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Show THE ZEPHYR/\JUNE-JULY 2008 : de ae A eg ere The Readers Respond... A GLOOMY BUT REALISTIC VISION Jim, In my big and expanding stack of books there’s stuff by Noam Chomsky - Howard Zinn — Derrick Jensen — Ed Abbey. Writers who tell the truth about what's gone down, what's going on and where it’s likely going to take us. I've come around to the belief that humans are not as “evolved” much less enlightened a species as we would like to believe. Humans are still just critters with very basic, immutable instincts about power, reproduction, territory, domination and other natural traits. It is, still and evermore, a cold cruel world. It’s just that no other animal species, until ours, has had any success in defying every natural law that has protected and preserved our fragile planet - until now. Geologic time continues to tick on, regardless of our egocentric constructs. : Nothing can save us. We will ruin the planet through greed, overpopulation, war, environmental catastrophe or some other hubris based f***-up. Fancy new light bulbs are anice gesture, but without a fundamental, forward-looking sea change in the way we live, you really might as well just party on like it’s 1999 - or maybe 2012. Apologize to the grandkids by leaving them some grotesquely over-valued real estate. They’Il have to raze that 4th home to grow potatoes, but hey, accumulating unearned income was always fraught with worry about “the markets.” (We sacrificed for you — we bought a Prius!) The species may remain viable (maybe the Basques), but the next four-or-five generations of Americans will look upon the “BOOMERS” with regret, shame and disgust as every myth they have been led to believe about the American dream crumbles into the dust and toxic residue of 100 trillion smart phones.: It'd be kind of cool to see the melt-down play out in a potentially self-sufficient place like Moab. Here, we would at least be an opportunity to blow up the bridges and re-think everything. Steve Russell Moab, UT - his family, riding in his pickup around his land and sitting at his kitchen table chatting. I'm glad to see Cecil is still ranching, but sorry to see that he has to (again) spend time defending his land from more government intrusion. A good issue. Thankee. Ken Rand Salt Lake City MORE BAD NEWS Tenjoyed your observations about the water power-plays now taking place in the Southwest. What we are seeing are the opening salvos of the water wars. Soon enough though a perfect storm of population growth and climate change will easily blow away the fog that has filled the heads of water consumers and managers from El Paso to Winnemucca. Water consumers need to come to grips with the facts and try to pull their heads out of(ahem...) the sand. _As an anecdotal example, a while back I spoke with someone who lives in Phoenix. We discussed Xeriscaping, and I mentioned that people in Utah need to recognize that they live in a desert, and to prepare for the future, when water will be more scarce and much more expensive. His reply was that he was “working hard on getting his lawn nice and green.” To say I was surprised is an understatement. Who knows how many gallons of precious water and pounds of toxic chemicals, all for a status symbol better suited to Kentucky than Kanab. This pervasive attitude of indifference, and non-accountability for the usage of a finite and delicate resource is what is allowing the Pat Mulroy’s of the world to execute their finely honed PR skills in the pursuit of unbridled “growth”. And we remember what Cactus Ed said about growth, don’t we? Las Vegas and Phoenix are two of the fastest growing metro areas in North America, and only because they have had ready access to stored water from the Colorado river basin. They’re influence on how the Colorado will be used is large, but let us not forget Southern California, who still has claim to much of that water. To add to the puzzle, the WE NEED INVENTORS Dear Jim I was in Arizona last month, the price of petrol (to use the more precise international term) is about the same as here in Anchorage. Gett out of town in rural Alaska it really goes up, to several times what it is in town in some places. Out in the bush people are dependent on petrol fueled transportation appliances, just like we are in town with the added bonus of a low cash economy and much higher fuel prices. Functionally (here in Alaska anyway) what you are starting to see is people moving back to town and leaving the bush, and even the outlaying suburbs. People in town are starting to reassess those larger vehicles and long drives home in the direction of living close to work and a small rig. There is no need to legislate this, economics will take care of it handily and quickly. The price of fuel will continue to go up rather than down. What really needs to be done is to invent and produce a compliant vehicle that costs a few thousand dollars, and gets about 100 miles / gallon . There needs to be some regula- tory slack on the inventors out there to allow them to develop these devices so we can continue to cruise around in the future. Call them enhanced motorcycles. There will be a time in the near future that the use of a full sized vehicle will have a mission attached to it rather than a casual drive. _ populations of the upper basin states are all scheduled to at least double in the next 50 years if not sooner. Lets just stop and think about that. Think about the Wasatch Front with AT LEAST twice as many people. Think about Grand Junction, the Uintah Basin cities, Price, Moab and Washington county with AT LEAST twice as many people. I cringe at the thought. And what about Denver, who is not part of the Colorado river basin? They are already trying to figure out how to get western slope water that should end up in the Colorado river. The Wasatch Front wants to divert the Bear River; Washington county wants a pipeline from Lake Powell. Madness? Most assuradely; yet the wasteful lifestyle status quo, similar to our addiction to fossil fuels, leads us down no other path... So, whether climate change happens or not, the population increase alone will drastically alter water availability. But, lets say the predictions of the Scripps Institute and others play out. Already, climate change models show a drier and hotter West in the years to come. With less snowpack, and earlier spring melts, the only way to catch the precipitation will be more dams, more pumping of aquifers, more canals, which will only exaggerate stresses to the environment, in addition to the stresses added by the growing human population. Science, as well as the ancient knowledge of indigenous Americans shows us that damage to our environment also damages us. This ain’t rocket science... Recently I read an editorial in the online version of the Uintah Basin Standard. The article was authored by “guest”, and titled “Unity needed over water issues”. Unity indeed. Three paragraphs into it I was struck at the ignorance of current hydrological realities. Here are some bits from the editorial: Bob White Anchorage, AK “For the Uintah Basin to play its part, people here need to support higher Green River water allocations from state officials and the building of new dams and massive pumping projects to use that water.” A CECIL GARLAND ADMIRER Jim, Enjoyed the latest issue, as ever, but particularly the article by Cecil Garland. I knew Cecil in the late 1980s and early 1990s when I worked for Sue Dutson at the Millard County Chronicle Progress in Delta. Sue took editorial exception to the Air Force’s proposed Later in the editorial, “guest” suggests pumping water from Flaming Gorge, over the Uintahs into the upper Uintah river. “Guest” also points out that “state water officials are contemplating taking back 99,000 acre feet of allocated Green River water from our ECTC (Electronic Combat Test Capability), which would have been a vast intrusion into the West Desert, almsot as bold as the MX. (Cecil and Sue also fought that battle.) Sue introduced me to Cecil and I spent a number of days and nights in Calleo with Cecil and region that is wanted downstream, particularly by the booming St. George area.” continues on next page... ANOTHER FAKE ENDORSEMENT: LEO TOLSTOY author of “WAR WHIPPLE & PEACE” PLUMBING & els baie Servng Moab & Monticello since h So I see | FRESH SMOOTHIES/JUICES WRAP SANDWICHES ORGANIC ESPRESSO MOAB: 20 S MAIN ST MONTICELLO: 516 N MAIN "PEACE TREE." Where is PLUMBING HEATING YARD IRRIGATION SYSTEMS | “WAR TREE??772" MOAB: 259.6997 MONTICELLO: 587.2864 you |
