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China's miracle in the desert is drying up
NYT ^ | 05/27/05 | Jim Yardley

Posted on 05/28/2005 5:56:03 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

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To: moog

Things like rivers and lakes are bound to dry up after an ice age recedes. Don't worry, they will come back again after the next cold spell comes and goes.


41 posted on 05/28/2005 11:35:36 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Lockbar

"Is this like the Russian lake that disappeared a couple of weeks ago? Many of the local people there say we did it, the lake was stolen by the United States. . . ."

It wasn't stolen by the United States. It was stole by the props department of Pinewood Studios for the next James Bond picture. They're Brits.


42 posted on 05/28/2005 11:37:00 AM PDT by righttackle44 (The most dangerous weapon in the world is a Marine with his rifle and the American people behind him)
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To: Nathan Zachary

Actually, the Aral Sea's decline is mostly because of water use.


43 posted on 05/28/2005 11:48:50 AM PDT by moog
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To: hinckley buzzard
But, but, but, communism is so, like wonderful man. Where all the people live in perfect harmony with the state and mother earth and, and, free from the evil of capitalism...

{Working on my DNC chairman resume}

44 posted on 05/28/2005 12:18:27 PM PDT by labette (to hit the ball and touch em all, a moment in the sun.)
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To: labard1

I don't know about you, but I like to eat----rice. And, I like to wear clothes----cotton.


45 posted on 05/28/2005 12:32:00 PM PDT by Parmy
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Just a item of interest. The most densly populated place on earth is not Hong Kong, per square mile. It is Mahatten.


46 posted on 05/28/2005 12:34:10 PM PDT by Parmy
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To: Parmy
Re #46

That is why those in Manhattan are insane.:-)

47 posted on 05/28/2005 12:44:39 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: Lazamataz
Preferably, with chainsaws.

Ecologically friendly wind or solar powered chainsaws.

48 posted on 05/28/2005 12:49:12 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Such a density will turn many into psychos, while a majority of them will become neurotic. Having private living space would be next to impossible.

When lab rats were kept at such a density, they invented tiny woodchippers and started feeding one another into them.

49 posted on 05/28/2005 12:56:51 PM PDT by Lazamataz (The Republican Party is the France of politics.)
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To: Parmy
I don't know about you, but I like to eat----rice. And, I like to wear clothes----cotton.

I don't know about you, but I like to eat----clothes. And, I like to wear----rice.

50 posted on 05/28/2005 12:58:30 PM PDT by Lazamataz (The Republican Party is the France of politics.)
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To: ClaireSolt

Reclaiming deserts by planting trees is so obviously the answer, I have to conclude that the powers that be do not wish to improve the environment by natural means. Google Megaflora Trees.


51 posted on 05/28/2005 1:18:09 PM PDT by WVNan
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To: Parmy
"I don't know about you, but I like to eat----rice. And, I like to wear clothes----cotton."

Wouldn't it make more sense to grow rice in wet climes where the water is not scarce as it is in the California desert? Likewise, with cotton? Or should we always grow stuff where we can use up resources which are more valuable in other uses? My point is that neither rice nor cotton would be grown in California if it were not for subsidized government water, which cannot be diverted to other uses because of political limitations.
52 posted on 05/28/2005 4:36:27 PM PDT by labard1
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To: Amos the Prophet
Factoid: 1/2, 50% of the fresh water on earth is in use.
53 posted on 05/28/2005 4:40:49 PM PDT by RightWhale (These problems would not exist if we had had a moon base all along)
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To: labard1
It's worse, while they grow cotton and rice in the desert they pay GA farmers not to grow rice.

Still farmers have water rights for agricultural uses, that is a property. However they cannot just transfer these rights (that's just not the way water rights work). If they give up their rights the next person in chronological order (of establishing the water right) gets the water. Not S. Cal. Political BS may override law here and LA my get some ag water. In each case what is happening is that the rightfull next holder in coarse is being robbed of his water right, to allow a farmer to sell his non-transferable water right.

The odds of any S Cal city establishing a new dry season water right in N Cal is zero. You would need to build a canal to bypass the sacramento river delta. N Cal knows exactly what that means, it will not happen. We need what we have to support our own growth. N Cal is semi-arid. S Cal is a stinking desert. No lawns for you, learn to like desert flora.

54 posted on 05/28/2005 4:55:14 PM PDT by Dinsdale
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To: Dinsdale

You make an excellent point about the importance of getting the definition of property rights made in a sensible way. Originally the US rule on petroleum was that whoever brought oil to the surface owned it. It took a while to figure out that ownership in the ground led to more efficient exploitation of the resource. Water rights are similar, but we never fixed it.

The old saw is still true: whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.


55 posted on 05/28/2005 5:33:18 PM PDT by labard1
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To: WVNan

I did Google megaflora, but am not at all sure what I should find there. Israel is reforesting one tree at a time, and I was struck by the need for such projects when I watched coverage on Iraq and Afghanistan. Here in Florida, environmentalists are erradicating trees planted to drain swamps as invasive and using too much water. Its a boondoggle imho.


56 posted on 05/28/2005 5:36:27 PM PDT by ClaireSolt (.)
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To: labard1

Or should we always grow stuff where we can use up resources which are more valuable in other uses?

What are the other more valuable uses for water than to enhance life? Name two.

Water resources were subsidized because at that time the people who thought up these schemes (considered useless by some) had gone through crop failures and hard times. They sponsored and developed these programs so that future generations wouldn't have to experience famine and hard times.

When you next go to your local supermarket, count the number of food items in just the produce department. I can remember 50 years ago when the produce department might consist of just potatoes, hothouse tomatoes and some onions.

I like the subsidized water that allows me to pick through today's abundance so I can choose to eat well.

Thank you.


57 posted on 05/29/2005 7:49:36 PM PDT by Parmy
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To: TigerLikesRooster; abbi_normal_2; Ace2U; adam_az; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; alphadog; AMDG&BVMH; ...
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

List of Ping lists

58 posted on 05/29/2005 7:52:54 PM PDT by farmfriend (Down with the sickness -Disturbed)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Haven't these people learned how to build a grocery store?

We have lots of grain and meat that we could ship them in exchange for all the junk they send us.


59 posted on 05/29/2005 7:58:23 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Now I'm really confused.

On one hand, Bush has created global warming whereas everything is drying up.

On the other hand, Bush's global warming is going to melt the ice on the poles and rise the ocean to the point where all coastal cities in the world will be covered with water.

I sure wish GW would come out and tell us the truth...


60 posted on 05/29/2005 8:00:32 PM PDT by CommandoFrank (Peer into the depths of hell and you will find the face of Islam...)
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