We are living on our capital:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/09/MNGMV7TFN.DTL&hw=india+groundwater&sn=001&sc=1000

Experts say the depletion of groundwater is a major threat to food security and economic stability in India, China, the United States, Mexico, Spain and North Africa. In China, the agricultural use of groundwater has skyrocketed, causing water tables to drop in many places by a rate of 5 feet a year.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

They apparently haven't gleaned on to the fact that they're exporting their groundwater in the form of agricultural products.

Good point. The article mentions that the policy of free, or nearly so, electricity is exacerbating the problem because farmers leave their pumps on too long and water is wasted.

I also read of a coca cola bottling plant in India that sucked up so much groundwater that farms in a wide radius were seeing their wells dry up.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I can easily envision mass starvations in our lifetimes that will dwarf whatever is happening today in Africa, Myanmar and elsewhere. It seems everyone from Hillary to global energy and food experts are saying we need to do more with crop genetics, fish farming and other high-tech ways to squeeze more from less. But nobody will say that there are simply too many people for the planet to sustain. Millions upon millions of people are barely getting by as it is, and the situation will get a lot worse before it improves. Sadly theres not much anyone can do about it.

This is just another sign of a looming downward spiral unless there is some kind of serious population control. Once the water is gone, you basically have nothing.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Thank you for this post as I have been saying this for YEARS and have been called a racists right wing whacked out nut job for doing so! "You want to tell me how many children I can have? Never, not in this lifetime"! The first time I heard this was in San Francisco. I never thought I'd hear a "Screw you I got mine" from a liberal! Well this is what you leave to your kids then, another mess for them to clean up unless we get really lucky and some disease we have no cure for takes out about 3 BILLION people, sad to have to say. Who feels like going to war over basic resources?

What's this?! Knightrider966 saying something that makes some sense?

Well, I guess I'll have to re-evaluate the situation here.

I'm thinking we all need to get into the kind of irrigation the Israelis have been using for awhile, the drip kind.

Some of my hippie pals up in the dry Okanogan county region of E. Wash. use that as they frequently have very limited supplies of water on their land.

Meanwhile, I seriously need to get off my behind and perfect the incredible new, cmac2012, pat. pending 2 gallon shower. Urban, human water use is only about 20% or so of total usage, with most going to Ag. (I think anyway), but still, water districts are always trying to encourage folks to use less at home.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

It's time we started realizing that the planet has a finite capacity to carry humans.
We are rapidly approaching that limit (if we're not there already). Growing more food will just allow the population to continue to grow until the new food has been consumed and we're right back to where we started from. The long term solution is fewer humans.

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I'm sick of .sig files

Nature has an uncanny way of restoring equilbrium.

Yes, thats the sad part. We either reduce the population ourselves or nature will do it for us. I'm guessing that if we leave it to nature it will get ugly.

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I'm sick of .sig files

Mayan calender says 12/21/2012, the end of our time.

That will be an interesting day either way. And to think it's only 4 years 7 months 11 days away. I wonder if it will be one big bang or a gradual occurrence of events.

I'd like to dismiss it as just another doomsday prophecy as would most folks. But I don't know, those Mayans had quite an understanding of time and space.

My gut feeling tells me they might not be that far off. We'll all be hearing alot more about it as the day draws closer, stay tuned.

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

Wonder of wonders, somebody gets it. If the farmers have no reason to contain costs they will act out of mere convenience.

Can anybody think of any other goods or SERVICES that might follow this model?

B

Africa is always starving, India has a never ending stream of God awful problems, and if I lived in China I'd be more afraid of a 7.62 round to the head than starving.

CT is rolling in water, we will sell you guys some!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

One of the guys we go camping with is a neo Nazi, far right wing survivalist nut job. Heck when I saw him at the boat show last year he looked like he was ready to attack something. Camo, army boots, belt, hat! The government is always out to get him, anyway.

Back on Jan 1st of 2000 my dads friend had a ton of fun calling him down in his sealed concrete bunker to say that the world was still around. Actualy he was standing outside the door with a cup of coffee laughing like crazy. He was going to call and say its horrible and see if he could get him to stay in their for like 6 months.

Last I heard he had enough guns to take down a 3rd world country, and enough food to last a year.

2012 will be an amazing day because I'm going to get him to stay in that bunker for months!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

out here in iowa whats eating up our water is the damn ethanol plants

Just every liberal example of socialist economic (sic) policies comes to mind!