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America Might Soon Witness A Second Dust Bowl-Like Migration
BI - The Corner Side Yard ^ | 7-27-2014 | Pete Saunders

Posted on 07/27/2014 8:36:23 PM PDT by blam

Pete Saunders, The Corner Side Yard
July 27, 2014

drought monitor UNL

Debates still persist about the impact of climate change, but from my perspective, the early results are in. We are now reaching the point where cities, metro areas and states will have to consider taking bold and assertive measures to even maintain their current quality of life levels. And we are also reaching the point at which alternate futures for our cities must be considered.

That future could very well mean fewer people in the dry West and coastal areas of the East and South, and more people in the comparatively water-rich Midwest. And if you're looking for a historical analogy that could illustrate the change, look no further than the 1930s-era Dust Bowl.

East of the Rockies, and particularly here in the Midwest, the summer has been cool and wet. Meanwhile, all of California has been suffering from severe to exceptional drought conditions, with the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma not far behind. Texas was certainly in the drought bullseye last year, and while conditions have improved the state is not out of the woods yet.

Is this a harbinger of things to come? It's probably safe to say that exceptional drought conditions won't stay in California forever, just as conditions have eased in Texas this year. But the persistence of conditions conducive to drought may turn water into an increasing dwindling resource, rather than a renewable one, over time.

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: climate; drought; farming; migration
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1 posted on 07/27/2014 8:36:23 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
We're not worried. We have Colorado River water:


2 posted on 07/27/2014 8:46:04 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Conservatism is the political disposition of grown-ups.)
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To: blam
I've got it. Move everyone currently in Detroit to LA, and everyone currently in LA to Detroit. People in LA can pay their water bills, but they don't have any water. If they were in Detroit, they would have water.

On the other hand, people in Detroit have an abundance of water, but they don't pay their bills. So move them to LA. They still won't pay, but there isn't any water anyway.

3 posted on 07/27/2014 8:46:23 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: blam
The Southwest had a serious drought of ten years through the '40's, and more, and no one even remembers. These people trade in drivel.
4 posted on 07/27/2014 8:47:33 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: blam
"progress" in our culture means chopping down more trees to make room for strip malls or new expansive housing developements...

I'm all for people having choices but the deforestation has got to be having an impact on the ability of the ground to hold water....

5 posted on 07/27/2014 8:47:45 PM PDT by cherry
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To: blam

Right where the illegals are invading.


6 posted on 07/27/2014 8:48:20 PM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: blam

In the 1930’s, 25% of US population was in agriculture, and many of those were poor, small share-croppers. One or two bad crops due to a dust-bowl meant they were bankrupt - and the Okies were quickly on the way to California and the NW.

The US population now involved in farming is between 1-2%. We’ve already turned the desert into huge population centers.

The notion of another “dust bowl migration” is a nonsense idea.


7 posted on 07/27/2014 8:56:42 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: PGR88

I think he is talking about all the people in California who will have to move as no water to drink.


8 posted on 07/27/2014 9:05:49 PM PDT by oldasrocks (They should lock all of you up and only let out us properly medicated people.)
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To: oldasrocks

Maybe they’ll move back to Mexico. /sarc


9 posted on 07/27/2014 9:13:10 PM PDT by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: cherry

What deforestation?


10 posted on 07/27/2014 9:13:18 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Conservatism is the political disposition of grown-ups.)
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To: Jeff Chandler; cherry

What deforestation?


Don’t worry, it’s in Al Gore’s computer models.


11 posted on 07/27/2014 9:15:59 PM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: blam
Second Dust Bowl migration? My grandfather migrated from his home in Nebraska to western Colorado during the dust bowl in the region that began to form in 1890. There was a song popular at that time that was sung to the tune of the hymn "Beulah Land":
Nebraska land, Nebraska land,
Upon thy burning soil I stand.
I look away across the plains
And wonder why it never rains;
I look away across the plains
And wonder why it never rains.

12 posted on 07/27/2014 9:22:29 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: blam

‘Instant water’: just add ...
It’s tasty too!


13 posted on 07/27/2014 9:26:14 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: blam

The Drought Monitor is a complete crock of shiite. It is not dry in places where they say it is.


14 posted on 07/27/2014 9:30:10 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead...)
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To: cherry

There is no deforestation in the US. We have more trees now than a hundred years ago and it’s been trending that way for 30 or 40 years.


15 posted on 07/27/2014 9:34:17 PM PDT by Valpal1 (If the police can t solve a problem with violence, they ll find a way to fix it with brute force)
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To: cherry

Not so. There are actually more acres of forest in the US now than when Columbus landed. The giant lumber companies long ago figured out that they really and truly DID have a “renewable resource”...but only if they themselves managed same. And they have largely and efficiently done so. Forestry and forest management as practiced by the Weyerhausers and Georgia Pacifics of the world, where the BLM isn’t getting in the way, is a pretty sophisticated science at this point. The lumber companies are eager replanters of what they cut and in general are very sophisticated managers of their bread & butter. Just like all forms of modern agriculture, they spend plenty on satellite assessment and finding disease and insect resistant strains of trees, etc; etc;

It may be entirely so that “the southwest” which we all know, both from real data and from anecdote has been the center of US population growth as the formerly dense industrial areas of the midwest have sort of emptied out, has in all respects overtaxed its water potential. And it may be that this overtaxing has been “irresponsible” and “excessive”...we know that most large-scale things in the US have happened on that sort of basis. When will you see that? In times of severe drought, of course. That much, we certainly have. Whether it’s a “global warming” kind of “tipping point” or just a run of bad years, I don’t know. It’s absolutely the most typical thing in the world that when “man” has an excess of *anything* in the world of commodities, he takes no moves to save for the lean times; when prices are high, farmers overplant corn, which leads to corn prices getting smashed. (This happens to be occurring right now in corn and IMO is a profound investment opportunity-—but that’s another topic)

But from deforestation, no. I suspect (but do not know authoritatively) that the entire SW region is overdependent upon the single source of the Colorado River.


16 posted on 07/27/2014 9:39:04 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (At no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing)
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To: blam

From the original article” “I’m no scientist, and certainly no climate expert.”

Right. This article is a load of cr*p.

Here in CA, if the wackados that run the state government were not flushing water in the rivers to save the endangered snail darter, there would be enough water to go around. They also have not built any dams or reservoirs for decades.

The idiots on the coasts that control the state are all for the farmers and people in the central valley to use less water. That is until they run out of their organic arugula. Moonbeam called a water emergency and said people should conserve. But LA and Frisco have only dropped water usage a few percent or even used more water.


17 posted on 07/27/2014 9:40:10 PM PDT by fifedom
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To: Valpal1

It’s not so much numerical but location wise. Some areas, we’ve torn down all the trees while others are growing over with them. Cities are really bad for the regional environment when you get down to water management.


18 posted on 07/27/2014 9:42:49 PM PDT by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: blam
And yet the Palmer Drought Index tells a different tale.
19 posted on 07/27/2014 9:43:05 PM PDT by Valpal1 (If the police can t solve a problem with violence, they ll find a way to fix it with brute force)
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To: Vince Ferrer

The water thing in Detroit is about ‘free-stuff’, not water.


20 posted on 07/27/2014 9:43:42 PM PDT by blam (Jeff Sessions For President)
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