Droughts

Champion

6993

Chicago, Illinois

Subject: RE: Droughts

I heard of talk of turning used land in Detroit into farm land. Maybe this will help turn that city around.

My Race Log

Pro

15655

Subject: RE: Droughts

Originally posted by JoshR So has everyone heard all about the wonderful droughts afflicting much of the western US? It's sounding like California is going to be struggling to produce all of the food for the rest of the country that they normally do. Some scientists are claiming it could even last for 200 years. http://news.msn.com/in-depth/scientists-past-california-droughts-ha... Anyone taking any measures for this? I already grow a decent sized garden and I've been wanting to expand it anyways, so I am.

What happens then? The floodgates open?

If only they could predict whether or not it was going to rain in two weeks.

Pro

9391

Omaha, NE

Subject: RE: Droughts

Originally posted by Left Brain

Originally posted by JoshR So has everyone heard all about the wonderful droughts afflicting much of the western US? It's sounding like California is going to be struggling to produce all of the food for the rest of the country that they normally do. Some scientists are claiming it could even last for 200 years. http://news.msn.com/in-depth/scientists-past-california-droughts-ha... Anyone taking any measures for this? I already grow a decent sized garden and I've been wanting to expand it anyways, so I am.

What happens then? The floodgates open?

If only they could predict whether or not it was going to rain in two weeks.

I think the real scary part is the population growth. I read this article earlier today that has a lot of information about the population growth and thought it was interesting. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/19/a-perspective-on-the-california-drought/

Hopefully it's just a short term drought.

My Race Log

Pro

15655

Subject: RE: Droughts

I've got a buddy in Ok. who is a geologist. Back in the day we hunted together in the Texas panhandle quite a bit. The panhandle grows a tremendous amount of food but it's all high desert so the ground has been turned to crops through pivot irrigation (simplified). Anyway, the last time we were down there together he schooled us on the Ogallala Aquifer and how the general belief was that it would be all but used up in 20-30 years.....and when that happened there would be huge population shifts in our country since food would no longer come from that area.......and I remember being stunned at how much of our nations food was actually grown there.

I have no idea whether his dire predictions are good or not.....but it was an interesting discussion.

Here's where you can get interested, Tony.......his words of advice: Invest heavily in the desalinization industry development.....he said without a doubt it was the future of water in our country.

Pro

9391

Omaha, NE

Subject: RE: Droughts

Originally posted by Left Brain

I've got a buddy in Ok. who is a geologist. Back in the day we hunted together in the Texas panhandle quite a bit. The panhandle grows a tremendous amount of food but it's all high desert so the ground has been turned to crops through pivot irrigation (simplified). Anyway, the last time we were down there together he schooled us on the Ogallala Aquifer and how the general belief was that it would be all but used up in 20-30 years.....and when that happened there would be huge population shifts in our country since food would no longer come from that area.......and I remember being stunned at how much of our nations food was actually grown there.

I have no idea whether his dire predictions are good or not.....but it was an interesting discussion.

Here's where you can get interested, Tony.......his words of advice: Invest heavily in the desalinization industry development.....he said without a doubt it was the future of water in our country.

That's probably a wise investment.

Obviously there are always going to be droughts and such, but with the urbanization of areas and overall population growth it puts a much larger strain on the system. When you throw in a drought it gets uglier and uglier.

As for desalinization, it's really about economics. It's a viable technology today, but it's far more expensive than other sources to produce the same amount of fresh water. When fresh water becomes more and more scarce in areas it will become more expensive and desalinization will be more cost effective.

On a somewhat related (ok weather related) I just saw this one and got a chuckle. Silly government trying to predict what the climate will do. On a positive note NOAA did score slightly better than monkeys throwing darts.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-18/the-official-forecast-of-the-u-dot-s-dot-government-never-saw-this-winter-coming

My Race Log

Pro

15655

Subject: RE: Droughts

On another note....is it bad that when I first saw this thread I thought it said...................Donuts!!!

Elite

4564

Boise

Subject: RE: Droughts

Originally posted by Left Brain

I've got a buddy in Ok. who is a geologist. Back in the day we hunted together in the Texas panhandle quite a bit. The panhandle grows a tremendous amount of food but it's all high desert so the ground has been turned to crops through pivot irrigation (simplified). Anyway, the last time we were down there together he schooled us on the Ogallala Aquifer and how the general belief was that it would be all but used up in 20-30 years.....and when that happened there would be huge population shifts in our country since food would no longer come from that area.......and I remember being stunned at how much of our nations food was actually grown there.

I have no idea whether his dire predictions are good or not.....but it was an interesting discussion.

Here's where you can get interested, Tony.......his words of advice: Invest heavily in the desalinization industry development.....he said without a doubt it was the future of water in our country.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was getting at. Here's a brief summary of what this drought is affecting vis a vis California's food production. This is what California produces for the entire country.

-99 percent of the artichokes

-44 percent of asparagus

-two-thirds of carrots

-half of bell peppers

-89 percent of cauliflower

-94 percent of broccoli

-95 percent of celery

-90 percent of the leaf lettuce

-83 percent of Romaine lettuce

-83 percent of fresh spinach

-a third of the fresh tomatoes

-86 percent of lemons

-90 percent of avocados

-84 percent of peaches

-88 percent of fresh strawberries

-97 percent of fresh plums

The only one I can't reasonably reproduce is the Avocado's. I'll be bummed if Avocado's become scarce.

My Race Log

Pro

15655

Subject: RE: Droughts

Eh....fear not.....most of our, and the world's, avocados come from Mexico.....you'll survive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado

Extreme Veteran

1001

Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Subject: RE: Droughts

A few weeks ago there was a segment on the Denver News taking about how the droughts are affecting the price of Beef. Many of the cattle ranches in Southern Colorado have either shut down or have greatly reduced the size of their herds. This is also happening in TX, OK and NM.

My Race Log

Droughts

REGISTER TODAY