This Episode of #PlanetMoney About California Farming and Water is a #MustListen but it Made Me Really Angry

I love podcasts but have a hard time catching up with them. Sometimes I find myself weeks or months behind after not listening for a while, so this podcast was posted back on July 22, 2015. Listen to it here or read the transcript.

This episode of PLANET MONEY, an always entertaining money-covering podcast often covers the topic of economics in a very approachable way. The reporters on the NPR-produced podcast come across as balanced, well-educated people. Which is great, but sometimes they come across as too balanced. Sometimes, there simply aren’t even two sides to a story.

 In a nutshell (preemptive pun not intended), this episode is about how pistachio farmers in California are dealing with the huge drought. Specifically, it deals with how nut farmers, are among the only entities in California that are able to dig far enough down to reach receding water levels that are now out of reach for the wells of some California residents. One reporter asked a water scientist where things were headed in this area of California and he referred to the Mad Max movies.

 Yikes.

The episode goes on to explain why farmers are still planting nut trees during this crazy drought despite a gallon of water being required to grow a single pistachio. Turns out, it’s the drought. See, the drought is making nuts scarce so the price is going up and so that makes farmers want to plant more trees so they can sell more nuts while the price is high. It makes good financial sense, right? Except, California is running out of water thanks to a historically bad drought… and because of farmers who are planting more nut trees. See, agriculture is pretty much the biggest drinker of water. But hey, you know, economics.

Maybe there’s something more important than economics? Not according to the NPR reporters who work on PLANET MONEY.

Time to find a second Earth, WWF says

Time to find a second Earth, WWF says

From unknownskywalker (READ IT ALL!):

Carbon pollution and over-use of Earth’s natural resources have become so critical that, on current trends, we will need a second planet to meet our needs by 2030, the WWF said on Wednesday.

In 2007, Earth’s 6.8 billion humans were living 50% beyond the planet’s threshold of sustainability, according to its report, issued ahead of a UN biodiversity conference. “Even with modest UN projections for population growth, consumption and climate change, by 2030 humanity will need the capacity of two Earths to absorb CO₂; waste and keep up with natural resource consumption,” it warned.

If everyone used resources at the same rate per capita as the United States or the United Arab Emirates, four and a half planets would be needed, it said, highlighting the gap in “ecological footprint” between rich and poor.

The “Living Planet” report, the eighth in the series, is based on figures for 2007, the latest year for which figures are available. It pointed to 71 countries that were running down their sources of freshwater at a worrying, unsustainable rate. Nearly two-thirds of these countries experience “moderate to severe” water stress.

“This has profound implications for ecosystem health, food production and human wellbeing, and is likely to be exacerbated by climate change,” WWF said. Signatories to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are to meet in Nagoya, Japan, from October 18-29 to discuss ways of addressing Earth’s dramatic loss of species.

UN members pledged to achieve by 2010 “a significant reduction” in the rate of wildlife loss. Biologists say many species, especially mammals, birds and amphibians, are in headlong decline, their numbers ravaged by habitat loss, hunting or the likely impact of climate change.

• Source: PhysOrg.com

The World Wildlife Foundation says our planet will begin to run out of resources for us by 2030 and says we need to find another planet for ourselves—anybody wanna say no?

But wow—I never expected such a specific date to be available for when Road Warrior Times are to begin. I just figured I’d wake up one morning and discover that it’s socially acceptable to bash someone’s skull in for their gasoline. 

Joking aside, can we please start spending serious money on the development of a Faster-Than-Light Drive NOW?  We have a need and if we’re all adults, we can see that it is logical to start doing this since we know it will take a while to make it work.