We Must Honor Earth's Limits

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

by Pete Letheby

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0503-35.htm

<snip>

Closer to my Nebraska home, I watch the continuing plunder of the Great Plains’ Ogallala Aquifer, the largest underground reservoir in the United States and one of the largest on the planet. It once held as much water as Lake Huron. It is a treasure that took millennia to accumulate. Remarkably, it could cease to be a water source within another generation.

And for what? To provide water to irrigators who grow surplus, subsidized corn -- the thirstiest of grain crops. Much of this overproduction is in semiarid Nebraska west of the 98th meridian.

Nebraska’s Ogallala drawdowns aren’t yet as dramatic as elsewhere in the Plains -- as much as 200 feet in the Texas Panhandle, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But Nebraska is pumping hard to catch up. And it is important to remember, as a 2001 Kansas State University study points out, that only 15 percent of this vast underground ocean is physically and economically feasible to bring to the surface.

Other big losers in this heartland water grab are rivers and streams fed by the Ogallala. The Arkansas River, the United States’ fifth longest, once began its healthy flow near Leadville, Colo. Now a majority of the time there is no flow in the river at Dodge City, Kan., nearly 450 miles downstream. The river’s effective headwater is another 85 miles eastward, in Great Bend. The historic Platte River, which guided explorers and settlers westward in the 18th and 19th centuries, has effectively dried up in central Nebraska the past five summers...

[dysfunctional press]

1. this kind of thing is why my wife and i decided to stay put in chicago-

rather than move to a more rural area- the water. especially in another 20 years. lots of aquifers are drying up or being polluted- it's scary to think what the face of the nation could look like 20-25 years from now...interesting times a-comin'

[Mind_your_head]

4. Just curious......

When you put draw a glass of water from the faucet (Chicago/Lake Michigan water), what do you smell? Try it?









I smell chlorine.

What does chlorine (bleach) 'do' to anything biological? It kills it, right? Great for killing *germs*, et al.....what does it do to the human body?

:shrug: just sayin'.....

[dysfunctional press]

7. i don't drink water straight from the tap...

we have a filter system on the faucet line, and one of those brita filter pitchers that we keep filled and in the fridge. the chlorine dissipates out fairly quickly anyway.

the scary stuff that's used for water treatment by some communities are chloramines-

http://ci.lewiston.me.us/publicservices/chloramines.htm

[Mind_your_head]

2. There's no choice.....earth/nature ALWAYS wins

but it's not a contest (as many of you know).

We humans are/were to be "good stewards"....and when we are not, earth doesn't lose, WE (humans) do (and we are right now). :cry:

[Gregorian]

3. Comfort now, catastrophe later.

The keyword is limits. It's a good one. My dad has always taught me that we have been ignoring limits. And combine that with the fact that we almost never change without a crisis. Very bad. I've been cringing like a fool for thirty years now, just watching the madness. I could embellish this with a brazillion examples, but I'll spare you all.

Yep, mother nature will be ruthless. Why are people so stupid to think we can get away with this for much longer. The major cause of these problems is the number of people. That limit has been way exceeded. People think we can engineer our way out of it. I say bullshit. And this water issue is just one very good example. It's coming. The number of people combined with global warming mean that we cannot sustain the modern lifestyle as we know it. That's going to be a hard limit.

A lot of these problems would be less serious if we didn't cater to those who love money so much.

Oh well. I'll be exciting.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

5. Your dad sounds like a smart guy...

...If we can't learn from the gentle teachings of people like your father, Mother Nature will administer the lesson in her own way. She's taught this course before at various times in history, we can't seem to make the grade.

[Mind_your_head]

6. True 'dat' (that)

"A lot of these problems would be less serious if we didn't cater to those who love money so much."