California Drought thread

SanguineEmpiricist

I think we need a discussion thread for the californian drought going on. I would like to compile information in the main post and would like help compiling it. If we really are proud to be effective altruists then this is an area we should really figure out.

http://ca.gov/drought/
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action
http://www.californiadrought.org/

http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf
http://www.californiadrought.org/the-state-of-the-california-drought-still-very-bad/
Read this: http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2013/02/ca_drought_impacts_full_report3.pdf

Any one have any good ideas on how we can help?

http://ca.gov/drought/
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action
http://www.californiadrought.org/

http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf
http://www.californiadrought.org/the-state-of-the-california-drought-still-very-bad/
Read this: http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2013/02/ca_drought_impacts_full_report3.pdf

Any one have any good ideas on how we can help?

I agree with most of that, but I think it takes it too far. The bread lines in the Soviet Union were due to the need to hide the favoritism, while the special farmer prices are explicit and lots of favoritism to farmers is well-known. And while farmer political power drags out the process, I don't think it's the main culprit. This is largely the legacy of a system designed for a different environment, where water was not a binding constraint. Switching systems when a commons becomes oversubscribed is very difficult.

I don't see any central planning in California. Yet, I would say the two situations are similar for a different reason: the bakers and the farmers don't really own the resources that pass through their hands. However, the Soviet Union had the advantage of a working black market, while the California farmers are basically just wasting water, in the hope that a maintaining their quota will lead to a larger payout when the system shifts.

The bread lines in the Soviet Union were due to the need to hide the favoritism

Hide? I don't think the fact that party apparatchiks didn't stand in those lines was a secret to anyone.

the legacy of a system designed for a different environment, where water was not a binding constraint.

I think you're factually mistaken. Water rights were always a big deal in the Western US precisely because water is the binding constraint in a lot of places. All the special water rights, the quotas, etc. reflect the system which always recognized that water was preci... (read more)

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California Drought thread

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California Drought thread

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