A terrific, if grim, piece by Gwyn Dyer in this week's Embassy Magazine. My favorite bit:
"...the Americans are losing large chunks of agricultural production. They're going to have to evacuate parts of coastline. There are parts where you can't get insurance already.
"So they're going to be moving people around. And they're going to be very short of water. They're already short of water everywhere west of the Mississippi. They have built very large cities in effectively desert. I mean, even now it's really a desert, 40 million people. This is not a good plan.
"And they're going to need the water. And when they get seriously crippled by this, I don't think they're going to take no for an answer from Canada if it doesn't want to sell its water.
"In fact, I would go this far: We need to start selling the Americans water in the near future as soon as they want it and are willing to pay some nominal price for it because you want to put this exchange on a commercial basis before it becomes a strategic issue. And there are ways of doing it that don't harm us.
"But you sell them water now or soon they'll kick the door in. And actually, I would show them where the door is because they'd be right, they'd be within their rights. You cannot let your neighbours go short when you have a surplus. But there are ways of doing this that don't hurt our interests.
Also interesting are the comments re getting access to Canadian climate scientists. Short version: the gov wouldn't let him. He doesn't mention the arctic, however, which strikes me as an oversight. There are huge possibilities for armed conflict up there as the ice melts.
Big flaw in Dyer's logic. No has the "right" to populate a desert. I wouldn't even begin to support this until the American lifestyle shows movement away from water waste, particularly in the Southwest with its well-watered golf courses, swimming pools, water-parks, outdoor patios misted with water (which is really quite lovely, but still...)
ReplyDeleteEven then, I wouldn't support this. It's not sustainable. Even farming through irrigation is not sustainable.
The Americans will just have to come and get me. That is, if they can even find Canada on the map.
I've followed everything Gwyn has written/produced etc for 20 years. The one thing I've always admired about him is his ability to admit when he is wrong. Outside of military geopolitics he is wrong about 30% of the time. Not bad in my books.
ReplyDeleteAh, the enduring myth of Canada's limitless abundance of freshwater. Fond as I am of Dyer's writings, he's beginning this one with an utterly flawed premise.
ReplyDelete