Going Brown

I have seen the future and it is not green. It is brown. Brown as in parched. I recently returned from a beautiful lakeside resort in Atlanta, located around what looked like a gorgeous golf course. I'm not a golfer, but I didn't have to be one to marvel at the completely dead and dried grass and the rolling hills of brown.

Atlanta is, of course in the midst of a very serious drought. It will take months of rain for it to return to near normal conditions. But for the residents there, it's been a scary wake-up call about just how little control we humans have over Mother Nature.

Wake up people! Go ahead, roll your eyes and dub me a crunchy, green Al Gore-lovin' mama and I won't argue with you. I know, I know, overuse of the words "global warming" is second only overuse of the term "awesome." Even I have grown weary of the articles and headlines. They threaten to overwhelm in the media as white noise. So let's bypass the debate about whether or not our planet is warming up with the silent hiss of greenhouse effect gasses. Lets just look at the issue of H2O.

Water. Once this was seen as an endless commodity. If someone had predicted that fortunes could be made by selling regular old tap water in plastic bottles, well, those folks would have been laughed out of the medicine show.

There were rivers, lakes, rain, wells and water tables. In just a generation, we are reaching what will soon be a critical issue in the lives of our children and grandchildren. Water is the new gold. He who controls the source, controls the future.

Dire predictions about water supply, clean, potable water and the future of many towns, particularly in the west and southwest don't seem to scare too many of us.

We're still building golf courses in the desert faster than you can shake a stick at. Fly over Phoenix, AZ, or Las Vegas Nevada, both deserts last time I checked, and you'll see a patch work quilt of green amidst rolling golf courses and lawns. Las Vegas? One of the fastest growing cities in the states.

We're still growing produce in places like Southern California where the natural land is dry as a bone in certain seasons. Rice even grows in California, a crop that needs to stand in water like all those photos from lush tropic zones in Asia. Thank goodness for reclaimed water, may all farmers embrace it.

We lived in Phoenix for two years, in the central part of the city that used to be the orange and grapefruit orchards. One lone tree remained in our backyard as a reminder of the past. Every two weeks, the neighborhood would be irrigated. For those of you from the east, like me, who had no idea what that meant, this is what happens... a man comes into the neighborhoods, opens the pipes in each yard, one by one and water flows into each yard around a berm, almost 8 or 10 inches in depth. Needless to say, this was a really popular day for the neighborhood kids to get out side in their bathing suits an splash around in the muddy water. For us mothers, it was kind of the backyard equivalent of tailgating.

But, talk about an inefficient use of water in this day and age. This practice still goes on to this day.

We continue to foul our nests with laundry detergents, and everything else we dump down the drain, including the chemicals we put on our lawns. Our water use is drying up the water tables, overtaxing reservoirs in low rain months. When will this sink in?

It needs to start in each one of our communities. Let's take a long view instead of going for the easy bucks and Band-Aid, cost effective solutions.

What happened in Atlanta could happen anywhere. So let's think green - before we go brown.

Comments

[jdm58]

Surprised to hear you say that the media is over using the term "global warming". From this side of the equation (a news listener not a news maker) I would have to disagree. Far too little is being said about this crisis- especially on the Presidential Campaign coverage. Only 3 questions on climate change out of thousands have been asked of the candidates. The public will get on the band wagon when their media idols start showing that it matters to THEM too. Too many people look at places like New Orleans, Atlanta, and say, "wow, too bad, sucks for them, glad I don't live there." In the not too distant future, without major change on ALL of our parts, we'll be sorry we turned away our attention, because it will be too late to save any of us, especially our children.

[Cathexis]

Absolutely right, Ms Woodruff! Potable water is going to become a critical commodity even before oil, IMO. This is one reason why biofuels are NOT the answer to petrochemical replacement -- they are too water-intensive to support. (Solar, people! Solar!)

Thanks for raising awareness on such an important issue!

[Pandu]

It doesn't matter whether we're talking about global warming or water issues; for either problem the chief contributor is meat production.

The recent NY Times article on the environmental impact was very good.
(link: http://tinyurl.com/2eqrrb )

Or see the UN report "Livestock's Long Shadow" for a more detailed analysis:
http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm

[PerryWhite]

The most predominant greenhouse gas is water vapor.

[Rockyman]

It would be nice to "take the long view" as you say. To do so would take some compassion for other creatures and future generations, an abstract emotion badly lacking in powerful segments of society. We have structured a way of life whereby creating envy in others with our "stuff" is the measure of a "life well-lived". And emotionless corporate motivations are to enrich shareholders with little or no consideration to other than the bottom-line. This "heartless" attitude will do the Earth and it's inhabitants "in" unless we promptly become more loving of all that has evolved and that has some "right" to share a healthy planet.

[Wilburrr]

Thinking green before we go brown has to start with informed decisions. Phoenix has not allowed a new golf course in 20 years that does not employ gray water. The old citrus fields are long gone, as are most of the flood irrigation districts. Flood irrigation, while looking incredibly wasteful, is really fairly efficient as long as it is not supplemented between floodings. Bermuda lawns and swimming pools are far worse offenders.

