feet parallel a REAL creek. In fact, my neighbours were cited and had to pay for vegetation restoration work to the creek because their landscaping encroached on the allowed natural buffer for the creekside. It shows there is no limit to human stupidity. You know the type - people who use leaf blowers to clear their yards in the fall when it would take about 10 minutes longer just to rake them up.

Another interesting article on almond production vs water.
http://news.msn.com/us/the-dark-side-of-almond-use-1

people don't care enough for those sorts of changes to happen. i think society has been brainwashed into the consumerism ideal of being cool or neat, easy to obtain and cheap (enough to be disposable). quality and longevity of a product no longer seem to matter.

Yeah seriously … if you want to beat big, bad corporations, the best way to do it to consume as little as possible. Don't buy stuff you don't need. Don't replace things just "beacause they are old". If a lot of people started hoarding/saving their discretionary funds, a lot of businesses that thrive on this sort of spending would go bust. Of course, this would probably result in a recession or depression, because our economy is based on growth, ad infinitum.

Yes, and this idea of unlimited growth is even present in today's education - not only in consumerism.

I am reading a book at the moment of a guy called Harald Welzer, the translation is along the line of "Thinking for yourself - an instruction for resistance" and in this book he simply deconstructs this whole myth our global culture of consumerism is based on.

He is working as a professor as well, and one of the stories he tells his students to get the point in general across is a story that goes like this:

Imagine an older couple at IKEA, they are taking a look at the Billy bookshelf. They walk around the product, touch it, give it a little shake, think about the price - and then they say "We take it. It is so nice our grandchildren will enjoy it."

Then, he says his students all chuckle and laugh - because basically furniture today is not designed, built or bought with the thought of passing it on to another generation. The same holds true for virtually every other product.

And this has parallels in the automobile industry as well - he uses the Mini Cooper as an example, and various other models.

His conclusion is: We live in a form of society that creates demand artificially to keep it running while completely fucking up the planet.

And then he offers solutions that are surprisingly simple and small-scale: Do not buy anything you might need for a few minutes a year (think: tools), maybe your neighbors have one and might want to share.

Maybe there are places where like-minded people helpe each other fix and repair things, etc. He simply states that by thinking for ourselves we can counterbalance a lot of things that happen, such as having to have every new phone available, or drinking Red Bull.