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> being a water shortage that makes the west unlivable Unlivable? Probably not. But more expensive? Absolutely. And once the agricultural economy needs to shu
by dakna 5y ago
> being a water shortage that makes the west unlivable
Unlivable? Probably not. But more expensive? Absolutely.
And once the agricultural economy needs to shut down due to free water not being free anymore, I'll expect ghost cities all over the West, starting with small communities not able to provide enough jobs and not attractive enough to turn into retirement places for people with money.
So far the projections on temperature and rainfall changes are in line with what we see today, but hey, the jury is still out on that. Once we know for sure in roughly 25 years, it might be too late, so I take my chances based on what I know now.
- cmrdporcupine 5y agoAgree with all your points, but also: the moment I had children the horizon of years that concerned me expanded significantly. I am a bit over half-way through my life but I have two young children and where we settle and build our lives affects their prospects as well. We have 6 acres of arable land a 10 minute drive from Lake Ontario and a well into the Niagara Escarpment into an underground river that I can pull dozens of gallons a minute of water from. As I write this my son is splashing in the pool and spraying the dog with a hose ;-)
- kortilla 5y ago> Unlivable? Probably not. But more expensive? Absolutely. The people that move west move to the cities and they are already drastically more expensive than water rich places. The cost of water tripling in LA or SF for residents would be meaningless in the grand scheme of CoL. Just look at electricity and gas prices in CA for an example of something else people have to pay way more for that realistically doesn’t matter. Until you’re looking at order of magnitude increases, it will just be noise. And desalination doesn’t even require a 10x increase.