Ramble: Well, You Can't in the Snow But You Can in A Blog Post...

Rambling is difficult without all-wheel drive in these mountains. They call it a La Niña winter here and last year was unusual, too, with higher than normal snowfall.  So driving about in Northern New Mexico has some challenges.  My ramble for ideas today slides all over the place today, just like my Mini does in snow and ice.

The American Southwest has been in a protracted drought for nearly a decade, with sinking water levels in lakes and rivers and decreasing snowpack in the mountains. Our area is an anomaly with snow this year but the timing of the snowmelt is crucial for water supplies.  A scientist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, says that Lake Mead, which supplies water to 22 million people throughout the region, could be bone dry in just 13 years, impacting 30 million people, including everyone in Southern California.  What happens when resources become scarce? In 2006 U.S. farmland devoted to bio-fuels crops increased by 48%. None of the land was replaced for food crop cultivation.  Tax subsidies make ethanol fuel production profitable.  I noticed this on my recent cross-country drives as we moved permanently from the East Coast to the Southwest.  Since 2001 amount of maize to produce bio-ethanol in USA has risen 300%.  I pay attention to the farm bill, the huge beef recall this week... Have we reached the end of the era of cheap food as food reserves are disappearing?  On Global Warming and the media, a good article on how this is not well covered in the media and why "flaky skeptics" get so much coverage in the U.S. media was revealing. It is women who are more concerned about these environmental issues.  Rhea wrote about climate change.  Some write about eco-depression... the sadness of seeing a polluted world with sad future prospects and the helpless/hopelessness some feel about it.  Perhaps this will be a new DMV diagnosis.

Have we reached the end of consumption?  I've witnessed Santa Fe struggle with the downturn in the economy and consumer spending cut-back which has hit at the same time implementation of a higher minimum wage has gone into effect. Some people, though, are just opting out: "Our physical, intellectual and emotional and psychological space is filled up with consumption" and some are opting out completely, choosing to work less and consume less and retail vacancies are soaring. "Working 60 hours per week and chasing job promotion 'for the sake of buying the latest crap off the Sharper Image store shelf is no way to live,' says Adam Weissman, spokesman for Freegan.info. e-commerce is growing at 20% per year, and brick and mortar stores are suffering - supply is up and stores are cutting back outlets.  An article on how consumption is a better guide to economic prosperity is interesting about how 80% of households have cellphones, most all have microwaves, tvs, washing machines, refrigerators, cars and airconditioners. In 2006, an astonishing 227 million prescriptions for antidepressants were dispensed in the United States -- up 30 million from 2002. Altogether the United States accounts for about two-thirds of the global market for antidepressants.  Stuff, stuff, stuff.  Now it is all about how to get rid of the stuff. 

A depression-era saying comes to mind:  use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.  Hmmmm. 

The sinews of war are infinite money, said Cicero. The United States of America is the largest manufacturer of cluster bombs. This weaponry maims and kills thousands of innocent human beings globally each year but reaps huge profits for the defense industry and, well... money influences. My daughter works on landmine issues, hence my awareness. Hillary voted against Amendment 4882 which would have banned the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas.  Obama voted for the amendment. Russia, China and some other powers are also opposed to banning the weapon. The latest figure I saw was Bush seeking $70 billion more from Congress to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 fiscal year. Administration requests for war spending could bring the total cost of Iraq's war above $611 billion. A new book, The Three Trillion Dollar War,  by a Harvard professor and a Nobel Prize winner in economics claims the true cost of war couuld be as high as $3 trillion. War is good for the economy. Right? I'd like to see the candidates be financially transparent and so would others.  Then this made me wonder: According to opensecrets.org, the top three contributors to Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s campaign are from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force respectively. Additionally, Ron Paul’s military contributions are greater than those of all other current candidates – John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama –combined.

Winter Cheers...
 

Comments

[janeywan]

I love when your write about water issues. This is something I try to educate people about. I see people wasting it everywhere, letting it run down the drain, over watering their grass etc. My lectures typically fall on deaf ears. I've had very intelligent people tell me "Oh they will find a way to purify ocean water and we have plenty of that". I could smack em!

I sometimes look at our stuff and it almost brings me to tears, then I look at other peoples stuff, that I will have to deal with as well, namely my folks. Yes... I take antidepressants just to get me through another day.

Health care is on my mind a lot lately as well. My life saving remicade went from $35 to $300 per infusion, in 2008. I certainly hope we elect a president that will make health care a priority. I always say if it hasn't effected you yet, it will. It will touch someone you know and love.

Sorry that you can easily comment on my site. If it's easier you have my email, right? Kirk left a comment for you on my site if you missed it.

[Panhandle Poet]

Most of the crops that go to ethanol production are feed crops -- not food crops. During ethanol production there are co-products produced which are excellent animal feed called distiller's grains. The primary factors driving food prices worldwide are energy costs, shortages due to drought in certain parts of the world -- like Australia, and increased demand due to growing economies in places like China and India. Yes ethanol production has some secondary impact due to land-use patterns, but it has received a lot of blame for rising food prices that really should not be attributed to it.

[Old Horsetail Snake]

Well,golly, Ron has got to get his money from SOMEWHERE.

[Hattie]

I wish I could send you some of our Hilo rain. We got more than 30 inches in three days, which was a tad more than we needed.
Very good posting, as usual. Have you read Didion on water and the west? As a newcomer, you may not know that water has always been the main issue in those parts; there has never been enough of it. Years may go by when there is not a drop of rain in parts of the West, as happened in California not that long ago.