Surprised to read in the LA Times that “…right now [California] has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one…”
I’d like to see LA want to switch, in our hearts, from lush landscaping to desert terrain. Palm trees aren’t native plants. The way the hills and canyons look is our natural terrain. Sprinklers often come on at night when people don’t see them, so I think people assume grass naturally grows here. But if we don’t manually water it, it dies. Anywhere we see green grass is an alert that someone is wasting water (except in the rainy winter). Even in fancy places or landmarks we love that take our breath away.
Moving from South Carolina to Tucson, Arizona was a shock, but I got used to the fact that I lived in a desert so it looked like a desert. Southern California needs to gently accept that we’re actually in a desert pumping in water to make it look tropical. It will be hard to give up the way we have perceived our home for decades. Deserts are beautiful too though. Especially when there’s enough water in them to drink, bathe, cook, grow food and live.
thewholeruth.com 