( – promoted by Robert in Monterey)

I have not posted anything here for quite a while.  Frankly, most of my political time has been spent becoming more educated on the issues surrounding California’s Water Crisis.  What I figured out is that it is just basic common sense.

I have been posting most of my observations on my main blog, California Greening.   I have been reading Aquafornia almost every day lately. This all leads to some interesting conclusions.

A. The primary focus of the environmental movement  is on Global Warming.  Not enough attention is being paid to the issues of water, even though those two are intimately related.  Global warming will make the ocean level rise.  It will change rainfall patterns.  It may make some current dams useless as they will not catch enough water to keep their reservoirs full. California environmentalists need to pay more attention to water.

B. The local newspaper coverage on the “water crisis” is pretty good. Much of it is summarized faithfully at Aquafornia (link above).  The editors of all the major papers seem to understand the urgency (Orange County Register is not one, though.)  They differ somewhat in their idea of the proper solution, but they all seem to understand the we have put off doing anything and it is now time to pay the piper.  I have summarized much of the editorial coverage at CA Greening.  As I indicated before, on the extreme Libertarian views of the OC Register fail to understand the need to spend a dime.  They don’t understand global warming either.

C.  It is really important to follow the special session of the legislature called by the Guv.  This will be an ideological battle.  It may happen in a short time. Schwarzenegger wants it on the February Primary Election ballot and that means action in Sacramento no later than mid-October. Hah!  If they do get it on the ballot for February, it just may be that they have to deliver two versions, Schwarzenegger’s and Perata’s. Highest vote total wins.

The real reason for doing it in February is that there is generally not a very high turnout in a primary election, even a presidential primary.  So, they will want to sneak this through.

D.  The focus on the “progressive netroots” on Iraq, etc. will prevent their being much of a participant in this unless we do something (like I am trying to do now) about getting them energized. 

E.  In the marketplace of idea, the survivors often are the ones with the biggest Ad Budgets.  This may be the Governor and the Association of California Water Agencies.

F.  The biggest question for us all is whether or not the general voter will care enough to think about water until the faucet is shut off or the levees fail, just as they did in NOLA.

This is truly worth spending a lot more time on and I hope that you all do just that.  I also hope that you will help me put increasing pressure on our legislature to make sure we do the right thing, not just look to grab all the water for their favorite user… which is normal practice for a legislator.