Letters to the Editor
-
Some Truths
San Francisco is not on solid bedrock. In my lifetime there will be a truely catastrophic earthquake in San Fran. Thousands of Americans will die. I'm even nervous when I visit San Fran. Sorry, but the odds are really good that a massize quake will rock that city to the ground.
Florida is going to get slammed by bigger and bigger hurricanes. In my lifetime there will be truely catastrophic hurricanes in Florida. Thousands of Floridians will die. I'm nervous that my grandma lives there. Sorry, but the odds are really good that a few massive hurricanes will wash that state into a new-orleans-like existance.
The southeast is going to run out of water. Sorry, but the odds are good.
American rivers will continue to flood. People living in the flood plains will lose their shirts.
Alright, you've been warned. Live where you want to.
-
water
No! Please. Do not send sun belters to the lakes states; we are contented here, living as we are in the misery of a blighted economy, seriously dystopic climate and funky people. Don't look for warm and fuzzies outside of El Paso, Santa Fe or Atlanta. I mean, we badgers are tenacious, have ugly dispositions and detest outsiders. We especially loathe outstaters who bid up the land prices in the Land O' Lakes, build million dollar homes and bomb around (in our lakes) like they own them. Stay home. Be gone. The Eagle River Chain of Lakes is already paved with timeshares. I used to fish there; it's become an aquatic slum.
-
Uh, I live here in Michigan...
I live in Michigan and the water isn't all that great here. Sure, you get a lot of it but the republicans and the Chamber of Commerce are seeing to it that the water quality is plummeting.
Major neighborhoods around Traverse City had to get 'city water' because the wells all went bad from the industrial wastes and the old military base at the airport.
That coupled with the number of rivers that are heavily polluted and the significant pollution in the bays (Grand Traverse and Saginaw) make Michigan look pretty sick.
Our governor, Jennifer Granholm (a moderate democrat) has thrown her lot in with Dow Chemical and other polluting corporations in spite of running on a strong environmental platform in the last election. Google 'Dow' and 'Tittabawassee River' sometime (and check out 'deep well injection' too). Jobs weigh more to her staff than the environment now.
Oh, and Lake Michigan levels have fallen to unheard of levels and people think that it's partly because of the Nestle (Ice Mountain) water plant on the west side of the lower peninsula. They are shipping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water out of there a day and the people have tried to stop it but it was a corporate giveaway from the John Engler administration (who almost rammed even more contamination down all of Michigan's throats and nearly killed the Department of Environmental Quality).
I really have a hard time looking at the ecological destruction that has occurred in this great lake state. So many people not able to use their wells anymore. But at least the corporations and their lobbyists are doing quite well.
Michigan isn't 'piping water south'. It's being hauled out in trucks and bottles.
The ecological destruction is noticeable and getting worse. I don't think our environment can take much more. I can't have kids play in my yard because it's contaminated. The city water here barely meets the state's standards and won an award for being the worst publicly available water in Michigan!
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence...
-
to Nulla Sallus - Paddle to the Sea
Dear Nulla,
I encourage you, and all readers, to read a prize winning childrens book called "Paddle to the Sea". You will learn, as I did at age 9, that you can get anywhere in the world by sea from the Great Lakes, how the Great Lakes were formed, and (hopefully) gain a greater appreciation for the Great Lakes.
Please see the St. Lawernce Seaway on a map. Duluth, MN, Marquette, MI, Green Bay Wi, Toledo, OH, Erie PA, etc. are all international ports.
Forever gratefully Smitten-by-the-Mitten.
-
No Wis
I used to have a house in Northern Wisconsin, right on a lake. The water was beautiful, and we waited in vain for global warming to make the winter go away. Then we realized that while we could end up warmer, we would never end up with more light in the winter. So we moved to California, to a spot that has had and continues to have a fair amount of water (seven inches this weekend alone). My current plan, should I have to evacuate, is Eureka!
-
Water and coal
Taking the coal out of West Virginia isn't doing that state or the nation's water any favors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining#Criticism
West Virginia also has lots of water, but few jobs. I'm a native West Virginian who'd like live there, but instead I water my lawn in Boulder, CO -- while my relatives dig the coal out of the ground back home.
Good article. I hope the demographic shift McClelland advocates happens.
-
Hey, I'm Canadian ...the lakes are losing water too !
Hey Lake Superior is losing water at a fast enough rate to worry residents who have to walk out now to get to their boat ! Don't say it ain't happening in Canada. Drought is definietly happening in Toronto. I know I travel their 4 times a year to visit relatives and the grass ain't green !!!!!!
-
-Anonymous
Right but try to get all your cargo through the St. Lawrence all of the time, for everything under all circumstances.
-
Solving America's Water Prooblems
If it were only residential use that would be fine. If you take ethanol or liquid coal production all water savings go away; especially in the arid western states of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and New Mexico.
-
Still Backwards
"We need more fresh water" is better stated, "We have too many people for this amount of fresh water." Water shortages are one of the many ways overpopulation expresses itself.
I was disappointed the article and other letters mistake overpopulation for an array of smaller problems, ignoring this very core cause of the array. Growth, ironically called progress, is vital to our economy, businesses, political institutions and religious organizations but it is not sustainable as we are doing it. So, we should expect to start running out of basic things, both nationally and globally.
America is growing as fast as some 3rd world countries and we may have exceeded our nations carrying capacity. If everyone short of water moves back here to Michigan, I'll move out to the desert to get away from the crowding.
-Hermit