loving art, science and creative kids
6/29/2024 10:06:43 AM
She will enter the workforce wide-eyed and ready to give her all. What will she get in return?
Whatever happened to loyalty?
Wharton Business School aptly dubs the decline of loyalty, ’Shock and Awe for American Workers.' There was a time when business owners didn’t escort employees out with a guard minutes after delivering news of their dismissal. If laid off for economic reasons, you would be rehired as soon as the economy bounced back. A symbiotic relationship fostered a social contract between management and workers. Skilled laborers who remained faithful to employers throughout their working years earned a decent wage and a pension in return for their hard work.
These fortunate people came of age after World War II when the collective mindset of 'we' was crucial to winning the war and dominating world trade. Job hopping was considered a taboo practice and a red flag for recruiters. Businesses encouraged employees to build lifelong relationships.
When you converse with a young worker today, you'll notice their mindset is different. It primarily focuses on ‘I” rather than the collective. Youth prioritize individual rights, giving less thought to the broader society. They are engaged in a workforce that has doubled since 1970 because it now takes two earners to support a family, and older adults remain in the workforce longer. The shift in mindset had its seeds in the 1970s when economic issues led to widespread downsizing, forcing workers to compete for scarce job opportunities. It was a pivotal time, leading to a breakdown in the relationship between employees and employers. The result was reduced salaries, retirement benefits, healthcare, and other perks.
The rise in automation, technology, and globalization, coupled with the decline of unions, bolstered corporate power. In the new landscape, stockholders began to take precedence over other stakeholders, including customers and workers. The downsizing wave of the ‘70s escalated in the 1980s and 90s, with employers showing little interest in rehiring when the economy rebounded.
In today's economy, new hires hesitate to commit themselves to a company, fearing the potential hurt it will cause when let go. They constantly worry that each day might be their last and receive low salaries and minimal benefits under incompetent leaders who don't recognize their accomplishments. Unsurprisingly, the American workforce is on the move, seeking greater flexibility in work schedules, more caring managers, and a better work-life balance.
The average number of jobs an individual has during their lifetime has skyrocketed to twelve, with twenty-nine percent changing fields completely. The change in the work environment since 1950 is dramatic. American workers are older, better educated, and more diverse in race and gender. Employment opportunities shifted to higher-skilled occupations, making it difficult for those with lower levels of education to find jobs. A staggering thirty-nine percent of college students are over twenty-five, further highlighting the instability in the job market and the search for meaning in work. When younger workers change careers, they look for more than a pay raise. They seek jobs that benefit the world, such as dealing with environmental concerns, healthcare, or helping underprivileged communities.
I worry about my grandchildren and whether they feel valued and if they will live fulfilling lives. Will they find challenges that will help them grow? Do they think their employment is worthwhile, and can they see how it fits into the fabric of human endeavors? Is their job stable enough to purchase and maintain a car and home without fear of losing them? And, will their salaries allow them to save enough to retire comfortably?
As shareholders pour money into AI, Robotics, and other advanced technologies, they should consider how the typical worker will manage in a world that doesn’t need them. Will it lead to more people without jobs living on the streets, and who will support them?
As a consumer, I wonder how long it will take before customers rebel at messages like,"We are experiencing a longer than usual wait time; go to our website for answers." I am tired of being told to dial one for new service, two for parts, three for hours of operation, until ten when I'm directed to go online and talk to a chat operator. When fortunate enough to speak to a human being after waiting a half hour. In that case, the voice is heavily accented, incomprehensible, or the person doesn't know the answer to my question.
How dehumanizing can businesses get? These practices certainly aren't a way to retain a loyal customer, yet workers and consumers let it happen and accept impersonal treatment in the workplace and while shopping. Is more of this all we have to look forward to in a future with AI, or is it time to speak up and put an end to it?
________________________
Art is always for sale. Ellen: Wide Eyed and Ready is an acrylic on canvas painting, 20” x 16” x 2”, Available for $ 495, includes shipping in the continental U.S. Purchase on my website or contact me at [email protected]
Please share your experience about workplace loyalty in the comment area below.
