...years between 1986 and 2015. Rawls described California as a place of promise and paradox, which was true, however it is no longer thought of as a place of promise. Areas of California like Los Angeles and Hollywood have helped develop the ideology of California creating fame, success, and fortune, however current economic and environmental instability have altered its attractive identity. People no longer wish to live in California. Once admired for being “the place that never rains,” is now a growing concern. The lack of water is not only affecting the environment, but is worsening the economy. The drought of California has become familiarized throughout the United States. Although...
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...explain the global distribution of water scarcity Fresh water is a finite resource. 80% of global fresh water is trapped in ice, snow or permafrost. The remaining 20% is mainly groundwater, only 1% of this is easily accessible. Around 1.4 billion people lack clean drinking water, 2.4 million people have inadequate sanitation and 0.5 billion face water shortages every day. The distribution of fresh water is uneven, leading to a ‘water gap’. Water stress is when demand for water exceeds supply, and is quickly becoming a global issue. Water scarcity is a more extreme version of water stress. Physical water scarcity is when a country is utilising more than 75% of the water available to them. Some countries suffer from economic water scarcity. This is when a country is using less than 25% of the water available to them. Greater demand for water than supply of water can cause physical water scarcity because there simply isn’t enough water in specific locations such as North Africa, middle east, California and south east Australia. Places which don’t suffer from physical water scarcity are places such as western Europe, Scandinavia and Canada. Physical water scarcity is caused by a variety of factors. Demand is outstripping supply because there is a higher population now than 100 years ago. In the last 100 years population has almost quadrupled in size. Increased population growth also means a larger supply for food and agriculture. Californias population is at 37.7 million, containing...
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...Water, The Finite Resources Outline I. Introduction A. Opener: What is water scarcity? B. Thesis statement: One of the crises that our environment is facing is fresh water scarcity which is a very serious issue and it affects our global environmental. II. Water shortage effects on environment and human beings. A. Causes disease B. Agricultural fields C. Poverty group D. Aquatic Ecosystems III. Water scarcity is causes by different factors. A. Global warming B. Changes of climate C. Decreasing ground water level D. Population growth and the increased consumption of water IV. Solution for water scarcity is a necessity. A. Water Sharing Treaty B. Environmentalists Oppose Desalination Solution C. Government’s rules, regulations and plan V. Conclusion: People should use water wisely to prepare a better future for our next generation. Water, Our Finite Resources One of the crises that our environment is facing is fresh water scarcity which is a very serious issue and it affects our global environment. In the boundless black desert of space, the Earth which is always a blue-green oasis has a finite stock of fresh water (Lean, 2009). Water is the principal element for all socio-economic growth and for sustaining healthy ecosystems (“Water scarcity: The”, n.d.). Water scarcity is the product of an inequity between the supply of and demand for water supplies in a geographical area. Plainly put, water...
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...California is currently experiencing major environmental obstacles. With changing climate and weather patterns, forest fires continue to devastate the state. Couple this with the depleting water supply the outlook for California appears grim. The article takes on the many aspects of each environmental challenge and follows them with solutions. As water becomes scarcer, technology advances are being made from utilizing wastewater to agriculture reduced irrigation. One unique solution presented by the article is desalinating water, which comes with its own challenges. The article predicts that the naturally occurring El Niño will alleviate the water scarcity. However, this prediction is just that, a prediction. California has a long road ahead itself, and it starts with the average citizen...
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...California has been widely known across the globe for its great agriculture. As its main source for economic growth, California prides itself on its ability to produce mass amounts of crops in order to serve our nation. The backbone of everything that goes on in California is built around the Californian farmers’ ability to produce crops. As of late, the task of producing crops has become more difficult than ever for farmers to accomplish. Farming, and producing crops, has become increasingly difficult for farmers in California due to the scarcity of water. With little access to fresh water for their crops, farmers in California are having a hard time maintaining their fruits, vegetables, livestock, and nuts. Water has been hard to come by...
