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Governments treat water and money in a similar way - if there appears to be enough then they say "OK looks good let's spend freely!" They rapidly forget how qu

by hoodoof 10y ago

Governments treat water and money in a similar way - if there appears to be enough then they say "OK looks good let's spend freely!" They rapidly forget how quickly it runs out.

hkmurakami 10y ago
This was exactly my thought. I'm shocked at the sudden reversal since we could easily go back into a drought in the coming years. Their particular policies were ill designed, but they at least made us aware of the problem and spurred discussion and what we should be doing. This really does mirror the state's budgetary attitude and it highly disapponting.
- hoodoof 10y ago
  Actually now that I think about it, governments show restraint when the water is running out, but show no such restraint even when the money is all gone - they just keep spending it. The difference is you can't go into "water debt".
  - Scarblac 10y ago
    In a way you can, if you take more out of the aquifers than comes in, you go into water debt.
    - cobalt 10y ago
      i think is point being that if you use up all the water, you're going to have a hard time getting any more. Seems pretty easy to get more money
lisivka 10y ago
Massive drought was caused by global warming: warmer air absorbed lot of water. Now this water will circulate.
- thephyber 10y ago
  Climate change is a long-term thing. No single weather event can definitively be tied to it. This drought is just one event in a long line of documented historical droughts in California. Yes, it's worse than the other ones in recorded history, but we've only been recording for ~200 years so the sample size is small. We can observe further back via tree rings and other creative forensics, but you also have to factor in the different climate. It's not like California didn't have any major droughts before global warming. Additionally, humans have gutted the only major rainforest in our hemisphere in just the past 30 years. It's entirely possible that the California drought has much more to do with the Amazon being slash-n-burned than due to carbon emissions (although they both contribute to global warming).
xfactor973 10y ago
What incredibly short sighted stupidity
rconti 10y ago
Actually, Jerry Brown has been very prudent about both spending AND water.

by hoodoof 10y ago

Governments treat water and money in a similar way - if there appears to be enough then they say "OK looks good let's spend freely!" They rapidly forget how quickly it runs out.

hkmurakami 10y ago

This was exactly my thought. I'm shocked at the sudden reversal since we could easily go back into a drought in the coming years. Their particular policies were ill designed, but they at least made us aware of the problem and spurred discussion and what we should be doing. This really does mirror the state's budgetary attitude and it highly disapponting.

hoodoof 10y ago
Actually now that I think about it, governments show restraint when the water is running out, but show no such restraint even when the money is all gone - they just keep spending it. The difference is you can't go into "water debt".
- Scarblac 10y ago
  In a way you can, if you take more out of the aquifers than comes in, you go into water debt.
  - cobalt 10y ago
    i think is point being that if you use up all the water, you're going to have a hard time getting any more. Seems pretty easy to get more money

lisivka 10y ago

Massive drought was caused by global warming: warmer air absorbed lot of water. Now this water will circulate.

thephyber 10y ago
Climate change is a long-term thing. No single weather event can definitively be tied to it. This drought is just one event in a long line of documented historical droughts in California. Yes, it's worse than the other ones in recorded history, but we've only been recording for ~200 years so the sample size is small. We can observe further back via tree rings and other creative forensics, but you also have to factor in the different climate. It's not like California didn't have any major droughts before global warming. Additionally, humans have gutted the only major rainforest in our hemisphere in just the past 30 years. It's entirely possible that the California drought has much more to do with the Amazon being slash-n-burned than due to carbon emissions (although they both contribute to global warming).

xfactor973 10y ago

What incredibly short sighted stupidity

rconti 10y ago

Actually, Jerry Brown has been very prudent about both spending AND water.