December 11, 2003
cadillac desert
If you live west of the Mississippi and you haven’t read Cadillac Desert, do so NOW. It’s simultaneously enlightening and entertaining and depressing and overwhelming. In a nutshell, the book describes how the American West got all its water and how it supports a population much larger than it ought.
The bottom line is that we’re living on borrowed time, robbing Peter to pay Paul. There is not enough water in the west to sustain our current lifestyles for much longer — perhaps another generation or two. Not only that, the water we are using is actually making all of our irrigated farmland worse because of its high salt content. Once the soil becomes saturated with salt, it is ruined for a long long time. When you realize that this is the world’s breadbasket you’re fucking with, well, the implications are frightening.
Unfortunately, if there was a good solution in the book, I didn’t see it. Basically, I’m just glad I’m living now, and not 100 years from now. Sorry children and grandchildren — we were greedy and screwed the planet up for y’all. Oops!
On the whole, I’m conflicted. Without the crazy growth that irrigation and damming allowed, America wouldn’t be where it is today. I enjoy my life and no small part of my lifestyle is due to the fact that the people portrayed as so evil in the book felt the need to dam every river they saw. Would I give up what I have now for a “better” western USA? Hard to tell, honestly, because I can’t even imagine the alternate universe.
It’s all food for thought, and my ability to see both sides of the argument leaves me depressed.