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...California’s Water Problem Introduction: Water Sources in California In her book entitled Managing Water: Avoiding Crisis in California, the ecologist and historian Dorothy Green describes the complicated and intricate California water system (University of California Press, October 9, 2007). Green’s description and analysis becomes more important to the people of California with every week that passes/ This is because California is now in the fourth year of drought in which no rain, snow, or hail has fallen (“California Drought”, CA.gov. Online at: http://ca.gov/drought/). In her work on the topic, Dorothy Green describes very carefully the system by which the rain, snow, and hail that fall in northern California move downwards in a flow of water that serves the entire state thanks to the power of gravity. The river systems of California include Colorado River and the Sacramento River. These great river systems move the water southwards, (to Los Angeles) and westwards (to San Francisco), respectively. In addition to these well known rivers to the system of rivers in California includes more than thirty rivers including the Klamath, the American, the Tolumne, the Merced, the Yuba, the Kern, the Russian, the Tule, and right here in Los Angeles the Los Angeles River which runs right through the industrial section of downtown Los Angeles in a cement channel : In addition to the river systems of California, Green describes a network of dam release channels, canals...
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...Three Effects of Climate Change By: Nehanda Spencer Contents Introduction 2-4 Public Health 4-5 Water Crisis 6-7 Human Migration 7-8 Summary 9 Works Cited 10 Work Cited Pages 11-30 Introduction Well before the term climate change was used to describe the weather effects on the earth, I was informed about global warming. During high school when I was instructed to learn about global warming it was just a mere discussion based on the potential effects humans had on the climate. Approximately eight years later the suspected effects, of careless exertion of the earths resources among other influences, have drastically impacted the world and scientist have agreed that it is the cause of climate change. I was aware of climate change and I’ve witness many natural disasters over the years due to news broadcastings; such as hurricane Katrina, Washington’s mudslide and most recently Arkansas deadly tornado. However, I never truly grasp the importance of the earth’s current situation until I furthered my research in college. According to the ShowTime docu-series “Years of living dangerously” climate change is inevitable due to the amount of earth’s resources used verses those that are replenished. The documentary opened my eyes to the high tempatures that are spreading across the country and one of the biggest causes of climate change, which are green house gases. The tragic causes of these gases develop from the burning of fossil fuels...
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...Tom Joad returns back to his Oklahoma home after serving time in the McAlester prison for homicide. Tom finds his household preparing to leave for California after the bank forces the Joad family from their land. Though the Joad family and other tenantsharecropper farmers attempt to find a person to blame (such as the tractor driver to the shareholders of the banks), they still lose their homes and are forced to make a journey westwards to California. Some members of the Joad family are reluctant to go, though they are optimistic that they will find work and prosperity in California as promised by the handbills being passed out. Casy, a former preacher that Tom meets, and Connie, Rose’s baby daddy, also embark with Tom and the Joad family. On the way to California, the group...
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...supplies of clean water for the future? Brian Daters BVU Seminar We all know how important water is in life, but most don’t know how precious it really is. In every corner of life, life revolves around water or the struggle to obtain water. Most people don’t realize how difficult it can be or what problems they are causing because they just go turn on the faucet. Some people need to wait days or walk miles just to get clean water. The stress level that the human race is pushing on the 1% of drinkable water is already at its breaking point. These are the results as to why the human population doing great harm to the water sources by agriculture run off, human pollution, and over usage. Let’s first talk about some of the world’s water facts. According to unwater.org, 85% of the world already lives in the driest half of the planet. Of those people about 783 million people do not have access to clean water and 2 to 3 billion do not have access to clean sanitation. It is incomprehensible to think that 70% of our planet is covered with water but only 3% of it is drinkable. Of that 3%; 2/3 of that is frozen. The main problem that stands between adequate supply of water for the future starts with us. The need for water is essential to life but to what extent do we need to take to solidify a clean water supply for years to come? The first problem is the over usage of water to meet our ever growing needs. Not only is water used to water crops but also to water plants and yards...
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...and market their products globally. Critical Issue/Problem Today every country wants to have strong infrastructure and Internet is one of the powerful tool that could contribute widely to this and for internet, a country should have sufficient power. Insufficient supply of electricity leads to various issues. The case also highlighted that even countries where electricity is surplus are facing issues, few of which are highlighted below: Electricity Outages – Brownouts/Blackouts are a common problem that many countries are experiencing. It is a situation where supply of electricity is not able to meet the demand, resulting to shut down of electricity for few hours. Even nation like Unites States of America, faced Rolling Blackouts in California...
