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The "race" has been on for more than a century. The fact is that it doesn't rain out here. Multi year, multi decade droughts are normal. Our ecosystems depend o

• mistrial9 4y ago
  > multi decade droughts are normal and, the South is moving North.. look at all that desert area nearby.. Los Angeles looking at you
• anonuser123456 4y ago
  >Capturing every last drop to irrigate the desert for cows and almonds is a waste. I wouldn't call it waste, I would call it subsidy. Price water and let people make decisions on how valuable the water is instead of subsidizing private consumption.
• taftster 4y ago
  Almonds 100% agreed, what a waste. Cows as a by-product of alfalfa, also gets an amen. But really it's not the cows, per se, that's the problem. We should be feeding them other product that takes less water to grow. Alfalfa is a terrible water hog. Cows don't like new food. That's one of the problems. Once a farmer starts feeding a cow alfalfa, the cows are afraid of trying other alternatives. So the farmer has to start early and break with tradition. It's a hard problem.
  • blululu 4y ago
    Other way around. That New York Times infographic is just pernicious misinformation. Almonds are grown and sold internationally at a profit. It is an expensive crop that requires a unique climate. Cows take 10x the water per pound, sell for less, can be raised anywhere and rely on government subsidies. Alternatives to alfalfa will still take more water per pound of beef than a pound of almonds.
    • stametseater 4y ago
      Almonds are a luxury crop, not a staple, so it shouldn't matter that they're profitable. Environmental concerns should take precedent over private profit. Also, cows/alfa or almonds is a false dichotomy, so defending almonds by citing cows doesn't make sense. Almond farming in California should be banned and not replaced with more cows/alfa, since that would obviously defeat the point. The point is for Californian agriculture to use less water, not shuffle the water use around, least of all to other crops which aren't necessary to keep humans fed (e.g. staple crops, of which nether of these are.)
    • Fatnino 4y ago
      The problem with whatever crop is getting exported is how much water is in it. So a Californian farmer grows a watermelon that when ripe contains, say, 3 liters of water in it. If that watermelon is then sold to China, 3 liters of water have been removed from California. If it's instead sold in Fresno, then that water remains in the California system.
  • jjtheblunt 4y ago
    The problem is maybe also that humans dont like new food, and cows have been longtime food?
    • taftster 4y ago
      This is insightful and totally true. It's going to take a long long time to ween off cows as a choice for meat. Impossibly long (if ever). Sad state of affairs. I do like my steak and hamburger though, and I recognize that I'm part of the problem.
• darth_avocado 4y ago
  That’s not what capturing means. Our ecosystems for sure depend on the runoff. But in extreme weather events like this rains hammer the state way more than usual and the runoff is excess of what the ecosystems rely on. That is what is being captured here. It will be going to waste otherwise.
  • richk449 4y ago
    It doesn’t seem right to declare the water not captured as waste. How can you know that the excess water from extreme weather events doesn’t benefit the ecosystem in some way? Lots of ecosystems depend on infrequent extreme events, at least of the National Geographic shows are correct.