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Nope. Don't stop buying nuts. Stop buying meat & dairy: Almonds -- 350-500 gallons; (added in an edit by popular demand, not in source) Eggs -- 573 gallons;

Nope. Don't stop buying nuts. Stop buying meat & dairy: Almonds -- 350-500 gallons; (added in an edit by popular demand, not in source) Eggs -- 573 gallons; Chicken -- 815 gallons; Cheese -- 896 gallons; Pork -- 1630 gallons; Butter -- 2044 gallons; Beef -- 2500-5000 gallons; (gallons of water per pound of food) Source: http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Hoekstra-2008-WaterfootprintFood.pdf http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Hoekstra-2008-Waterfoo... And the meat & dairy industry takes up a whopping 47% of California's water. Source (page 3 [pdf page 9]): http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2013/02/ca_ftprint_full_report3.pdf http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2013/02/ca_ft... I actually made an account to comment on these posts. No one else seems to be putting things into perspective. We aren't draining ourselves of water from small things like produce and nuts..

phamilton 12y ago
To properly normalize, a pound of almonds requires 350-400 gallons.
astrocyte 12y ago
Here's an idea for California : Stop trying to hog the economic output of the world. Your state can no longer support it. California : > 3 million illegal immigrants and growing (California policies welcome it) > Continuing to cram people into the major cities (stop) > Stop producing so much water demanding products.. Let another state that has a more adequate water supply and conditions do it > Stop trying to produce 80% of the nation's agriculture. Let other states do it. ^ Solutions that put things into perspective. Why are none of them being pursued? because it attacks tax revenue and money. Money from other sources > people's comfort who live in California. All of that money ($115 billion in annual tax revenue and still in debt up to their ears and no money to fund water solution projects .. corruption, waste) Perspective : California doesn't give a rats ass about its residents. It exists and makes policies to further grow its tax base .. consequences be dammed. Residents always put up with the idiocy. So, screw them (over and over)
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- eclipxe 12y ago
  If only "California" was a living, breathing entity that could make decisions.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
danjayh 12y ago
To put things into perspective, you should mention that there are ~500 almonds/lb (just looked at a random amazon product page to determine this - probably depends on variety and quality). This is needed to compare the numbers in your post with the numbers from the article.
adventured 12y ago
A critical difference being you can produce meat / dairy in all sorts of climates that don't have water problems, unlike almonds that need a very specific climate. For example where I live there hasn't been a serious drought in the last 200 years, and you can easily raise chickens, cows, et al. without worrying about water.
benihana 12y ago
This was brought up two days ago when a similar story was posted. And the conversation then seemed to conclude it's not so much about how much water almonds and cows need to grow, it's about California inefficiently allocating resources and screwing its citizens in favor of farmers.
mc32 12y ago
Stop eating rice and drinking coffee and wearing cotton! Rice: 5000 gallons per pound.[1] Brewed coffee: 37 gallons per cup brewed coffee. [2] Pair of cotton Jeans: 900 - 1800 gallons [3] [1] http://www.usriceproducers.com/files/187_Rice%20Facts.pdf http://www.usriceproducers.com/files/187_Rice%20Facts.pdf [2] http://www.ocwd.com/ConservationEducation/WaterFacts.aspx http://www.ocwd.com/ConservationEducation/WaterFacts.aspx [3] http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/how-many-gallons-of-water-does-it-take-to-make.html http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/how-many-gallons-...
- panglott 12y ago
  I was going to suggest that rice and coffee are generally grown in humid areas where fresh water is not a problem, but fortunately I decided to Google first. http://calrice.org/ http://calrice.org/ Their biggest selling point is that California rice production provides wetland habitat for migrating birds. California rice farmers may not be doing well though. http://calrice.org/blog/?id=1427805660&author=California+Rice+Commission http://calrice.org/blog/?id=1427805660&author=California+Ric...
- gglitch 12y ago
  I'm curious about what the proposed alternative for jeans is. I typically own three or four pairs at a time, and I wear them for at least 6 or 7 years--often much longer. I don't know whether from a water conservation perspective that's economical or not, but it's plain to me that it's a peculiar item to add to any chart that also includes rice, coffee, or almonds.
  - mc32 12y ago
    It is a peculiar item, but listed to show water is essential for many of our life necessities and conveniences. Just some context in a story, sorry, narrative, where almonds are the bad nuts du jour. Lots of everyday items require lots of water, coffee, rice, almonds, sugar, meat, etc. Conservation is a comprehensive issue that's not going to be solved finding and singling out one bogey nut.

