Comments on: Lost Horizons: Melting glaciers in Kashmir causing regional chaos over water shortages

By: Sasparilla

Sasparilla — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:30:05 +0000

IMHO, this is the most likely place for a nuclear war to occur over the next couple of decades.

As mentioned, virtually all of Pakistan’s water is glacier or snowpack fed. Pakistan doesn’t get alot of rain, virtually all of its agriculture is irrigated. The agreement it has with India for the source rivers gives India certain amounts of flow from those rivers (not percentages, but actual flow rates that don’t decline as the rivers shrink – as nobody was thinking they’d shrink back when it was signed). India is already dry and projected to get more dry as it adds a billion more mouths to feed over the next couple of decades. The situation couldn’t have been designed to create more conflict.

By: Rick Covert

Rick Covert — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:52:47 +0000

We may be on the verge of one of those climactic Pearl Harbors that Joe is talking about.

By: paulm

paulm — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:40:28 +0000

When it comes to water desperate behaviour is on the books….

India prays for rain as water wars break out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ world/ 2009/ jul/ 12/ india-water-supply-bhopal

The monsoon is late, the wells are running dry and in the teeming city of Bhopal, water supply is now a deadly issue. Gethin Chamberlain reports

In Bhopal, and across much of northern India, a late monsoon and the driest June for 83 years are exacerbating the effects of a widespread drought and setting neighbour against neighbour in a desperate fight for survival.

India’s vast farming economy is on the verge of crisis.

By: TomG

TomG — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:54:02 +0000

2035 is when the tap runs dry
But every year from now until 2035 the tap gets a little tighter.
They have water shortages now and every year as the melt water flow slows, the water shortages will increase.
The disaster point will be reached in much less than 25 years.

By: Rick Covert

Rick Covert — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:29:52 +0000

Kastanj,

I don’t believe that the people opposing ACES are opposing it are engaging in some sort of left-wing litmus test. They are genuinely concerned about the fate of the earth’s climate and its implications for humanity. Many of these people are young people who will experience these hardships in the prime of their lives.

Let’s face some facts. The bill as written is very weak and everyone from Paul Krugman in yesterday’s New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/ 2009/ 07/ 13/ opinion/ 13krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion to Joe Romm knows this. Its sad that this is the only game in town. ACES does lay down the ground work that must be built on and it must get stronger. Absent that I don’t know what will curb our ravenous appetite for fossil fuels.

By: Kastanj

Kastanj — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:00:25 +0000

Instability and panic that might cause conflict between Pakistanis and Indians, I wonder how much of the world’s precious total growth and wealth will be stunted by such a development. Toss Bangladesh in there and you will have decades of lost development and general welfare. There is no real economic responsibility or intellectual skepticism among the people roaring about ACES simply because it isn’t the most perfectiest bill in US history. They just hate the idea of people they feel are too left-wing actually getting something done and shamelessly acting on blasphemous thinking (corporations not being perfectly rational? Anathema!).

By: Erik Schimek

Erik Schimek — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:41:15 +0000

Diminishing agricultural water use by 90% in 25 years is a shocking change. People (and their countries) do stupid things when they don’t have any food.