Letters to the Editor
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I live in CT
and I like the cold weather. I think our climate is fairly moderate. Maybe a week of sub-zero weather a year; 5 or 6 small snow storms a year; a blizzard every 5 years.
I blame the hate of the cold on the news - the weather talk about how awful it is.
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Plenty of water in the West, but more politics than anything
Each and every time we have a dry year, the prognosticators in California are sure it will last, and it never does. Our source of water has been consistently ample, the snowpack in the Sierras, and the Colorado River. The problem in California is that the agricultural interests get first interest, and they sell what they don't need to the coastal municipal districts. This also creates a sitution in which the central part of California, where most of the growing is done, is technically water wealthy. That encourages urban sprawl.
Claims that California is going to dry up and blow away are false. The decimated Owens Valley is coming back, after LA stole their water nearly a hundred years ago, and Mono Lake is returning to life. Of course one of the secrets of water management is that each time a new subdivision goes in one of these areas, prime farmland is covered over. Agriculture uses more water than the homes which replace it. The secret to making it all work, is fruits and vegetables imported from foreign countries, but how long can that last? Meanwhile it's a cheap way of getting their water...
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Living in Ohio
I love cold weather: snow skiing, ice skating, etc. It's invigorating, wonderful to be out in the cold. Anything above 78 F is too hot for me. I hate hot weather! The one thing I'm really bummed about is the lack of snowfall the last 15 years.
No, we won't have our wonderful Great Lakes drained for whiny southerners. Never. And besides, yes, as one poster noted, Canada won't go for that.
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The thing about cold, cloudy weather is
that it makes you appreciate nice, sunny days. The Great Lakes are these magnificent, inland oceans of fresh water. Lake Superior is the size of Maine and has its own 3 inch tide. To ruin that, for what?
However, the area will need to clean up after the industrial age before it can be serious about restoring its prosperity...
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Don't Come, Just Send Your Money
Snotty smart-alecks from fancy places assume that it is possible to see across Lake Michigan. Then, when they actually see Lake Michigan, they get mad as hell, and demand to know where the other side is, and yell at me for being some hick who grew up here.
I do not want these lovely coastal folks and their desert pals and their Confederate friends to discover that Grand Haven, Michigan, is tied with Manhattan, NYC, for the best place to live in the USA, with Grand Haven taking the championship because it costs a quarter as much to live here, compared with NYC.
Sweaty Desert Folks: Start businesses in Michigan, and provide jobs, but stay in your dried-out places/cultures. We will mail you bottles of water every holiday season, and assure you that the dead old desert and the snotty old coasts and the poison old South are much better than this benighted flyover area.
And, please look at a map. Michigan is the only American state identifiable from space. God did that on purpose.
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Sunbelters and water
I thought Edward McClelland's take on the current water crisis was fairly reasoned and pretty accurate (I live in Atlanta, work in the media, and have helped produce reports on the state's water situation for more than 20 years).
There's no doubt that overpopulation and rampant growth are prime factors in the escalating water shortage.
So should some of our neighbors return to Cleveland or Detroit or Buffalo? Why not! Is life better there than here? The fact that they all moved south seems to answer that question. But the sunshine and good jobs alone don't keep them here.
McClelland's final couple of paragraphs veered off into unnecessary cultural stereotypes and crippled his thesis. If he thinks there aren't as many yokels in upstate Michigan or downstate Illinois or western New York as there are flocking to Myrtle Beach...well, he needs to get out more often (and nobody has ever been hit by falling concrete at Turner Field).
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Well, Golly Gee Whiz
So Bill Richardson thinks the Northeast states are going to pipe water to the South, Southwest AND West? Proof positive that our politicians are insane and we are insane to take this kind of drivel seriously. What did Richardson propose as a trade-off for the water? Comps in Vegas? Discount Disney passes?
Listen, I am not gloating over the problems of water shortages. It is a serious problem. I live in Ohio and we've had a couple of droughts that have caused some serious concern. And as the article states, even the great Great Lakes (I also happened to grow up in the UP of Michigan) are showing some signs of weakness.
So let's stop the crazy talk about making the U.S. into a giant water-sharing pre-school. Ain't gonna happen. And I don't think there is necessarily going to be a U-turn in migration for people who have already migrated. As one poster pointed out, home is home despite the disadvantages. My idea of a living hell is having to live in Florida (for me anything above 70 is oppressive), but thank whatever for people who want to stay there and solve its problems. I'm sure there are also people who would not move to Ohio on a bet, no matter how much water we have, but the awareness of water shortages might give pause to people who are thinking of leaving.
The article made another interesting point. The great culture centers that we grew up with are not neccessarily great anymore. I lived in New York in the 70s and it WAS a great experience, but if the blogs are correct and the NYT are correct it seems New York is just a city with more Starbucks and a lot of culture that no one can afford. Same with California. The rich also don't seem to appreciate great thought or culture either, they just conspicuously consume more, with the great unwashed humiliating themselves for the crumbs in the club parking lots. Not appealing. I'd rather stay in the midwest. We have Starbucks, Disney stores, Jazz festivals, concerts, theatre, ballet, and independent coffee shops here too. And I hear that with that there internet you can actually order neat stuff that might not be in a store near you. Oh, and them flicker pictures are here too. You can even see them there indie films at the college here.