Spain's Severe Drought/Part Of A Global Pattern

[RestoreGore]

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37700/story.htm
Spain's Water Reserves Fall Further To 43.9 Percent

SPAIN: August 17, 2006

MADRID - Spain's reservoirs are now only 43.9 percent full, 1.4 points less than a week ago, the Environment Ministry said on Wednesday, showing that continuing drought and high temperatures were taking their toll.

Last year was the driest since records began, and the rain that fell over the winter and spring of this year was not enough to replenish reserves. The 23,385 cubic hectometres of water now available compare with 23,866 in the same week last year and with an average for the past 10 years of 30,263 at the same date.

Regions in the south and east have the lowest reservoirs, while those in the northwest are mostly 60 to 70 percent full.Irrigation water has been strictly rationed in parts of the country, which is likely to reduce the maize crop this year.

The power industry is also suffering from the shortage of rain. In a wet year 12 percent of Spain's electricity comes from hydroelectric plants, while in a bad year, like 2005, that fell to barely 8 percent.

Rain is forecast across the country on Thursday, but summer storms typically do little to replenish reserves.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

Other resources:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/stormcenter/2005-07-28-food-relief-for-spain_x.htm
EU Helps Drought Stricken Spain/Portugal

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34288/story.htm
Spain Braces For Second Year of Drought

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4086864.stm
Iberian Misery As Drought Bites
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As I continue to read daily about this global crisis, it is obvious the pattern that has emerged throughout the world that has been coming and warned about for years. Countries whether rich or poor are experiencing severe repercussions environmentally, and these effects are most pronounced regarding drought and water scarcity.

And once again we are seeing the truth about human nature which knows no nationality, race, creed, or political persuasion: We don't understand the urgency of the situation we are creating by our behavior until it begins to effect our lives. Are we then truly incapable as human beings of conserving freshwater? Of doing the right thing for our future? Of caring for those who live a world away? Has our society worldwide become so consumptive, selfish, and greedy, that even in the face of repercussions that threaten our very lives, we will not change?

We are WASTING the very substance that sustains our lives as if it will always be there. It won't. And if we as a species are going to ever survive this challenge, we MUST wake up to the reality surrounding OUR behavior that is contributing to the global water crisis.

It will require:

Education.

Moral strength.

Moral will.

Moral conviction.

Then after that:

Global cooperation across political lines.

Effective water management being MANDATORY.

Effective water catchement and conservation techniques being taught to people in countries experiencing the worst droughts.

Strict enforcement of guidelines that hold polluters accountable.

Standing up to corporations that continue to privatize water for a profit, ESPECIALLY in poor countries in Africa, South America, and Asia.

All of us coming together to mitigate the amount of greenhouse gases we spew into the atmosphere that are making the conditions that cause drought.

Declaring access to potable water a HUMAN RIGHT that is not to be commoditized at the expense of the weak and the poor.

Can we do this? Are we capable as a species of coming together to do what needs to be done to ensure our continued survival? Only through education and action will we know the answer to those questions.

http://water-is-life.blogspot.com

[Karenina]

1. If we had been blessed with intelligence

as a species, without EGO, I'd venture we'd have a chance. We weren't and we don't. There is NO WAX to dismantle the systems we've put in place, short of a huge electromagnetic wave or an alien invasion. This realm is totally FUBAR.