The Atlantic:
Bottled-water drinkers, we have a problem: There's a good chance that your water comes from California, a state experiencing the third-driest year on record. [...]
In the grand scheme of things, the amount of water used for bottling in California is only a tiny fraction of the amount of water used for food and beverage production—plenty of other bottled drinks use California's water, and a whopping 80 percent of the state's water supply goes toward agriculture. But still, the question remains: Why are Americans across the country drinking bottled water from drought-ridden California?
One reason is simply that California happens to be where some bottled water brands have set up shop. "You have to remember this is a 120-year-old brand," said Jane Lazgin, a representative for Arrowhead. "Some of these sources have long, long been associated with the brand." [...]
Another reason we're drinking California's water: California happens to be the only Western state without groundwater regulation or management of major groundwater use. In other words, if you're a water company and you drill down and find water in California, it's all yours.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2010—Heat wave:
From the beginning of the environmental movement, the biggest pushback has always been presented in terms of the economy. That's been true whether it's cod fishermen taking too big a catch in the Grand Banks, monocrop farmers sucking fossil water out of the Ogallala aquifer faster than it can be replenished, oil companies trashing indigenous land in Ecuador or loggers whacking massive segments of rain forest in the Amazon or Indonesia. When environmental advocates speak up about these matters, the first cry is invariably: what about the jobs? Not that jobs are unimportant. But too rarely is a case made for environmentally sound jobs and practices that can replace the ones causing the demolition of a particular eco-system, large or small.
The truth is that the environment and the economy are not two separate entities. They are inextricably intertwined with each other.
We're currently witness to another example of how climate change will have that intertwined effect. In Russia. Of course, what's happening there right now may only be weather, not a climate trend. We won't know for certain for a while yet. But the omens aren't good. And it's not just Moscow smog, a few dead people, ruined crops and some burned barns and homes.
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Tweet of the Day
Palin TV closed captioning transcribers are underpaid
— @JerAHolden
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show: Unrest in Ferguson, and how cops approach 1st Amendment protest versus 2nd. Which brings us back to the Ohio WalMart shooting. James O'Keefe is still alive, and thinks you don't know OBL is dead. Sarah Palin channel begins serving up the dumb-vomit. Via Twitter,
Stacy Cox suggests we make fun of Tucker Carlson.
Lisa asks how many kids have had fatal gun accidents this month, so we count it up.
Bill in Portland Maine pointed us to a story worthy of wider notice: Gov. LePage won't bother looking into or trying to recover half a million dollars swiped by a crony. And
BallerinaX recalls a link between the ME story & UT politics.
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