Our Future Doesn’t Have to Dry Up
Currently 97.5% of California is experiencing “severe drought” conditions with 60% of California, including the north state region, experiencing “extreme drought”.
The drought that has parched California and the American West for much of the past two decades ranks as the driest 22-year period in at least 1,200 years according to a new study published recently. The future for those of us living in California is predicted to be hotter and thirstier causing more farmland to become fallowed, more desalination projects and other changes in water use and supply.
What can we do to help our communities thrive ?
Develop a conservation mindset.
Adopting this perspective means you understand that
Climate change is not some vague “new normal.” It is clearly identifiable, and solutions are attainable.
Sustainability is a way of life.
Efficiency is cool.
A conservation mindset is one of the best defenses against drought and its associated risks of wildfire, crop failure, energy crises, and more.
Repair leaky indoor and outdoor faucets.
A seemingly small leak that drips once per second can waste 2,700 gallons of water a year, according to the American Red Cross.
Improve your home’s energy efficiency.
Since water is needed to generate hydroelectric power and for cooling in other types of energy production, power grids can easily become strained during droughts. Limiting power consumption during peak times (4 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time) can help your community avoid preemptive power shutoffs, or worse, blackouts.
Energy Efficiency Rebates provide incentives and support to make individual changes:
Xeriscape lawns and city green spaces.
Replacing traditional lawn vegetation with native, drought-tolerant plants reduces outdoor water demand by 50-70%.
Push elected officials to install green infrastructure in our community.
When nature is harnessed by people and used as an infrastructural system, it is called “green infrastructure”.
Green streets, green roofs, and porous pavements allow whatever rain that does fall to slowly soak into the ground and replenish local groundwater reserves rather than be lost to storm drains.