Tomorrow Is Possible
Christmas Day at Shasta dam
There is a study by Jordi Quoidbach and Daniel Gilbert that was published January, 2013, titled, “The End of History Illusion”, and how wrong we can be about predicting our own future.
Mount Shasta on Christmas 2013
Where were you 10 years ago and where do you think you will you be 10 years from now?
That was the question. The answers showed that people didn’t imagine they would change much in their next 10 years, even though they described how different they were since the previous decade.
Behind Shasta dam (Water level 936.63 ft) (1,067 ft at crest)
There are some people who are becoming concerned about how much longer and severe the current drought in California will turn out to be. Fresh water supplies may fall below demand unless we do something about how we use the water we have.
The action that the state historically falls back on is rationing. This is as practical as curing hunger by cutting food stamps and school lunches. That is to say that it is a hardship and ineffective. It is not a solution.
Sunset lights Mount Lassen, December 25
More water, (bigger dams, pipelines, desalination plants. etc.), is not a solution either. That will only encourage more wasteful uses of our resources, (just as more oil wells won’t curb our gluttonous use of petroleum products).
Flicker in front of A building
There are some solutions that require minimal changes in our lifestyles. Just a small action on our parts, could double the existing water supply and help restore our rivers, fisheries, watersheds, and wetlands. Interested?
Apple pie #9 (It turned out to be the best, yet)
Of all the fresh water in California, ⅔ is used for livestock production, (some studies estimate ¾ when including packaging, shipping, cooking and washing up after eating)
Most people eat meat 3 times a day. In addition to being part of an unhealthy diet, choosing this menu item consumes most of our freshwater supply.
Another look at Mt Shasta on Christmas Day
Am I suggesting that we all become vegetarians? No, that would be like cutting Social Security, Medicare, or unemployment relief because the Department Of Defense budget is 5 times bigger than needed. I am not suggesting something so crazy as that.
But, we don’t have to eat meat at every meal, seven days a week. We can reduce our meat consumption by half and benefit by better health and an increased water supply at no extra cost or disruption to the environment or our standard of living.
Instead of all 39,000,000 residents of California facing further water use restrictions, only one industry will have to significantly restructure the way it does business. Livestock production. How could they not be happy to reduce production, (and profits), by ½, in order to preserve California’s freshwater for generations to come?
Today’s Video;
Harley from Tom Teller on https://vimeo.com">Vimeo
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