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...should authorities have in maintaining a clean and adequate water supply? Sid Stallings, Jr. Western Governors University What role should authorities have in maintaining a clean and adequate water supply? Water is essential for every living being on earth. It covers 70% of our planet, but only about 3% is fresh water. Of that 3%, 2/3 of it is frozen as glaciers, so only about 1% of the world’s water is actually usable for drinking, cleaning, and irrigating farmlands according to the World Wildlife Fund (Krchnak, 2014). Some populations, industries, and businesses are using up the limited supply of fresh water at an alarming rate for personal gain, leaving many without this vital resource. The water supply is deteriorating as it is becoming ever more polluted from chemical run off from farms and industry, poor water management practices, over use, and expanding populations. This is causing severe shortage problems, skyrocketing water prices, and major environmental issues around the world. Research suggests that over-use of the world’s available fresh water supplies is a major problem, because use is exceeding the ability of nature and water treatment plants to keep up with demand, rising costs have led to a lack of access to safe water for many poor people, and shortages of adequate fresh water cause there to be insufficient water to sustain communities around the world. Water usage and lack of adequate fresh water affects everyone, so should governmental or international...
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...Impact: California Gold Rush The Gold Rush of Yesterday and Its Effect on the Environment Today The California Gold Rush of 1848 produced more than a just a fever for the fortune seekers. It also produced an impact upon the environment whose effects can still be witnessed today. In 1848 the call went out across the nation, there is gold in Sutter’s Mill. As the word spread settlers and immigrants began their long treks across the plains and from far foreign lands across the seas to California. Up until the discovery of gold, much of the Californian lands had been unsettled. Between the years 1848 and 1866 some 350,000 emigrants had traveled to California in search of their fortune.1 This massive influx of such a vast number of people placed a huge burden upon the land and resulted in the dishevel of its indigenous people. As the population rapidly increased so did the need for food, water, and shelter. The requirements placed upon the land by its new population were great. The natural wildlife of the area was quickly over hunted for their meat and furs. The rivers were over fished and huge forests were clear cut to provide the demand of construction materials in support of structures and dwelling. In the lower lands trees were cut to clear land needed for farming and to provide fuel material to the mines. Natural water ways were redirected and damned to support the mining efforts. These changes only further exasperated the dwindling fish and fresh water supply...
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...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS THE CHINA-INDIA-PAKISTAN WATER CRISIS: PROSPECTS FOR INTERSTATE CONFLICT by James F. Brennan September 2008 Thesis Co-Advisors: Alice Lyman Miller Feroz Khan Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED September 2008 Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE: The China-India-Pakistan Water Crisis: Prospects for 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Interstate Conflict 6. AUTHOR(S) James F. Brennan, Lieutenant, United States Navy 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY...
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...The Nile River is one of the greatest contributing factors to the development of the ancient civilization of Egypt (Smith, 2014). Civilization is defined as, “the society, culture, and way of life of a particular area” (The Free Dictionary,n.d.). At over 4,000 miles long, the Nile is the longest known river in the world, and runs through eleven countries, including Egypt. Villages were located near to its life giving waters, and along its banks, and they were able to thrive because of the Nile and the agricultural abilities that the Nile provided. During the rainy season the Nile River deposited its silt-enriched waters when its banks flooded. The ancient Egyptian farmers knew they needed those waters to grow their crops, and also needed a way to store water because of Egypt’s long dry season – it is essentially a vast desert, so they constructed devices, including catch basins and dikes, so they could catch the water for various purposes, and stored it so they could irrigate their crops the rest of the year. Not only did the Nile River allow the farmers to grow and nourish their crops, but it also gave them a means to sell any overage, and also other goods, as they could travel along the river to other villages. Agriculture and the sale of goods was not the only exchange made by the early people of the Nile. Culture was also exchanged. People from different villages and communities along the Nile came together for commerce, and as a natural consequence they would share their...
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...economic standing of the United States, specifically California, had fluctuated due to many unforeseen factors. One huge factor that cannot be anticipated, and often causes drastic effects on the economy, are geologic disasters. The state of California is notorious for having earthquakes that shake up the state quite often and leave the affected area with a substantial amount of damage. The 1906 earthquake of San Francisco was the largest geologic disaster known to the nation at the time it occured. Destroying about 80% of the city, this earthquake also caused an enormous amount of fires to break out throughout the city. Not only did the state of California have to build up funds to reconstruct the city, but also other states and nations provided economic relief to help rebuild the ninth largest city in the United States. As one of the most metropolitan areas in the West Coast of the US, San Francisco had a humongous task at hand to make this once financial, trade, and cultural center flourish once again. The magnitude of the earthquake caused widespread destruction due to the geologic setting of San Francisco, but also the destruction of buildings was due to the makeshift quality of the construction of the city. If there were to be a repeat of the quake today, it could possibly be more devastating than the first one. Therefore, the economic affect that an earthquake the same size as the one in 1906 would have on California would be far more disastrous and far more expensive due...
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