...In discussion of the crisis of the drought, one controversial issue has been the conflict between water reductions. On the one hand, Justin Sullivan argues that this drought has been a difficult burden since people will argue about who cuts more of their water usage. He states, “People will say, ‘What about the farmers?’ Farmers will say, ‘What about the people who water their lawns”. As we all know outdoor use of water wastes much more water that is not even necessary. Some examples include: watering lawns, washing cars, watering gardens, and cemeteries over watering their grass. Sullivan argued that Mr. Brown stated that California would enforce these water restrictions and have a 25 percent cut in water consumption. People should value the importance of water and it should not be wasted on the contrary, it should be used in only the most necessary things. On the other hand, Damon Winter contends that the 25 percent of water reduction does not apply to farms and they are the ones who consume a great amount of the state’s water. Others like for example Mark Hertsgaard, maintain that the water is priced more cheaply than it should be; therefore, it encourages over consumption which leads people to waste water. My own view of this drought is if we the people don’t make changes and save water the drought will eventually worsen since their won’t be any people cooperating and trying to make a difference. When it comes to the topic of who has the right of using most of the state’s...
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...The San Joaquin river is one of the most famous and longest river in all of Central California. The river starts in Nevada and goes through a big agricultural farm, then all the way to the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco, and Suisun Bay. In the 20th century the river came to a major halt, it was voted to have a delta built which caused an uproar in the wildlife community.Since the river is closed off from flowing the water is just sitting there, and all wildlife that took place there had to pack their things and move to a new location. The article “ River To Fishy For My Taste Buds by Bill McEwen” of the Fresno Bee’s newspaper company, whose credibility for this topic is real. McEwen despite the fact that he is in the river being built, but against...
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...The word drought is a very serious topic mentioned in California since we are in an extreme need for water. A drought means less water for us to use at our leisure, leaving us with the fear of how much of it we are left with to use and how long it is going to last us. Weintraub, author of the article,”River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkling of Hope”, argues that the San Joaquin River Restoration Project is a positive and benefiting project. On the other hand McEwen, author of the article, “River Plan Too Fishy For my Taste Buds”, argues that is is not so good, nothing worth celebrating over and won’t help. So the question is, is it worth it to have spent almost half a billion dollars on the San Joaquin River Restoration Project? I believe...
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...The San Joaquin river, one of the most famous and longest river in all of Central California. The river starts in Nevada and goes through a big agricultural farm, then all the way to the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco, and Suisun Bay. In the 20th century the river came to a major halt the people voted to have the delta built, which caused an uproar in the wildlife community.Since the river has been closed off from flowing, the waters just sitting there and all wildlife that took place there packed their things and moved to a new location. The article “ River To Fishy For My Taste Buds by Bill McEwen” of the Fresno Bee's newspaper company, whose credibility for the topic occurs as credible. McEwen despite the fact that he agrees in the river to...
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...Farmers across the nation, primarily along the west coast, are dealing with some form of financial decline due to soil erosion, drought, and costs to income ratios. The cultivation of hemp will restore our economy and environment. In the article titled “The Forgotten History of Hemp,” author Jack Herer claims that: Farming only six percent of continental US acreage with hemp could end America’s dependence on fossil fuels. Capable of producing ten tons of biomass per acre in four months without chemical fertilizers, hemp-energy farms could return billions of dollars’ worth of natural resource potential back to the farmers and bring millions of jobs back to America’s heartland. (Herer) The cultivation itself helps farmers, as no chemicals...
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...diverse coral reefs in the world… Cobb and her team have faithfully recorded the El Nino events of the twentieth century as reflected in the ratio of oxygen-18 to oxygen 16 in the coral skeletons” (157). In collecting fossilized corral (Figure 3), the density of the specimens’ attribute to the growth rate during different fluctuations of ocean temperatures; these densities are attributed to El Nino and La Nina patterns (157). A timeline was extended back to the ‘Medieval drought’ during the tenth and fourteenth century and the ‘Little Ice Age’ during the seventeenth century. Cobbs research (178) suggested in a La Nina condition, the coral was less dense, showing slow growth during cooler ocean temperatures. This coincides with the collapse of the Pueblo and other cultures across the Southwest and California. While the specimens of the corral with greater density suggested and increase in Pacific Ocean temperatures, corresponding with El Nino events during the Little Ice age with wetter and flooding in California and the American West (158). It is because of these tiny coral polyps building atop of each other, fossilizing over time, that paleoclimatologists have a better understanding of the past 200 million years of Earth’s changing climate...
