Hello, thank you for reading this week’s Sunday Post. Higher temperatures and higher agricultural and residential demands have strained the Colorado River watershed. According to the USGS, the waterflow has declined 20% in the last hundred years, partially attributable to rising temperatures and decreased input from melting snow. Amidst the extreme ongoing drought, the US officially announced a water shortage for the river for the first time ever. This move follows after water levels in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir for the Colorado River, fell to only 35% capacity. Currently, the water level is 1067 feet above sea level, while it had been predicted to be near 1066 feet into 2022. Thus, Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico have been ordered to take water consumption cuts of 18%,7%, and 5%, respectively. Proper cooperation with other countries is necessary to tackle this issue. Mexico relies on the US to not divert too much water from the Colorado River. Both the US and Mexico need to limit their emissions to prevent temperature rise. However, if other countries were not diligent, then those that did reduce their emissions would suffer nonetheless.
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Hello, thank you for reading this week’s Sunday post. In a continuation of last week’s climate news, this week we will be commenting on the forest fires and floods. Forest fires and floods go hand in hand; fires first raze the earth and leave behind debris, which turn into mudslides as dry season turns into wet season. So it should be no surprise that climate change, which has made dry seasons drier and wet seasons wetter, has concocted some especially severe weather events this year.
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March 2019
"There is nothing in which the birds differ more than man than the way that they can build and yet leave the landscape as it was before." |