Mark, your last comment hits me where I live, work and play.
mjimih wrote:I think GW heat will put a huge strain on fresh water resources.
Most certainly true. Billions depend on waters draining off the Himalayas and neighboring ranges. But we don’t need to go as far as Asia or Africa to find evidence of impending fresh water shortages.
Consider the conditions of the two biggest river systems of the southwest US and northern Mexico; the Colorado draining the western side of the Rocky Mountains and the Rio Grande draining the eastern slopes. It’s well known that the Colorado’s waters seldom even reach the Sea of Cortez any more, and it has been this way for decades. Now a similar fate may be happening to the once mighty Rio Grande:
Wikipedia wrote:In the summer of 2001, a 328-foot (100m) wide sandbar formed at the mouth of the river, marking the first time in recorded history that the Rio Grande failed to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The sandbar was subsequently dredged, but it re-formed almost immediately. Spring rains the following year flushed the re-formed sandbar out to sea, but it returned in the summer of 2002. As of the fall of 2003, the river once again reaches the Gulf.
Living down here I’d like to use the Rio Grande recreationally as I have in the past for things like fishing, birding and camping, but it has become too dangerous in places. (Again, as it was at times in the days of the old west.)
mjimih wrote:Already I'm sure fracking in America is ruining well water all over the place. If the aquifers get polluted what then?
This is an exaggeration, I hope, but the consern is valid. There is a major oil boom going on in south Texas just to my north. “Fracking” has produced tens of thousands of jobs in the area, and so far, to my knowledge there haven’t been any reports of water well contamination yet (and almost everyone who doesn't live inside a town is on well water, as am I). The oil companies give assurances that what they are drilling for is so deep that it can’t affect groundwater. Their probably right, if nothing ever goes wrong. But we've all heard of Murphy's Law, and we all know that oil and especially gas floats on water …
mjimih wrote:Surely Earth can handle an extra BILLION people? Right?
Under current mismanagement? Seems doubtful.
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.