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...Research Paper Group names RES/351 June 21, 2015 Larry Oslund California Drought Excessive and unnecessary daily water usage is not improving the California drought. There are many options available to individuals and businesses to help conserve water. In this research paper we will discuss the techniques, eco-friendly appliances and drought tolerant landscaping ideas to help conserve. We will also go into greater detail on rebate incentives to persuade individuals to preserve water consumption. As an employee of the municipal water district I will be discussing the different techniques individuals and companies can take to help conserve water. Individuals can change many things in their daily routines such as, turning the water off while brushing teeth and hands as well as not letting the water run longer then needed. Individuals who use their dishwasher can wait till the dishwasher is full and wash only certain days a week. They can do the same when washing laundry as well and use the cold cycle rather than hot water whenever possible. I am going to focus on these three beneficial techniques, not flushing every time we use the bathroom, recycling and reusing water, and only using appliances when they are full. The point of view that I am going to take is from an employee at a municipal water district teaching homeowners to save water during this drought. I will be sharing my thoughts on appliances that are energy/water saving. I will go...
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...English 1A 20th May 2014 Drought Problems It is clear to everyone, Water is main source of survival for all mankind. Nevertheless people seem to imagine that our water supply is endless. So why worry? But problems of severe drought have affected many states in America. California is also one of the states that have been severely affected and the government has declared drought emergency state-wide. Many urban areas in the bay area have started taking action against drought emergency. The government in many district in Contra Costa county has requested the public to conserve water and introduced the preliminary water use reduction target that are to be followed by all the residents and customers. As a result of the drought emergency small suburban city like El Cerrito has done a lot to help conserve water that could be implemented by many other district in Contra Costa County. The different projects El Cerrito has implemented to conserve water during drought could be also used by urban cities so that they do not have to implement extreme actions later on and also will be of great help during worsening drought conditions. In order to prevent serious damage due to shortage of water El Cerrito city started The Energy and Water Efficiency Program (EWEP) in 2008 so that it could fund projects that have innovative approaches for energy and water conservation (Innovative). Just by starting such program El Cerrito city was able to fund 1 water efficiency project due to which...
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...with a Mediterranean, dry, coastal climate. The chaparral is primarily found in California and the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. The chaparral is also found around the world in Chile, South Africa, and Western and Southern Australia. The chaparral’s climate is defined by mild, wet winters and hot dry summers. Plants of the Chaparral Plants of the chaparral must survive long periods of heat, fire, and drought. Many plants of the chaparral very closely resemble plants of the desert that can also survive long periods without rain. The South African Chaparral contains many species of plants that are not located anywhere else in the world. Examples...
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...Water Use in California Everyone in America knows that California is in a severe drought, but how we got in a drought? A lot of a people blame it on how us Californians are ignorant people who don’t know how to preserve anything, others blame it on how it doesn’t rain here? Well it’s a little bit of both and other reasons affect it as well. Although the use of water has benefited the businessmen,cities,and farmers it has also severely harmed the the environment and Native Americans. The use of our water has helped farmers feed twenty five percent of our Americans. Yet, they have been given most of our water as Document 3 states. “... eighty percent of California surface water supports agriculture, largely...
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...As you aware, California has recently slowly been alleviated from severe to extreme drought conditions. An influx of winter storms have caused widespread flooding throughout the state and even damage to the Oroville dam due to an overflow of water. With these current weather conditions, talks about lessening and reducing water regulations have began. Currently, each Californian uses about 181 gallons of water a day, not to mention, California uses more water than any other state. I support the public regulations of water use. However, the valley farmers and irrigation should be allowed lenient water restrictions since they account for almost all of North America's agricultural produce. Additionally, funding for water collection and conservation should be a top priority for California....
