...California has been widely known across the globe for its great agriculture. As its main source for economic growth, California prides itself on its ability to produce mass amounts of crops in order to serve our nation. The backbone of everything that goes on in California is built around the Californian farmers’ ability to produce crops. As of late, the task of producing crops has become more difficult than ever for farmers to accomplish. Farming, and producing crops, has become increasingly difficult for farmers in California due to the scarcity of water. With little access to fresh water for their crops, farmers in California are having a hard time maintaining their fruits, vegetables, livestock, and nuts. Water has been hard to come by...
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...Water Crisis Impact in California Monica Mois Essentials of College Writing/COMM/215 October 6, 2014 Carolyn Geiser Water Crisis Impact in California Due to the lack of rain in the past few years, and particularly in the last few months, California faces severe drought. This is the worst drought in more than one hundred years. The impact of California drought affects community, agriculture, organic ranchers, and dairy farmers. Because of these facts, the United States must rethink the way it uses water. Californians alone are asked to reduce their water usage by twenty percent to prevent water waste. Communities, Agriculture, Organic Ranchers and Dairy Farmers Many communities in California struggle with shortage of drinking water. One example is “the small community of Cameron Creek Colony in Tulare County is struggling due to severe drought. About ten percent of its residents have no access to water because their wells have run dry. Others have only intermittent access” (USDA, 2014). In other communities, residents are urged to avoid wasting water. The Waterboards.ca.gov (2014) website has a list of emergency water conservation regulations stating that every citizen is prohibited to use potable water to wash sidewalks and driveway, to use hoses with no shut off nozzles to wash their cars, water the lawn more than two times a week, and reduce the amount of watering time for each station using an automatic sprinkler system. Residents could face...
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...tripled since the 1970s, and the annual number of fires over 10,000 acres is seven times what it was then” (Fraser). This means that as the increasing temperature from global warming and the drought increase so will the fires happening in the southwest. As areas of trees become drier than they have been, there will be a easier chance for them to be set on fire. Also because of the dryer climate the fire will have an easier time in turning in to an wildfire. Doyle Rice stated that, “Droughts are expected to become hotter, more severe, and more frequent” (Rice). What Rice is saying is that in the future droughts are going to be more extreme and hotter. If the temperature gets hotter then there will be an even...
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...The Californian Drought Crisis This section of the paper will outline the current Californian drought crisis, taking the position that climatically, it is a combined result of lower than average precipitation and higher than average temperatures and that the population, in residential, commercial and agricultural settings place an excessive demand upon the state’s water supply. Working together, these stressors have a collective effect in causing the drought crisis in California since 2012. 2015 marks California’s fourth consecutive year of severe drought. The last two years alone have been the driest and warmest individual years since records began in 1895, with ten of the last fourteen experiencing below normal levels of precipitation (Howitt, et al., 2015) (Mann & Gleick, 2015). From autumn 2013 to spring 2014, central and southern California experienced some of the lowest precipitation on record, it is said that the impacts...
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...As of August 14, 82 percent of the state of California was in extreme drought. As California entered its fourth year of record-breaking drought, it was met with extremely parched landscapes. CBS News reports reveal that, “According to an aerial survey conducted by the U.S. Forest Service in April, about 12 million trees have died in California forestlands in the past year because of extreme drought.” Dead trees along with plant life in severe condition are seen throughout the Los Padres National Forest. These dead trees add another element to the hazards of the drought by threatening the dry landscape with the possibility of intense wildfires. On January 17, Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the state of California. This...
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...1950s. The advent of inexpensive motorized lawn mowers and fertilizing chemicals made lawns a reality for the middle class. America has over 50,000 square miles of grass in cultivation. Now in 2014, California is facing a drought like none seen before in modern times. Crops are withering, lakes are running dry, fires are catching everywhere and yet, around every corner, I see manicured lawns. Vast expanses of nothing but healthy, beautiful, allergy inducing grass. It’s irresponsible, and harmful to our environment and economy. The 2013-14 rainfall season is on track to be the driest in 434 years, according to Lynn Ingram, a paleo-climatologist at UC Berkley. The concern generated by this drought brought together a group of emergency planners and water managers for an event known as the “California Drought Outlook Forum” on February, 20 2014 in Sacramento, California. They determined that the water outlook for the state was similar to the droughts in the 1970s. However, our water obligations have increased greatly in the following decades. Marty Hoering of the NOAA states, “The stress created by the current failed rains is more severe than for similar rainfall deficits 40 years earlier.” The central focus for this concern is the substantial agricultural business that California sustains, from avocados to almonds to pistachios, a number of crops are grown in California’s fertile central valleys. A recent report estimated that indirect and direct losses to agriculture would amount...
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...its arid and semi-arid environment, as well as prolonged and sometimes severe droughts. Drought is the prolonged and abnormal deficiency of moisture with the concomitant decline in runoff to a level significantly lower than usual (Guldin 1989). The history of droughts in Wyoming has been uncertain in the past, but recent studies of tree rings in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming have given insight to droughts as far back as 1260A.D. (Gray et al. 2004). Looking at tree ring records in Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) trees, Stephen Gray and his colleagues discovered that droughts which have been experienced in Wyoming since the 1750's, are weak in severity and length when compared to those since. The most severe drought period in Wyoming’s history occurred from 1262 to 1281. The droughts of the 1930’s and 1950’s, which have been used as benchmarks for all other droughts in the United States in recent times (Woodhouse et al. 2002), are ranked 149th and 28th respectively in comparison (Gray et al. 2004). The five top ranking droughts for 10, 15, and 20 year periods are all prior to the 1800’s, with the four driest single years being 1263, 1274, 1278, and 1280 (Gray et al. 2004). This indicates a change in precipitation patterns in the Big Horn Basin area of Wyoming since the 18th century, as all recent droughts have been mild when compared to those of Wyoming’s past. Droughts in Wyoming’s future are unpredictable and uncertain; however, Richard...
