economicmultipliers_130

Economic Multipliers (130)

Do you know what these are?

They help CREATE wealth in systems.

‘Duh’ is not an economic multiplier.

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This is a list of some of the cities in the United States that expect severe water shortages in the future:

  • Houston

  • Los Angeles

  • Miami

  • San Francisco

I chose these cities because guess what? They all have HUGE bodies of saltwater near or right next to them.

Humorously, it might be easier to find individuals in these cities who are willing to spend a billion or more dollars on establishing whether water can be found on Mars (it was) than to find individuals who think that the United States needs to lead and find economical ways to put water in the oceans back up on land in ways where people can use it.

(The keys to economical: renewable and/or waste energy)

Americans are harvesters:

  • Our historical bias has been to clear the forests and upland areas of beavers (for pretty hats … in reality, for money and tradable things) … leaving all those areas dryer and less capable of renewing our vast but diminishing groundwater reservoirs … and leaving all those areas less capable of supporting water retaining vegetation.

  • Our historical bias has been to deplete the Mississippi River valley of clams (for newfangled buttons … in reality, for money and tradable things) … leaving the Mississippi River less able to naturally cleanse itself … and diminishing the habitat for other fish and wildlife.

  • Our historical bias has been to call ourselves more ‘energy independent’ as we further deplete oil reserves and other natural resources (for rich lives … in reality, for money and tradable things) while ignoring the need to recognize that every bit of energy we pull from the ground should be somehow matched with either a reduction in the need for that energy (you usually can’t use it twice) or some replacement for future generations (easy pickings are always taken first and what’s gone is gone).

  • Our historical bias has been to take, take, take … for money and tradable things … in some instances to the point of total depletion.

Americans have another historical bias: We rally when crises occur.

Unfortunately, water is NEVER something you want to need to rally for.

You can’t instantaneously set up distillation systems which rely solely on renewable energy. Large scale projects can take years to complete and from my perspective, we still lack all the data necessary to make them economically work.

Why is that? How can we now know that there is water on Mars and not know how to economically pull potable water from the ocean? (Perhaps some of the scientists who help space travelers survive in space need to be ‘repurposed’ to help humans survive on earth!)

The United States is spending millions and billions of dollars today on fighting wildfires in areas that once had beavers.

The United States is spending millions and billions of dollars today providing bottled water to individuals whose water supplies are rapidly diminishing or have somehow gone bad.

The United States is spending millions and billions of dollars today on non-renewable energy when distillation systems are used.

Good money chasing after bad problems.

Doesn’t sound too ‘American’ to me.

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Note: Several articles can be found in this series related to water and energy: No. 55 has some critical numbers for distillation and cooling systems. No. 88 covers the value of trincheras and gabions in helping reestablish riparian zones in the absence of beavers.