A series of posts at California Greening highlight the water crisis, especially in California. Posted to IPR by Paulie. H/T Green Party Watch
The EcoAction Committee, Green Party US, has presented to the National Committee a new resolution on water policy and associated Green Party actions. The full text of this resolution is available as a .pdf file here.
This resolution comes at a time when stories on our dwindling water supply in California are on almost every nightly news broadcast. This resolution has several unique aspects to it.
- it commits the national party to actions rather than just setting a soft policy with no substance.
- it provides for ongoing support for local candidates where the availability and / or quality of water is an important issue.
All three of California’s members on the EcoAction Committee contributed to getting this resolution out, but especially Martin Zehr who was the principle writer.
This is just a short update regarding two significant water events… sort of a follow on to my previous post regarding Green Water Policy and an underscore of it’s importance.
Today at 3:00 PM EST, Dr. Peter Gleick, founder of the Pacific Institute and a foremost authority on water will be webcast from the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C. One of the topics will be this question.
Have we passed a peak in the availability of freshwater for human use?
The webcast is supposed to be archived.
The second event is a California State Senate hearing on Improving Water Conservation and Management in Southern California: Successes and Opportunities. This is the first big deal event in the tenure of Fran Pavley as Chair of the California State Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water. I imagine that she will try to engineer the same type of solution for water that she did for the control of green house gasses in the well known AB 32. If she does, we are all in trouble as AB 32 will not come close to meeting expectations.
I urge all So Cal Greens to attend this if possible and to be attentive to the results if you can not be there. The hearing will be held on Friday, February 6th, from 1 pm – 3 pm, at Santa Monica City College, Business Building 111, 1900 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405
What will we eat when California Agriculture disappears?
The title is a serious question that should concern all Americans. California is the largest agriculture producer in the United States. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture:
With 88,000 farms and ranches, California agriculture is nearly a $36.6 billion dollar industry that generates $100 billion in related economic activity.
In a story in today’s LA Times, Energy Secretary Steven Chu is quoted as saying that “‘We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California.” This, in a state that can not even find enough money to pass a budget. When you take away the number one industry in the state, what future does it have?
What is our legislature doing about it? Not a damned thing. Even a normally progressive State Assemblymember, Jared Huffman (D – 6th AD) has introduced AB-39 that seeks to implement the very flawed Delta Vision Task Force Recommendations that, unfortunately, do not consider the impact of what Dr. Chu is saying.
I am too irate to write a plausible plan for what we should be doing. I just know it is not what we are doing now.
Agriculture is addressed above. Did you read the whole thing?
If you want to talk about agriculture, let’s do so.
What would you like to say, other than that you have a blog?
Let’s see, in California, growing alfalfa uses 4 million to 5.5 million acre feet of water a year. The entire city of Los Angeles uses only about 650,000 acre feet. Agriculture uses four times more water than urban areas. The California gross domestic product for agriculture is $15 billion; for urban-based manufacturing, it’s $172 billion. So, when we talk about water conservation, let’s talk about California’s biggest water user — agriculture.
http://blog.jimgogek.com
Sorry, Deran, not Duran. My typo.
Agreed Duran. If a HO– USE in the middle of Pasadena can produce 3 TONS of food annually, there isn’t any reason everyone can’t do it.
See http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/ for the glorious details.
Along with more conservation, our food would be safer if we decentralized farming. More small farms spread all over the country, closer to us eaters. Decentralized farming will also help avoid these salmonella, ecoli, etc outbreaks being so catastrophic.
There is no agriculture endangerment in California, except from rampant development. Chu is just engaging is insane rhetoric.
And the solution to the water issues is simple in nature and complex in implementation, but doable: a national water pipeline and storage system infrastructure. However it is privately done, it would pump water from flooded and overloaded areas, and from desalinization plants, to arid regions and to storage facilities. Potability can be addressed locally as it always is, and the infrastructure can follow the existing road and/or electrical grid. Pumping stations can be hybrids of solar/wind and regular electric power.
How FDR missed this in the Dust Bowl days as part of the New Deal is unknown, but the future lies as much in water efficiency and independence as it does energy.