Guild is hiring!

[Neal]

In my travels as a consultant, I had the misfortune of getting caught in traffic in most of America's big cities (the worst being Atlanta, DC, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Houston, SF, and LA). Almost always on the way to the airport, somehow.

Los Angeles simply dwarfs all other roadway systems for sheer size, complexity and volume of traffic. Even, inexplicably, in the middle of the night. Oxnard is well away from all of that mess.

The big looming problem for all of Southern California is that the climate is drying, the snowpack is virtually gone, and there are nearly 25 million people sucking at the spigot. Not a sustainable place for that many people to live for much longer unless something changes pretty drastically.

Neal

 

[TVeye]

In my travels as a consultant, I had the misfortune of getting caught in traffic in most of America's big cities (the worst being Atlanta, DC, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Houston, SF, and LA). Almost always on the way to the airport, somehow.

Los Angeles simply dwarfs all other roadway systems for sheer size, complexity and volume of traffic. Even, inexplicably, in the middle of the night. Oxnard is well away from all of that mess.

The big looming problem for all of Southern California is that the climate is drying, the snowpack is virtually gone, and there are nearly 25 million people sucking at the spigot. Not a sustainable place for that many people to live for much longer unless something changes pretty drastically.

Neal

Excellent assessment Neil. Any idea why the "climate is drying?" Hot as **** here right now and not even Summer yet!

 

[davismanLV]

I agree. It's a good assessment. I think one of the answers is "25 million people sucking at the spigot". That's just too much drain on resources. People don't seem to realize the world can't sustain the overload. Look at Las Vegas!! It's a freaking DESERT!! 3 million people live here and they want their lawns and yards to look like they live in Kentucy with rolling hills of green. People suck..... but, maybe I'm being negative. LOL!!

 

[Neal]

Just being realistic, Tom.

LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, and Albuquerque could not exist in their present form if not for the impoundment of the Colorado River at Lakes Powell and Mead. Lake Powell at this minute sits at 108 feet below full capacity, while Lake Mead is down over 200 feet. Add to that the fact that every day, the river relentlessly pushes sediment into each catchment, further reducing capacity. Slowly but surely, the lakes are drying up and silting in.

I have flown into Phoenix and Las Vegas many times, and have always been struck by the line between green and brown that exists whereever the water lines end. You can see it clearly from the air. Inside the line? Golf courses, swimming pools, parks, lawns, all sucking it down. The only problem is that the source of that water is many miles away. Out of sight, out of mind.

And those nice fresh vegetables we enjoy in the wintertime? Grown in the desert from the same water "resources".

Between the US and Mexico, water extraction for residential and agricultural purposes now leaves the Colorado River bone dry for much of the year as it reaches its delta in Mexico. The photos from space are shocking.

Neal

 

[bluesypicky]

Yup..... and CA. isn't an isolated case, time to slow down on the baby making piece folks.

 

[adorshki]

I had an opportunity to move to Santa Clara and get a job out there , but between housing costs and the 2 hour commute every day I just said NO.

Yer absolutely right. Only reason I'm still around is 55 years of residence (although born in SoCal) and family and friends.
A-a-a-nd, like you mentioned , there's virtually always some kind of job available....

 

[crank]

When I lived in Socal it struck me a crazy how much water they wasted where there was so little. Things like sprinklers watering plantings in highway median for just one example. My friends and I used to drive down the coast of Mexico a bit for camping along the beach. There everything was desert, just as it should have been in California.

I say to those who live the drier parts of the west - if you are going to live in a desert, let it be a desert. If you want lush move to a rainforest.

Are big desalinization plants a viable option?

 

[Westerly Wood]

I say to those who live the drier parts of the west - if you are going to live in a desert, let it be a desert. If you want lush move to a rainforest.

Yes! totally agree!

 

[Neal]

Until the US and Mexico agreed to a project last spring to discharge sufficient water from the dams on the Colorado River in spring to at least wet the delta, the river had actually actually made it to the Gulf of California in over a generation.

When the river finally made it (well at least a little bit of it anyway) all the way down its riverbed for the first time in over two decades, there was rejoicing among the inhabitants, most of whom had no memory of water flowing through their land.

There is a great video here:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...-delta-restoration-water-drought-environment/

I wrote a song about this rape of the Colorado the other night. It's called "Sucking It Dry".

I realized that everyone is complicit, including myself, every time I eat a fresh salad in the wintertime. It is a desert that is producing all of that food.

Neal

 

[valleyguy]

The answer to the lack of water in the Southwest is to pipe it down from Oregon and Washington. I mean, they got more than they can handle up there, send it on down...... Think of the construction jobs it would create.

 

[adorshki]

The answer to the lack of water in the Southwest is to pipe it down from Oregon and Washington. I mean, they got more than they can handle up there, send it on down...... Think of the construction jobs it would create.

VALLEY GUY FOR GOVERNOR!!!
Also I understand Alaska's willing to sell us icebergs for very cheap if we pick 'em up ourselves.
Who was it that asked about desalinization plants?
Absolutely viable, and we can store all the leftover toxic salt in the mines where they keep the depleted reactor fuel in Nevada.