Thanks for an excellent summary of the terrible drought currently afflicting the West. Growing alfalfa in the arid West has never made sense to me. It's a low value crop that consumes large quantities of water. Exporting alfalfa to foreign countries is essentially equal to exporting large quantities of Western water overseas. And now we have these huge data centers sucking up vast amounts of water for cooling. Building these centers in the arid Southwest where the Colorado river water supply is in crisis amounts to some kind of insanity.
I know one cannot stop Progress. Can't be Luddites you know. Data centers are the irresistible March of Science.. as are privatization, industrialized landscapes, data centers popping up everywhere, and water wars. Decades long droughts and mega fires burning everywhere. Our pristine West becoming a gentrified privatized and industrialized hellscape. No, can't stop progress.
I think the incentives provided by the federal government are too massive for large scale farming, fossil fuel extraction and now data centers. Annually, 30+ billion for farm subsidies, 36-750 billion for fossil fuel extraction, and billions for data centers. American Progress has always been defined by the manifest destiny, boom or bust, ‘get it while the gettins good’ ethos. We just can’t seem to stop eating our own tail.
Yeah, "inanity," in the propaganda from Homeland Security and Interior. The former's name always being kinda creepy. But now way over the top with white women in white leading us on to .... settler glory ordained by the book. I'll go with the gals from the Mountain Fair Ladies Log Splitting Contest.
The satellite moisture images make me wonder how that dryland wheat and beans is doing by Dove Creek. The opposition to a proposed solar project there certainly used the word "heritage," quite a bit referring to the past hundred or so years of farming. Though I get the feeling the productive years of that land are far in the past. One of the land owners said something like "makes money one year out of five."
One fun bit of energy propaganda. Samuel Jackson cussing away for offshore wind in an advertisement for the EU market. I think they've given up on the US.
Thanks for an excellent summary of the terrible drought currently afflicting the West. Growing alfalfa in the arid West has never made sense to me. It's a low value crop that consumes large quantities of water. Exporting alfalfa to foreign countries is essentially equal to exporting large quantities of Western water overseas. And now we have these huge data centers sucking up vast amounts of water for cooling. Building these centers in the arid Southwest where the Colorado river water supply is in crisis amounts to some kind of insanity.
Thinking many of this regimes pie in the sky dreams may go up in smoke along with the rest of us
I know one cannot stop Progress. Can't be Luddites you know. Data centers are the irresistible March of Science.. as are privatization, industrialized landscapes, data centers popping up everywhere, and water wars. Decades long droughts and mega fires burning everywhere. Our pristine West becoming a gentrified privatized and industrialized hellscape. No, can't stop progress.
Hello Jonathan,
It’s the first that I notice you make the distinction between alfalfa and other hay. Being a 70/30 guy I can appreciate it.
I think the incentives provided by the federal government are too massive for large scale farming, fossil fuel extraction and now data centers. Annually, 30+ billion for farm subsidies, 36-750 billion for fossil fuel extraction, and billions for data centers. American Progress has always been defined by the manifest destiny, boom or bust, ‘get it while the gettins good’ ethos. We just can’t seem to stop eating our own tail.
Yeah, "inanity," in the propaganda from Homeland Security and Interior. The former's name always being kinda creepy. But now way over the top with white women in white leading us on to .... settler glory ordained by the book. I'll go with the gals from the Mountain Fair Ladies Log Splitting Contest.
The satellite moisture images make me wonder how that dryland wheat and beans is doing by Dove Creek. The opposition to a proposed solar project there certainly used the word "heritage," quite a bit referring to the past hundred or so years of farming. Though I get the feeling the productive years of that land are far in the past. One of the land owners said something like "makes money one year out of five."
One fun bit of energy propaganda. Samuel Jackson cussing away for offshore wind in an advertisement for the EU market. I think they've given up on the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bunG-GGqzQc