Drought

Nearly every day there is a new alarmist warning that California is dying! One can of course easily predict what comes next. We are to blame! It is, of course, clearly, according to this and that statistic, another example of climate change. Wait, a drought is an example of climate change? Yes, but see, you missed the point that this drought is our fault. Please accept the guilt that comes with these sounds of alarm. We live in odd times. We don't blame people for things that are clearly the result of the actions of people and we do blame people for things that are not clearly the result of the actions of people.

More specifically, this drought is the fault of the greedy almond farmers. No, it is the fault of the greedy dairy famers.

The rich in general are to blame for a drought, which is obvious when you think about it. If rich people didn't want so much Filet Mignon and cheese, then clearly we wouldn't have this problem. If the spoiled classists of America's one percent didn't have such massive lawns, then we could save some water for a tender cherry tomato plant for every poor family in inner city LA.

As in all of human experience, trials provide an experiment in human nature. We quickly learn a few things about ourselves in crisis moments. Here is what we are learning now about Californians:

1. Californians seem to have general agreement that the central moral imperative is the protection of the planet.

I think it is fairly safe to say that a precious few Californians are skeptical about man made climate change. Most Californians take it for granted that if there is a climatic event, then one can trace it to some form of human greed and exploitation of the planet. We are the parasites on earth, and we are the ones upsetting its balance, and sometimes it fights back.

Now I don't understand why Californians don't do the reductio of this thought. If it is true that we are causing homeostatic imbalance, then whatever nature does to "punish" us for this is purely natural and acceptable. In other words, if evolutionary forces see to it that other creatures are adapted to warmer environs and human beings die off or are miserable, then so be it. It is not like nature cares. Nature will be nature.

Or if we caused a drought, then we deserve a drought. Perhaps we can learn from nature's karmic jeremiad.

2. We act as though natural abundance is an expectation.

Let me confess that I am as guilty as anyone in this respect. I expect there to be water, shelter, food--the necessities of life. Why should I have to struggle for my survival? Perhaps early humans had to do that, but we are so evolved now, and we are so entitled now. We no longer think of water, shelter, food and other necessities as blessings. In expecting them, we are not grateful for them. And because we are not grateful for them, we do not manage them with the respect they deserve.

And then nature teaches us a lesson, as it did in New Orleans with Katrina, and as it does occasionally with other natural disasters. We cannot expect natural abundance, unwavering cooperation from the natural order. Wisdom literature the world over tells us to plan for the future.

3. We don't plan for the future.

In nearly every area of human life, we live for the moment. This life is what counts, even this moment. Occasionally, you hear a politician ask, "what kind of world are we leaving for our children?" It is a lovely sentiment, but that is all it is. No one really cares about that. An enormous percentage in developed countries don't even care about leaving a next generation in the first place. You see, one of the ways we seek to correct the problem of the human parasite is by leaving fewer human beings. We hear a lot about the overpopulation of the planet, but curiously many developed countries are not having enough children to replace themselves. Fewer and fewer people are even having children.

And what about those who have children? Are they really planning for the kind of world their children will inherit? Most parents don't even save for the education of their children. In fact, most people don't save for their own futures in the form of retirement savings.

What about something like the national debt? Does anyone even care about that number anymore, and yet it represents programs that we pay for that we cannot afford, and that future generations will have to fund.

To the question at hand: Have Californians, particularly its leaders, really done what was necessary to plan for drought conditions like this? Three years ago, Mammoth Lakes had its highest recorded snowpack, at beyond 800 inches. It is no surprise that California has droughts. In times of plenty, it seems that people don't worry about the possibility of times of want. A government is just human nature writ large. And we are learning about human nature yet again.

4. We are content to blame when there is a complicated problem.

Californians are yet again giving us an example of how we love to fix blame for things.

How could it possibly be the case that this drought is no one's fault?

If we would stop needing lawns, then nature will accept our sacrifice.

If we stop eating meat (because cows need so much more water than plants), then nature will accept our sacrifice.

If we stop driving cars, then nature will accept our sacrifice.

If we stop taking showers and bathe in the ocean, then our gods may be appeased.

Is it at least possible that drought has nothing to do with us and can't be blamed on us at all?

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the state of California has actually enjoyed a wetter than normal period for the last 500 years. In the middle ages, there were two megadroughts that extended as long as 200 years. Later in the story it suggests that those droughts were caused by wealthy european Christians in the middle ages starting massive fires in the gaudy fireplaces of their ostentatious castles. Obviously we can't blame the Native American population (okay, the last bit wasn't in the story).

A problem like drought may be too big a problem for us to fix, but any one of us has the necessary resources to fix blame. Perhaps we can slake our thirst on that.