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...California should spend money for the San Joaquin River recuperation project because without it, it would cause a lack of water and resources which could lead to death and cause destruction to the human race. Daniel Weintraub in the article River Restoration project offers a Sprinkling of Hope that was published on April 26, 2009 in Sacramento, California by the Sacramento Bee states that the project should continue because restoring the river and bringing back the salmon populations is important for the environment. The Sacramento Bee published this article showing its support and how they found the article as valid. The River Proposal offers results ethically such as the instauration of dihydrogen monoxide (ethos), logistically like the incrementation of salmon inhabitants (logos), and emotionally, for instance, self-consciously (pathos) when under consequential circumstances and fortified financially. This politically delectating arrangement would result in native fish rehabilitation, dihydrogen monoxide...
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...River Colorado This extraordinary river has many unique features and runs through 7 American states including Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Baja, California, and Sonora. Humans have benefitted from the river for the last 2000 years due to its huge potential. More water is exported from the colorado basin than from any other river basin in the US. However these human uses have caused various effects on the river discharge. Key Features: Big Thompson Trans-Basin Diversion Reservoirs including Mead, Powell, Flaming, Gorge and Fontenelle Dams such as Hoover, Davis and Parker Glen Canyon Grand Canyon The Colorado River Delta Figure 1 - shows the course of the river. The Upper Colorado starts at the source at La Poudre Pass Lake in the Rocky Mountain national Park in Colorado. Here the annual precipitation is very high in the park with as much as 2540mm of snow during the winter. Under the Rocky Mountains there is the Big Thompson Trans-Basin Diversion, which diverts water to 2 million people living in Colorado. The Colorado River begins to flow to the west into Grand Lake in Colorado. Once the Colorado River meets the U.S. southwest, it begins to meet several more dams and reservoirs including the Fontenelle (the first of 11 dams) and receives its principle tributary, the Green River before it reaches the Glen Canyon Dam which forms the reservoir Lake Powell in Southern Utah. Here the Colorado also joins with San Juan River. From here...
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...AS GEOGRAPHY UNIT 1 WORLD AT RISK WORLD AT RISK GLOBAL HAZARDS Hazard – Potential threat to human life or property Natural Hazards – Caused by natural processes e.g. lava flow from volcanic eruption Hydro-meteorological Hazards – Caused by climatic processes (droughts, floods, tropical cyclones and storms Geophysical Hazards – Caused by land processes (volcanic eruptions, earthquakes) Disaster – When a hazard seriously affects humans Risk – Likelihood that humans will be seriously affected by a hazard Vulnerability – How susceptible a population is to the damage caused by a hazard. Disaster Risk Equation Risk (R) – Hazards (H) * Vulnerability (V) / Capacity to Cope (C) Risk increases if: * Frequency or severity of hazards increase * People vulnerability increase * Capacity to cope decreases (Capacity to cope is the ability to deal with the consequences of a hazard) e.g. people in remote areas are further from help in central areas, so have lower capacity to cope) * Global Warming – greatest global hazard * Recent increase in average global temp – climate change * Causes other types of climate change * Context hazard – global in scale (affects all parts of environment) – potential to trigger other hazards or make them worse * Chronic Hazard (Long term) * People who aren’t causing the problem are mostly affected * Difficult to find solutions * Hydro-meteorological hazards becoming more frequent ...
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...Jim Jordan 3/10/13 Environmental Planning Risk Management and Drought In order to be able to discuss the components needed for a risk management approach to a drought, it is important to first understand what risk is. How likely is it? What can happen? What are the impacts? Questions like these are very useful in understanding what risk is, and how to evaluate the risk. By taking both the possibility of an event happening as well as the possible consequences of such an event, such as a flood for example, can help rank how big of a risk is involved. It is also important to realize that risk affects different people differently, so the risk perception and concern is different from one person to the next, so therefore the needs for reduction is different from one individual to the next. These needs can apply to any event, but are particularly important when it comes to managing a drought. A drought is defined as a deficiency of precipitation from expected or “normal” that extends over a season or longer period of time. It is important to note that a drought is not a permanent feature of climate, but instead is a temporary feature or an aberration. Aridity on the other hand is a permanent climate feature that is primarily dry, and is often found in the Southwestern part of the United States. Another distinct feature about a drought is that unlike other climate phenomena, it is a very slow onset, sometimes referred to as “creeping” or non-event. The impacts tend...
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