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...plants, houses, and artificial recreation areas. By people settling on this area they have used a large amount of resources the river offers. Some of the problems the creation of this plumbing system has cause is it has wreaked havoc on the river resulting in most of the native fish are endangered, that major bird migration stops are severely truncated and degraded, that some of the most spectacular scenery in the world is less spectacular, and that the national and world economies are at risk. One of the problems identified by the Colorado River Task Force is that the current usage of the Colorado Rivers unsustainable. The existing plumbing system is vulnerable to natural events, such as drought or earthquakes. Reconstructed histories of the region strongly suggest that prolonged droughts, several times longer than those experienced in the last 150 years, are real, although irregular, features of...
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...Drought Having an Affecting In discussion on the California Drought, one controversial issues has been that if the people in California should be worried about relocating somewhere else. One the one hand, the drought not only affecting the people, the animal’s habitats but also the crops. On the other hand, some hope that the government will intervene and try to do something to prevent disasters from happing and having to worry about people moving to another state. The government should intervene and do something about the consumption of water people use and not only are the people being victims but other sources who depend on water also to survive. Living on the Garcia Ranch Edgar is surrounded by Mother Nature is a wonderful lifestyle....
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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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...The first article was about the Butte fire which my whole project was originally based off. It tells you about how long and drastic the fire was. The fire was insanely fast and took out a lot of land. Also talks about how the Butte fire was one of the most severe fires of the dozen wildfires they had roaring throughout the state of California at the time. Talked about all the destruction that it did, “destroyed more than 750 homes and hundreds of other buildings.” This all had happened in less than the very first week of the Butte fire. Second fire that it went ahead and talked about was the Valley Fire which was the other major fire burning through northern California very fast and taking a lot down with it. It went ahead and burned all the...
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...John Steinbeck is a famous American author, best known for his book Of Mice and Men. On February 27th, 1902, John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was born in Salinas, California. As a teenager, fourteen years old, he decided to start writing stories and poems. Steinbeck enrolled into Stanford University in 1919. In 1925 he dropped out because he had no passion for school. Cup of Gold, was Steinbeck’s first official novel to be published. On October 1929, only two months after the publication, the U.S. stock market crashed, igniting the Great Depression. Steinbeck met his first wife, Carol Henning, around the same time he wrote his first novel. They then moved into a small cottage in Pacific Grove, California, where he completed much...
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...Devastating Water Shortage in California COMM/215 Essentials of College Writing 9/1/2014 Devastating Water Shortage in California Imagine lush green grass everywhere, trees full of life, birds singing, butterflies dancing, lovely flowers blooming year round, surfers headed to the beach to catch a wave, and the smell of fresh cut grass. Doesn’t this paint a perfect place? This is the view when you drive around Southern California. However, California is experiencing the biggest water drought in California's history contributing to severe water shortage. You surely wouldn't know this is happening if you came for a visit. It is time for the residents of California to take off their rose-colored glasses and see the seriousness of the water shortage. They need to educate themselves on how to conserve water and learn to apply some of the techniques into their daily lives. It is estimated that California residents will run out of water within the next twelve to eighteen months if no one takes action right now. California is in the third year of this devastating water drought, and there seems to be no weather related relief in sight. There are many time-consuming and costly solutions to fix this ongoing water shortage, but these solutions will take years. Building a new aqueduct, accessing new water resources, and converting saltwater to usable water will make an impact and help the water shortage further down the road. Farmlands...
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...Global Warming; it’s an occurrence unlike any other, one that can destroy the world. It’s already harming arctic creatures and their habitats, making other natural disasters more severe, and hurting people’s lives. Yet, sadly, thousands of people believe that it’s fake; that people made it up. Reliable sources like NASA, however, show that Climate Change is real, and that it’s a serious issue that can destroy us all. We have a duty to stop it quickly, or else human civilisation may be seriously harmed, or worse; obliterated. Since 1950, the ppm has risen drastically above the safe level (which is about 350). Currently, the ppm, according to NASA, is 405.25. In case you didn’t know, ‘Ppm’ is parts per million, which is the amount of carbon...
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...The society we live in today is depleting our water resources in a way that it is hard to restore the damage. Out of all the states in the U.S., California is in an extreme drought right now and it could get worse than it already is. There are a lot of inconsiderate people out there that waste gallons of water on unnecessary things that are contributing to the drought. Therefore, it is time that people are informed on how to take appropriate action towards not wasting valuable water. Water is an important substance for the everyday necessities for both human beings and animals. It is used for drinking, washing, and irrigating plants. In one single word, water is used for everything. There isn’t a single thing we do that does not require us to have contact with water. In this paper I demonstrate that water conservation is important because we are in a severe drought, and show that taking shorter showers, watering the lawn every other week, and fixing leakages can reduce water usage....
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