Save Lake Powell!

​The American Southwest (that’s us!) is in the midst of the worst drought in 1200 years, according to climate scientists (see link at bottom). 

We’re already 120 years into a mega-drought and there’s no end in sight.  Lack of rainfall accounts only for about 60% of the effect; the rest is due to hotter temperatures that suck more water out of plants (transpiration) and soil (evaporation).   
 
Our current conditions are roughly on par with what the indigenous Puebloan (aka Anasazi) people would have been experiencing around 900 AD. 

​They had settled the area about 300 years prior and developed a sophisticated culture (compared to Dark Ages Europe) with a rich ceremonial/ religious tradition and extensive trading networks.  They built the world's largest apartment building  -- a record that held until 1882.  

---

---

If you’ve been to Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado, you've enjoyed the serene beauty of those cliff dwellings perched below the rim of the canyon.  

You may also have learned that they moved from their living mesa-top pit houses to the cliff dwellings in the canyons as they exhausted their resources and were forced to cultivate where their dwellings (and garbage dumps) had been.  

When I visited Mesa Verde this summer, I was also struck by the striking vistas I saw on the mesa tops: acres of skeletons of burnt pinyon pines and junipers from a fire that had torn through the area a few years ago.   

More striking than Mesa Verde is Chaco Canyon, the apparent ceremonial center of the Puebloan culture and hub of a trading network that extended from today’s Los Angeles to Mexico City.  Jared Diamond, in Collapse, discussed the viscous cycle of deforestation, drops in groundwater levels, flash floods, deepening arroyos, and crop failures that brought about their gradual, but inexorable decline. 

​More striking than Mesa Verde is Chaco Canyon, the apparent ceremonial center of the Puebloan culture and the hub of a trading network that extended from today’s Los Angeles to Mexico City.
Jared Diamond, in Collapse, discusses the vicious cycle of deforestation, dropping groundwater levels, flash floods, deepening arroyos, and crop failures that brought about their gradual, but inexorable decline.

​Collapse is the story of thriving civilizations that fail to adapt to their conditions and die.  Diamond elucidates many patterns of collapse, but the basic story is that people build up a society during environmentally benign times, then fail to adapt as conditions worsen.  They act as if the carrying capacity hasn’t changed and refuse to give up practices that are no longer practical.   

“Lake” Powell and “Lake” Mead, built to provide hydropower and distribute water to a booming Southwest, now face record drops in water levels, so much that there's discussion about abandoning one to keep the other functioning.  

The Metropolitan Water District is offering a billion dollars in rebates for southern Californians to reduce their water use. Since lawns consumes up to half your water bill, the largest incentives are for converting water-gulping landscapes to something more sustainable.  In San Diego this means $3 per square foot for going from grass to natives.  

​As I ask homeowners whether they’ve considered ditching their lawns for something that will save them money, create beauty, support wildlife, and reduce our dependence on imported water, I’m dismayed at how often the answer is simply “I like my lawn.”  

It apparently took about 400 years for people to completely abandon Chaco Canyon.  It must have been like the proverbial lobster in the slowly heating pot.  Of course, they weren’t dealing with global warming that’s turned the burner up to High.  In the meantime, I'd love to help you to respond to our changing climate, and create something beautiful at the same time.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/climate/western-drought-megadrought.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DPDm8eiO8RAo2J50qKeqd4e9Yp2XGXXthcP78zAfl_weZTJUtwRAm05JuYnZBPawMElbWOZEJklZTcQeJ_tjbwcmiyLOo4lOfg70qPYWj1WPDdg2kmcQo0vZo1cQ610SBZw6bHFbEk2dR1zu5hUs4hPUoIZCWOvfHsCBpsap7RPlyHtF5AC6wOUirTnNWc97sAbA1VbFvFR3h76mw4g8hObJJVZO2sak59J7etxOkZGWdqL4y2BpcuR4aylr1isrHFqxPk29M4Gm003PqgpMwP32oXmzc-&smid=em-share