phamilton 12y ago

To properly normalize, a pound of almonds requires 350-400 gallons.

astrocyte 12y ago

Here's an idea for California : Stop trying to hog the economic output of the world. Your state can no longer support it. California : > 3 million illegal immigrants and growing (California policies welcome it) > Continuing to cram people into the major cities (stop) > Stop producing so much water demanding products.. Let another state that has a more adequate water supply and conditions do it > Stop trying to produce 80% of the nation's agriculture. Let other states do it. ^ Solutions that put things into perspective. Why are none of them being pursued? because it attacks tax revenue and money. Money from other sources > people's comfort who live in California. All of that money ($115 billion in annual tax revenue and still in debt up to their ears and no money to fund water solution projects .. corruption, waste) Perspective : California doesn't give a rats ass about its residents. It exists and makes policies to further grow its tax base .. consequences be dammed. Residents always put up with the idiocy. So, screw them (over and over)

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
eclipxe 12y ago
If only "California" was a living, breathing entity that could make decisions.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

danjayh 12y ago

To put things into perspective, you should mention that there are ~500 almonds/lb (just looked at a random amazon product page to determine this - probably depends on variety and quality). This is needed to compare the numbers in your post with the numbers from the article.

adventured 12y ago

A critical difference being you can produce meat / dairy in all sorts of climates that don't have water problems, unlike almonds that need a very specific climate. For example where I live there hasn't been a serious drought in the last 200 years, and you can easily raise chickens, cows, et al. without worrying about water.

benihana 12y ago

This was brought up two days ago when a similar story was posted. And the conversation then seemed to conclude it's not so much about how much water almonds and cows need to grow, it's about California inefficiently allocating resources and screwing its citizens in favor of farmers.

mc32 12y ago

Stop eating rice and drinking coffee and wearing cotton! Rice: 5000 gallons per pound.[1] Brewed coffee: 37 gallons per cup brewed coffee. [2] Pair of cotton Jeans: 900 - 1800 gallons [3] [1] http://www.usriceproducers.com/files/187_Rice%20Facts.pdf http://www.usriceproducers.com/files/187_Rice%20Facts.pdf [2] http://www.ocwd.com/ConservationEducation/WaterFacts.aspx http://www.ocwd.com/ConservationEducation/WaterFacts.aspx [3] http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/how-many-gallons-of-water-does-it-take-to-make.html http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/how-many-gallons-...

panglott 12y ago
I was going to suggest that rice and coffee are generally grown in humid areas where fresh water is not a problem, but fortunately I decided to Google first. http://calrice.org/ http://calrice.org/ Their biggest selling point is that California rice production provides wetland habitat for migrating birds. California rice farmers may not be doing well though. http://calrice.org/blog/?id=1427805660&author=California+Rice+Commission http://calrice.org/blog/?id=1427805660&author=California+Ric...
gglitch 12y ago
I'm curious about what the proposed alternative for jeans is. I typically own three or four pairs at a time, and I wear them for at least 6 or 7 years--often much longer. I don't know whether from a water conservation perspective that's economical or not, but it's plain to me that it's a peculiar item to add to any chart that also includes rice, coffee, or almonds.
- mc32 12y ago
  It is a peculiar item, but listed to show water is essential for many of our life necessities and conveniences. Just some context in a story, sorry, narrative, where almonds are the bad nuts du jour. Lots of everyday items require lots of water, coffee, rice, almonds, sugar, meat, etc. Conservation is a comprehensive issue that's not going to be solved finding and singling out one bogey nut.