The
California
drought gets plenty of media attention, not only in CA itself but also in other
jurisdictions, certainly in BC. Our BC interest in the subject is due to the
sharp increase in the price of CA-grown
fruit and vegetables that we consume in our province. We are confronted by the
CA situation every day as we look for bargains in the local vegetable market
just around the corner from us. It’s not a pretty scene for us seniors who are
on fixed incomes nor, I’m sure, for working parents with growing children.
But
as we speak, we have our own drought in BC to cope with as well. We depend for
our water on two sources, snow on the mountains and plenty of rain forest
precipitation. This year, we are short on both. Snow was so sparse that ski
resorts had to occasionally shut down, a most unusual situation for us
here. And while we could somehow afford
to truck in snow from more than a 150 kilometres away for the winter Olympics
back in 2010…. Yes, truck in snow!
Ever heard of that? Usually if
there’s snow trucking to be done, it’s to get rid of it. Not in 2010. We had to
truck it in! Imagine! And all that
expense just so a few—probably less than 200?—die-hard winter sports activists
can have their moment of fame after spending most of their lives on a few
snow-oriented acrobatic exercises. Was that worth all that expense? That’s for
another post someday.
Sorry,
got so carried away about that snow trucking—pun intended—that I didn’t even complete that sentence. Left you
in the snow, so to speak. While we managed to pay for trucking snow for the
Olympics, we couldn’t this past winter. What does that tell you? Could we draw
the conclusion that the Olympics and its economy are more important than the
daily lives of ordinary citizens under routine circumstances? At any rate, the point is we got a lot less
snow last winter with the result that there is less snow to melt and fill up
our reservoirs. For winter sport
enthusiasts as well as for the tourist industry, it was kind of a disaster,
while the rest of us enjoyed a very mild winter, milder even than we are
accustomed to in the south-west of the province. Alas, now we are paying for it,
literally. We are short of the precious
stuff.
Added
to that fiasco—not sure “added” is the right word here—is the greatly reduced
rain fall in spring and summer. We’ve just had gorgeous weather and lots of
sunshine, but, again, no rain, no water. The only thing we have more of is drought.
What we also have more of this summer is fires, forest fires over the top,
throughout much of Western Canada. We always
have forest fires in the summer, but this year all budgets have been far
overspent and an unusual number of communities evacuated.
One
of the worst features of the current fire scene is that, according to reports,
many of them are caused by humans. Some by careless smokers who stupidly—and I
use that word advisedly, for my daughter has forbidden her children to use the
word—throw their butts (note the double “t’s”!) out of their car windows.
Should these people be hanged, as a display along the Princeton Highway some decades ago used
to “advocate”?
Others
are lit intentionally! Not just one or two, but a large number of them! Can you
imagine anything more fiendish than that? I am reminded of our RV trip to the
far Canadian north, when we had a long and amicable chat with a couple of
Aboriginals. They told us that their summer employment mostly consisted of
fighting forest fires. What about summers with only a few fires? we asked. No
problem. They would just light them! Not
having walked in their moccasins, I would not apply the term “fiendish” to
them. I have no idea whether any of our 2015 fires are from Aboriginal arson or
not. Of course, political correctness being alive and well in the country’s
media, they would not likely report such if it were.
All
of the above was to lead me into the subject of water preservation. Stream of
consciousness led me to and around the subject but not into it. With my
apologies. Call it a human interest post, if you like. But I really should get
into the preservation thing before all our water gets used up! So, that will be
next. Or should I say “That should be
next? See you there, but don’t wait for
my instructions re. water preservation. I’m sure you can think of some ways
yourself. Do it! Now! We’re in a precarious situation. Think of ten small ways in which you, yes, you,
can reduce your use of water and then do it.
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