“Fetch me my one-iron.”
“Are you shitting me? Not even
Paul Muad’dib can hit a one-iron.”
Friend of the Blog Pat O’B has been enduring a deluge down in Sierra Vista. But as he notes, this is weather, not climate.
The climate is headed in another direction entirely.
And as Arizona meteorologist Eric Holthaus notes in Grist via Mother Jones, no matter how much water is falling from the sky right this minute in the American Southwest, there is no longer enough to go around.
Writes Holthaus:
To be clear: There is no remaining scenario that does not include mandatory cutbacks in water usage along the Colorado River within the next few years. The long-awaited judgment day for the Southwest is finally here.
Think this means we’ll see bigger sand traps and smaller greens on the Phoenix golf courses? Yeah, me neither. I sure hope Assos is working on a cool stillsuit, one that gives a guy that six-pack look. A six-pack of water, not beer.
Tags: climate change, Dune, Southwest, water
Mad Blog Media 
December 17, 2018 at 8:29 am |
And yet the Saudis have been buying land to farm in Arizona because they already used up all of their water.
“Saudi Arabia’s largest dairy company will soon be unable to farm alfalfa in its own parched country to feed its 170,000 cows. So it’s turning to an unlikely place to grow the water-chugging crop — the drought-stricken American Southwest.”
December 17, 2018 at 8:32 am |
Meanwhile, God looks down, shakes His head, and mumbles, “Medammit, I was so sure I was on the right track with the monkeys. Maybe I should’ve gone with cats, like Bastet suggested. If nothing else, they could make use of a world that was one big sandbox.”
December 17, 2018 at 8:44 am |
FWIW, I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s relevant to today’s post: A Great Aridness by William DuBuys (published in 2011) documents and projects very well the growing aridness track our SW has been and is on. I had the pleasure of hearing DuBuys speak about 6 years ago at Northern Arizona University. Take a look … most informative.
December 17, 2018 at 8:51 am |
Also, and too, “Cadillac Desert,” by Marc Reisner. A sample:
Here’s a little addendum from California to make us wonder whether we might see the Joads heading back east sometime soon.
December 17, 2018 at 9:00 am |
Arizona (2nd largest user) is the only holdout of the 7 western states, that have straws into the river, reguarding revised rules for for future usage. Mostly due to farmers.
Need to figure out how to grow dehydrated vegetables soon.
December 17, 2018 at 9:48 am |
Feds will step in soon if AZ doesn’t get it’s act together. I hope they do. Farmers include the grandfathered pumping rights the Saudis have, as Sharon noted above, and some Native American nations. Royals, in Riyadh and DC, got to have their prime rib, right?
December 17, 2018 at 1:27 pm |
Meanwhile back east we are having a 60″ + year of precipitation, with more coming in the days ahead. Perhaps a big ass funnel and a Keystone pipeline could send it west. Meanwhile we are blessed with living in a 70 year old house with a basement. Our sump pump has been running about 80% of the time for three years.
December 17, 2018 at 3:20 pm |
Yes, this!
December 17, 2018 at 4:44 pm |
Greta Thunberg, 15, Sweden has a short message about climate change. https://youtu.be/HzeekxtyFOY
December 18, 2018 at 5:07 am |
She is right. Thanks, Libby.
December 18, 2018 at 3:16 pm |
I woke up this morning, and for whatever reason, I’m humming the tune to the Laverne and Shirley show
Then I saw today’s news…
Quick! Somebody tell me how the theme song to Celebrity Apprentice goes !!
December 19, 2018 at 10:17 pm |
This is Adventure Cycling, places close to my heart.
http://www.blancaonabike.com/off-the-beaten-track-in-zambia-cycling-the-old-petauke-road/?fbclid=IwAR2y-EXOlsqedY9a0nEz7H5vqmT2DfIMZ0-BivDYMBPT1i3uKDEucuisYPE
December 20, 2018 at 11:08 am |
That’s nice Hurben. Sounded like they had agony and ecstasy in 174 clicks. I don’t know if tse tse flies are like deer flies. But, I assume, when they bite you they get your undivided attention. I know South Carolina deer flies do.
December 20, 2018 at 2:01 pm |
Hi Pat,
“A bite from a tsetse fly is an extremely unpleasant experience. … To make matters worse, several species of tsetse fly can transmit diseases. One of the most dangerous is a parasite that causes “sleeping sickness”, or “human African trypanosomiasis”to give it its official name”