Analysis Of The Wrong Way To Think About California Water By Michael Hiltzik
In the article, “Farmers Agree to Water Cuts in California,” written by Jennifer Medina, the author writes about the new ways farmers will decrease water use in California. Medina explains that Farmers have made a deal to use a quarter less of their water. This will be done by not plating crops for a season, or finding their own ways to reduce their use of water. The new agreement between farmers and the state will have no effect on food production, but is vital since most of the water in California is used for agriculture. On the other hand, not all farmers are agreeing to give up some of their water, but they will still try to make an effort to save water in order to help decrease further water cuts in the future.
This article touches base on one of numerous ongoing issues in California right now, drought. The author travels to a few of the various counties that are feeling this drought the greatest. Meanwhile, he also interviews a few farmers on the issues, to get their opinion on the drought. “Generally, farms established before 1914 get their water allotment before farms with lower-priority rights.” (Richtel, page 6).
So many lands, farms, fields of fruits and vegetables are gone because of the drought. All this happened because of a shortage of water from once green and healthy crops to dead dry brittle crops that are abandoned by a drought. For example, we had to cut back on watering my lawn and it went from a green lawn to a dead lawn, because of cut backs. Mat Wiser said that, “ Water will become one of the defining limits to human development and a compound factor in human misery,”(2009 Wiser). If we don’t have water we will die faster without water than food, we can’t be greedy on something that we thrive and survive
In addition, if the water is capped in Georgia the agriculture productivity will be directly affected. These impacts would cause a statewide issue since agriculture is a huge part of Georgia’s economy. Doug Miell, energy and natural resources advisor stated, “This is a statewide issue…[Agriculture] is one of the state’s largest economic drivers” (Samuel). The author appeals to ethos and pathos by using the credibility of a Georgia natural and energy resource advisor and by making the reader fear an economic disaster. The water wars have negatively affected the communities of Florida and Georgia.
The text allows for the reader to understand what the water crisis is, and how it is impacting our daily lives. The text also gives the reader multiple different examples of water control in the United States. But, because of all the corporate greed, corporations are ruining our natural resource of water by creating it into a commodity and selling it. This book gives great insight on how corrupt the government can be when they want to make a cheap buck. Again, “Water is a necessity of life that touches everyone in their own homes” (Snitow and Kaufman, 1) water is a right to all humans, not a commodity for business
Reisner dedicates an entire chapter to the dirty water politics that embodies the state of California. In this excerpt from chapter ten, the audience is almost able to feel the utter disgust that Reisner holds towards the gluttonous Californian water politics: "The whole state thrives, even survives, by moving water from where it is, and presumably isn't needed, to where it isn't, and presumably is needed. No other state has done as much to fructify its deserts, make over its flora and fauna, and rearrange the hydrology God gave it. No other place has put as many people where they probably have no business being. There is no place like it anywhere on earth.
In addition, Nash continues his article by giving facts about the water in Texas being glutted with “run-off from centers of population, factories and farms that all alter the chemical constitution of water” (3) creating a deeper predicament for the people in Texas. He also gives the specific dilemma that
but we just find useless ways to waste it. Bottling water is one way of wasting it. After bottling billions of gallons of water a year, we waste at least 80 percent of it. “The entire nation consumes a bit more than 10 billion gallons of bottled water per year” (Hiltzik).
In Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water, Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman shed light on the water crisis that is affecting billions of people across the world, an issue that has been far too common for far too long. “Water scarcity, already a crisis in much of the world, is a coming reality in the United States” (Snitow and Kaufman, pg. 2). Recently studies have shown that this crisis has spread to America at the hands of our government and big corporations, thus becoming a topic worth arguing. Water is not only a necessity for life, but a gift from god and a human
California has not been receiving enough rain and many citizens are wasting water. ABC news have told Californians to save water by turning off the facet and taking short showers, believing this will fix the drought. While all residents are participating to reserve water, where are the statistics of California’s water report. Although ABC news have shown images of California’s underground water, how accurate are
The California Water Wars involved Owen 's Valley and Los Angeles struggling with each other. Mulholland built a aqueduct, but where did the water come from? The water was provided from the Owen 's Lake. The farmers and ranchers of Owen 's Valley didn 't give up their water rights easily. Fred Eaton and William Mulholland both used lies and a series of trickery and strategies to convince the farmers to give their water to Los Angeles.
My current event article is from the New York Times and is titled, A Culture of Nagging Helps California Save Water. This article coincides closest with chapter one in our book, entitled, Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability. I picked this article because I like the idea of a great number of people coming together to help our environment in a pretty small amount of time to keep the place they call home from danger. I also liked how it displayed our ability to want to be more environmentally friendly or helpful when faced with the fear of being scolded or ridiculed by our peers. California is a state in our country that over time has been plagued with periods of little precipitation throughout its history.
Subsidence displays the interconnectedness of various problems in California. The intense drought has forced water restrictions onto farmers who are accustomed to excess water and therefore exploit underground aquifers because California is the only state to not regulate groundwater pumping. This causes subsidence, which lowers the land and wrecks havoc on our infrastructure and the environment. Aquifers suffer permanent capacity reductions, which jeopardizes California 's water supply in the future and will cause more groundwater to be pumped, perpetuating the problem. Subsidence shows the importance for California to properly manage its water supply or else risk great economical and environmental
The water issue in California is growing every day, especially in a time of drought. However, we are thinking about the water usage in California all wrong. As stated in Michael Hiltzik ‘s article, “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”. California 's revenue is greatly dependent on agriculture, which is the biggest water consumer. Although, this is all the media focuses on as the cause of water depletion, especially California 's almond crops.
In the serious informational text, “California’s Drought Ripples Through Businesses, Then to Schools”, by npr.org, published on 4/20/14, speaks from a farmer’s view, about how the drought is affecting schools and businesses, informing people worried about the drought affecting the economy. For instance, in the article it states, “ With less water, farmers are fewer big purchases, following hundreds of thousands, of acres and hiring fewer farm laborers. All of this they’re putting less money into the local economy.” As a result, without water for farming the crops will die off and farmers will send out less crops for stores. So, then those stores will have less products and soon shut down.
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