(no subject)

[lahermite]

i don't have enough cuss words in my vocabulary for this. reason #4,265,757 why civilisation needs to be fucking dismantled FUCKING NOW:

The city of Phoenix in Arizona sits in the middle of a desert that for the past 11 years has been suffering a punishing drought. Temperatures in the city rose above 43C (110F) for a record 30 days this year and water levels in the rivers that supply its 1.5 million people with drinking water are at near-record lows.

A perfect spot then to build what is described as a "year-round watersports paradise", in which visitors will be able to revel in whatever watery pastime takes their fancy.

Scuba diving? No problem. White water rafting? Step this way to the largest man-made white water channel in the world. Surfing your thing? Then come barrel under perfect 12ft waves.
The businessmen behind Waveyard say they plan to recreate the seascape of Indonesia or Hawaii in an area that has just eight inches of rainfall a year. They have earmarked a site about 15 miles outside Phoenix on 125 acres of land that normally supports nothing but saguaro cacti and creosote bushes and that is 200 miles from the nearest beach.

Jerry Hug, one of the brains behind the project, summed up its simple concept. Watersports such as snorkeling, canoeing and boogie-boarding have "traditionally been delivered in the back country in nature's environment. We are bringing that into an urban environment."

To relocate nature's environment into the city will require an initial 189m litres of water to fill the facilities, and then up to 380m litres a year to replenish them allowing for spillage and evaporation. The developers think the cost in water will be more than compensated for by the attraction of what they call the "lost coast", which will provide the ultimate day at the beach.

Its publicity reads: "Lie on our white sand, rent a beach chair, ride a boogie board, build a massive sand castle. The Lost Coast will deliver the beach, the waves and the coastal lifestyle."

Residents in the nearest town of Mesa voted earlier this month by two to one to support the project, won over by promises of 7,500 new jobs. Opposition to the proposals in the area has been muted.

But the long-term wisdom of creating a massive waterpark in the middle of a desert may yet be doubted. Last year Arizona had a record dry winter. Snowpacks on its mountain ranges - essential once they melt for replenishing the state's sophisticated system of underground reservoirs - were unusually thin.

The current report for Arizona shows more than half the state, including the Phoenix area, in the moderate to extreme drought zone.

Rita Maguire, a water expert who has advised Waveyard on water supplies for the development, told Associated Press that she had come round to the idea. "Initially, the reaction is: 'Oh my. Is this an appropriate use of water in a desert'? But recreation is a very important part of a community."

She added that the project would not use more water than a golf course, which sounds reassuring, until you learn that the Arizonan desert is already pockmarked with 402 golf courses.

from here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2214325,00.html

Comments

[asharak.livejournal.com]

"year-round watersports paradise"
Sounds like something the average Tory would enjoy.

But seriously, this is also why water conservation is such a crock. All the little people have to cut back, but not the golf courses, bottling plants or the water parks.

[orangebeaver.livejournal.com]

The thing is, the wealthy nations of the world will always be able to purchase water from somewhere or build pipelines and take someone else's water. It's the developing world that is really going to suffer. Global warming is going to really mess with the Himalayas; not enough snow means not enough snowmelt, not enough runoff, not enough water! Famine...

[asharak.livejournal.com]

On a semi-related note, I remember seeing a picture in a magazine (I think it was National Geographic) of a huge water pipeline running through a Mumbai slum and off to a wealthier part of the city.

Yeah, the sad part about an environmental collapse is that the poorer countries are inevitably going to suffer while the First World countries still get to live it up (the U.S. will likely be the only exception, though).

[orangebeaver.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that picture, too. The people used the water pipeline as a highway!

[lahermite.livejournal.com]

as the shit crumbles and more and more people (human and non-human) revolt against the elite, things like water pipelines will be easy to divert. poor people will quite simply dismantle them, allowing the water the same freedoms they are now getting as the troops are diverted to the rich people's compounds. resource protection can only go so far when the people (again, human and non-human) needing them far outnumber the ones who are taking them.

sabotage! it's the way forward!

[lahermite.livejournal.com]

and non-human species will suffer along with the poor and brown human species. but - the rich can't keep on forever. peak oil, peak water, eroded top soil... eventually all the money in the world can't shelter them from reality. it just really sucks (and that's putting it mildly) that the planet has to pay for their gluttony. is already paying, very dearly.

[lahermite.livejournal.com]

incidentally, they've got one of these water parks in, i think, dubai. middle of the desert. i saw pictures of it.

*shaking head in horror*

[orangebeaver.livejournal.com]

Dubai is so rich, however, that they have one of those desalinization plants right on the gulf. One interesting (and appalling) fact about the Emirates is that two-thirds of the people are foreign workers, the browner and poorer and more working class they are, the more they are looked down upon. The water park is probably far, far too expensive for the Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalis, Filipinos, et al, that collect the garbage, keep the lights on and make the beds!

[hippiedork.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

[hurricanecarol.livejournal.com]

The last paragraph is the real kicker. Yeah, I am pretty much out of cuss words myself. Fuckety fuck fuck fuck...to quote a dear friend ;-)

[lahermite.livejournal.com]

yeah there's that whole assumption in there that golf courses in the dessert are okay. which, of coure, they're fucking not. golfing should have seasons like hunting. when it's raining and the grass is nice and green, then you can golf. when it's not raining and the grass goes brown, then you're shit out of luck with golfing. learn to hike.