"It has been called the land of glitz and glamor. A cornucopia of fruits, nuts and vegetables. Today however, California looks more like the surface of the Moon."
Now this I will admit, it has been a few years since I have been in California. Like since I have retired. I would go there from time to time on business. And once in awhile my wife and I would vacation there. It has never been green and plush like some areas in this country - it is after all, a desert. However, the Californians have always done a great job in making an arid landscape look inviting. That is until this latest drought.
We were just there yesterday. Los Angeles was the port where our cruise ship terminated our voyage. Over two weeks earlier, we left a very rainy Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We then traveled to green and plush locations such as Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. After all that fun, we terminated in Los Angeles.
What a difference. I have never, since I have first visited Los Angeles in 1958, seen LA look so bad. As our bus pulled out from the pier and headed towards the airport, I could not believe the landscape. All trees, including the palm trees, looked sick and stressed. The grass? Forget it - there was no grass. Not even any weeds. We might as well have been in Saudi Arabia, without the 110 degrees.
On the way, we passed a car wash. There was a huge sign in front saying, "We only use recycled water". And what does that mean? Recycled from where? And why? Well the bottom line is this - California does not have enough water. Not nearly enough. And yet, as we were headed towards the airport, we would on occasion see the Pacific Ocean off the coast.
Why do I bring up the Pacific Ocean? Well for starters, we had five days "at sea" since we came through the Panama Canal. While at sea, no matter which direction you gazed upon, you saw ocean. Nothing but ocean. And we were not out that far. And the ship's navigator would tell us we were cruising in depths of over 1 1/2 miles. Why do I bring this up? For this reason - we have a virtual endless supply of water on this planet. And - we know how to make it fresh and/or potable.
While on the cruise ship, we did learn how to make water ABUNDANT as well as pleasant tasting. And how? Did they bring on a whole bunch of Avian or some other high class water? Nope. It was sea water, thank you. And everyone loved it. And there were no signs anywhere asking folks to conserve water. The ship just imputed more, and through the desalination process, produced enough good tasting water for everyone.
Back to the point. Can I dare say this without offending anyone? California is run by idiots. Governor Moonbeam is the biggest one. California's drought is not caused by "Man made global warming" - it is caused by half of the state being a dessert. It is an arid climate. And that is the bad news. This good news (and this is very good news) - is that we now have the technology to make the entire state of California look as lush and inviting as it once did. No matter how much rain it receives.
With over 70% of the planet covered by water, there is no reason why California needs be an arid location. This is the state that produces most of our movies, television shows, and more importantly, much of our food. Rather than spending $50 billion dollars on a high speed rail going from LA to SFO (which most Californians don't want), the citizens (the taxpayers) of California, would rather have built many efficient desalination plants instead.
So at the end of all this, where does this leave us? In "nowhere ville" I am afraid. With 800 miles of coastline, California is a mecca for efficient water farms. In reality - Governor Moonbeam will opt for more rail insead. Why? Just because, as the tale of the scorpion and the turtle, the scorpion could just not help himself from poisoning the turtle. And that is exactly what the leadership of California is doing to it's people.
As a former long time resident of California I can attest to the idiots running the state. Not only is Southern California mostly arid tending toward desert, it is filled with absent-minded environmental whiz kids. It has a Mediterranean climate with a distinct decadal cycle of wet and dry years that are influenced by ocean cycles, including the infamous El Nino. Having lived in San Diego for many years I have experienced these cycles first-hand. The major problem with water shortages stems from an agenda that refuses to capture water in reservoirs because dams are bad, send potable water to the ocean to protect a species of minnow in the Delta and many years of solving flooding by channeling rain out to the shoreline.
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