Are We Experiencing Drought Or Aridification?

Lake Powell on the Colorado River, the second largest manmade reservoir in the US, is the most important water source in the West, and is dependent on runoff from a diminishing quantity of snow melt each year.

A report published by the National Academy of Science last year, authored by Jonathan Overpeck and Bradley Udall, offers a grim picture of how global warming is creating a permanent change in water levels and the rate of precipitation in the western part of the US as well as elsewhere around the globe. This is not just a result of sporadic weather cycles but appears to be an irreversible trend that will endanger ever more trees and other vegetation worldwide, drastically reduce agricultural production, contribute to increased wildfires and and other unnatural disasters and cause critical water shortages for large populations of people.

When our daughter lived and worked in Tucson for several years, she became aware of the fact that this large and growing city relies on water from an underground source that is being depleted at a sobering rate, and the city has no viable alternative source of this absolutely essential resource. While Tucson is more intentional about water conservation than western cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, it has not yet come up with a plan for providing for its long term water needs.

What I find disheartening is the lack of any sense of urgency among citizens and lawmakers to reduce the use of carbon fuels that contribute to the problem and to work at ways of at least delaying the inevitable aridification that is taking place. I'm beginning to wonder if human beings simply lack the capacity to curb their appetites for what is cheap, comfortable and convenient in the short term for the sake a sustainable and survivable future for themselves and for their children and grandchildren. 

The earth is the Lord's, but humanity is responsible for its care and preservation.