Drought

 

It is a pleasant day in Southern California. It is currently 70 degrees, sunny, with a light south wind and 52% humidity. I have a nice cup of green tea as I sit here writing. The primary component of green tea is water, of course. Water is increasingly precious because the West is in the midst of a historic drought. That’s my topic today.

What is drought? The common definition is a long period when there is little or no rain. There are several categories of drought: meteorological drought, agricultural drought, hydrological drought. Socioeconomic drought wraps the types of drought into effects on products to show the ramifications on human society. California has endured drought for most of the 21st century. As of today, over 37 million Californians are affected by drought and May 2021 was the 5th driest May in the past 127 years. The pleasant weather I am experiencing has to be put into that context.

The emerging consensus is that we are in another megadrought in the American Southwest. There have been prior megadroughts here in antiquity, two of which probably caused or at least contributed to the collapse of Native American cultures in the past millennium. There is suspicion that megadroughts played a prime role in the demise of multiple preindustrial civilizations. The Sahel in Africa is a current example of how prolonged droughts drive famines and migrations. While droughts have always been a part of history, there is also now mounting evidence that human activity is worsening them through its effect on global warming. 

With 7.7 billion people on the planet, the socioeconomic effects of drought are profound. Migration and climate refugees will become an increasing problem in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Hunger and famine worsened by climate change and drought are already problems; when coupled with conflict and epidemics, the death tolls are going to be high. Within the United States, water management disputes are creating political tensions in the arid Southwest. Because of our federal system of government, settling these disputes will involve equitable apportionment, interstate compacts, and Congressional action; with our polarized political landscape, this is more difficult than ever. It will require much compromise on all sides to effectively manage water. There is really no other choice.

We are truly in the Anthropocene epoch, a new time in the history of Earth marked by significant impact on ecosystems brought on by human activity. The exact start of the Anthropocene remains in dispute and the definition includes changes wrought by decreasing biodiversity; that’s a topic for another time, though. Comfortable here today with my tea and my computer, I recognize that millions upon millions of others are not comfortable; simply finding potable water, let alone having tea, is a major difficulty for them. We can and should all take individual actions to preserve water resources. We must also push our governments, local, state, and federal, to find and implement solutions for this. It can be done. California is a leader in the United States in water conservation. I hope to be as comfortable next time I blog.