Strategies for water resources in Phoenix and Atlanta are dramatically different. Where Atlanta relies on monthly rain patterns, Phoenix has built a system of reservoirs, canals, and ground water systems that maintains water availability in the Sonoran Desert environment. Atlanta has no reserve, where Phoenix only has reserve water supplies. Surely living here for two years allowed you to become familiar with the differences in water conservation strategy, no?

Replacing old toilets with new, low flush models would be a more effective target for water conservation. Many models can be purchased on-line. Check consumer reviews to make sure you order one that flushes well. You can also employ the old adage, "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." OR: "In this land of fun and sun, never flush a number 1."

[JScott]

Yeah yeah folks blather and fret about it but don't wanna talk about the hard part-too many humans popping out too many babies, we humans must limit our numbers because if we don't we can't solve all these other things (water shortages, global warming, urban sprawl, u name it)

[Dalicious]

More important than conservation is intelligent use of the land. The flaw of letting market forces rules is that those forces rarely look to the future for insights. What's going on in and around Las Vegas is unbearably foolish, not unlike the insane development on Galveston Island, which is closer to my home. One day the water crisis will crash down on the West and Southwest and entire communities will be stranded without water. It will be a catastrophe.

The worst water-related travesties are overseas, though, as population in Africa have long since exhausted the African ecosystem's reserves or equilibrium. Every program to eradicate AIDS or other diseases in Africa actually adds to the problem, due to the overpopulation that is destroying the land.

[TRYKER]

Every new home permit should have a water catchment requirement and storage for gray water to use for gardening. Lawns should either be turned into food gardens, or left to be natural for the area. If it rains enough, have a lawn, if it doesn't...take the hint and do the right thing, xeriscape it.

Your post is so important, we all need to get on top of this...shout it from the housetops.

Where are the news reporters on this important issue, the photos of these dried up lakes etc? Its infuriating that the MSM is so LAZY! So UNCARING!

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well, as far back as the Romans, and probably most famously, people were moving water from one place to another. Arid zones are basically being terraformed, all it takes is millions and billions of dollars, and it's being done in response to population growth. Where you have more people, you need more water. And, people will do what they normally do, including build golf courses. The world is covered about 2/3 in water, most of it containing more than the RDA of salt and anchovy waste. The challenge, here, is to become proficient at the mass purification of large amounts of water to make it more available for consumption and use in areas where the normal water table is insufficient to the task. One way to do that would be to deliberately augment existing watercourses, by filtering and transporting that water cross country by vehicle or pipeline, the more modern 'aquaeduct'.
To solve the water dilemna, advanced water processing techniques will have to be explored, along with getting people to understand the problem so that they can help by trying their best to use less. But, they keep making new people every day, and technology serves the needs of the many, ergo there will be more coastal water purification plants in the future, and miles of stainless steel pipe to relocate such purified water to the desired location. Faucet check!

[blue22]

I just had the pleasure of using a waterless urinal a couple days ago. The technology is quite impressive, and the little plaque said that it saved 40,000 gallons of water per year, per urinal.

We can make many simple, easy changes (like the urinal) that will save millions of gallons, but we will also be forced to make some very hard changes and sacrifices.

That's why I don't want any kids. Childrenless people unite! The rest of you- please have fewer kids.

[rovezaleeker]

Absolutely spot on target, Ms. Woodruff! I grew up by Lake Superior. It wasn't that long ago that you could take a dipper and drink right from the lake. Not anymore. Just like everything else. We are turning our home and resources into a cesspool. The southwest part of the country has been trying to figure out for years how to screw over the great lakes states and Canada and get their hands on our water via pipelines to the west. It ain't gonna happen. The great wars in the future aren't going to be over oil.

It's just a damn shame that we let George Bush shang hai this country for the past eight years and you and your family had to pay such a horrendous price. Best regards to you and Robert.

[DickTater]

I heard this one. And I never checked it out, but at the time it was a good source like NPRs Marketplace Kai Ryssdal
that the daylight savings time thang was rammed thru due to heavy lobbying from "twilight" corporations....those busy in the industries that profit from EVENING. Golf courses were a big part of that. If they get an extra month on EACH side of spring/summer/fall where people can get a full 9 or 18 before it gets dark, they make a lot more money.
I am a golfer, or used to be. I hold no especial grudge for their pretty use of the land....but I hate to see pesticides and water usage. And I hate to see golfcourses just springing up to feed developer's dreams.
I don't mind a municipal course for each town and maybe a country club (if they must) and maybe one other open to the public club.(especially in areas that are ABLE to have a golfcourse without emptying the Colorado River - desert courses need so much water, and new ones need about 4 times more water)
And I don't even grudge them their desire to move the daylight times up. But when you think of where do these new courses get their water? How are they getting approval? And how do they get so much pull they also can switch TIME on the whole country?

Can't remember all the details from the Daylights story I heard, but if I recall the other evening-type lobbyists were the charcoal briquette people, barbecue mftgs, camping, campsite/hospitality, jacuzzi mftgs, sporting, etc.
So even that legislation, which seemed so inauspicious and wierd and with so little noise - changed our biorhythms at the whim of Corporation and their lobbyists.