Waterworks

While we all should enjoy the first significant rainfall since September (possibly even longer than that), two or three inches of rain is hardly enough to provide much relief from the current drought in the Southeast.  According to the National Weather Service, the recent downpours are hardly enough to make up for months worth of no precipitation.  It is going to take much more than scattered showers over the next few days to end the drought's tight grip over the region.  Residents would be imprudent if they were to think they could ease up on their current levels of water conservation. 

On a broader note, we should also take a step back and try to look at how we and some of our neighbors have handled the current situation aside from the standard requests for assistance to farmers, etc.

Part of the current mess we're in has been an issue of being in a state of denial.  There was an interesting article on Wednesday in the News & Observer by Ruth Sheehan.  In it, she outlines North Carolina's response to the drought:

1)  Ignore it.

2)  Ignore it some more.

3)  Governor boldly demands: Turn off the water when brushing your teeth!  Save a gallon a day!

4)  Less than a week later, governor calls on North Carolinians to cut personal water use in half.

This terrible drought in the Southeast has truly highlighted what happens when narrow-minded self-interests takes center stage over rational decision-making with regards to society's interaction with its surroundings. 

Prior to declaring a state of emergency in 85 counties, the state of Georgia only recently began serious water conservation and distribution measures.  Instead of directly facing the issue head-on, southern states have squabbled over water distribution and where to place the blame in providing water for a rapidly growing and developing region.  This attitude of selfishness exists in more places than in just the legislatures.  Part of a front-page article in Tuesday's New York Times featured a story about Stone Mountain Park which on October 1^st, began to manufacture snow as a theme park attraction before they realized that they were in the middle of a Level 4 drought and thought better of it. 

On Tuesday, in a similar display of shortsighted obtuseness, the John Locke Foundation and Sen. Robert Pittenger held a press conference and essentially called Global Warming a hoax.  This is the kind of ignorance that has caused such widespread inaction on environmental issues (and as a result, businesses, roads, homes, and pretty much anyone who consumes water and breathes air suffer).

The issue at hand is not simply a year-old drought with no end in sight.  It has to do with how our society interacts with our planet in all forms.  Humanity has been notoriously bad at properly assessing its role within its own ecosystem.  Constantly focusing attention on how the economy will be affected does nothing but distract from the real issue.  This, and life in general, are about more than just money.  We as a society have an obligation to seriously consider our impact on this planet.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote "The Good Earth – we could have saved it, but we were too damn cheap and lazy."  I think the Right would stand with me when I say I desperately I have no wish to prove Vonnegut a prophet.