________________________
In The Water Factor, the protagonist rejects his parents’ advice to study medicine or law. He attends a job fair, where he is convinced that water is the future growth industry, and access to it will be the most significant issue his generation will confront. When he takes a job as a truck driver, delivering water to rural communities, he sees how far corporations will go to deprive people of a resource that was rightfully theirs. Young graduates would do well to examine the ramifications of the work they sign up to do.
The Water Factor is a Firefly International Award-winning novel in paperback, ebook, and audiobook versions on AMAZON, Barnes and Noble, Audible, and iTunes.
______________________
References:
Podcast (2017) The End of Loyalty: Shock and Awe for Many American Workers. Knowledge at Wharton. Retrieved from https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/podcast/knowledge-at-wharton-podcast/the-end-of-loyalty-shock-and-awe-for-many-american-workers/
Website (2024) 17 Remarkable Career Change Statistics to Know. Apollo Technical. Retrieved from https://www.apollotechnical.com/career-change-statistics/
Naranjoy, A. & Vizcaino, J. (2017) Shifting Times: The Evolution of the American Workplace. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Retrieved from https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/fourth-quarter-2017/evolution-american-workplace
Website (2024) Employment Trends by Generation: How Often Do People Change Jobs? PeoplePath. Retrieved from https://peoplepath.com/blog/employment-trends-by-generation-how-often-do-people-change-jobs/
Lisa, A. (2019) 60 Ways the Workforce has Changed in 50 Years. Stacker. Retrieved from https://stacker.com/business-economy/50-ways-workforce-has-changed-50-years
6/22/2024 10:08:33 PM
Static Intermission
Take in a deep breath and breathe through the static disturbing your peace of mind.
When Anger Turns to Hate
My parents taught me anger was a natural emotion in response to being treated poorly, but it was not all right to hate the person who caused you harm. There are times when it is difficult to follow that advice. Anger comes from annoyance, displeasure, or hostility ranging from mild to irritation to rage. It results from pent-up frustrations, feeling wronged, losing control of a situation, or witnessing unjustness. When it gets exaggerated to the point that it affects judgment, it can turn into hate, creating barriers to healing that lead to further anxiety, restlessness, obsessive thinking, and paranoia. When hostility is directed at you, it is a painful experience. When handled through dialogue, it can be constructive and lead to change.
Hatred arising during periods of crisis, when people feel vulnerable or threatened, creates a desire for control. Negative assumptions learned from friends, family, and the media easily fan the flames of discontent. Hatred-based religion and political ideology, both artificial phenomena, are handy ways to gain power. Their dehumanizing propaganda has psychological and societal impacts that affect both the sender and the receiver. We have only to look at the conflict between Israel and Gaza to see how anger, distrust, and hatred caused thousands to die.
Hatred is unhealthy, impacting the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems. The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine reports that it leaves lasting neural imprints similar to the pathways of addiction. It is almost as challenging to rid yourself of excessive anger and hate as it is to overcome a drug, alcohol, or food addiction.
The good thing is that the human brain is changeable and can learn to love rather than hate. A growing amount of evidence points to humans as having a sense of mortality at birth that distinguishes good from evil and right from wrong. With advances in neuroscience, scientists can see that electrical pathways in the brain are constantly being changed by new experiences that affect who we are and what we believe.
There are days when I feel surrounded by angry people. They make me wary and put me on alert. I don't want to be like them. André Fenton, a neurobiologist at New York University, agrees that the human brain is a fundamentally changeable system, but unfortunately, the media understands this too. They are good at stirring anger, turning it into hate, and changing the brain. When this happens, reprogramming is not easy, for hatred releases neurotransmitters, producing bursts of energy hateful people become addicted to.
I saw a sign at a Jewish protest march that said, "Hatred isn't born, It's Taught.” The hatred of the Jewish people dates back to the Greco-Roman era. Since then, Jews have become a scapegoat, blamed for Jesus's death, for kidnapping and murdering Christian children, for spreading the Bubonic Plague, for rigging the economy, controlling the media, and stirring religious discord. For some unknown reason, they are also blamed for an increase in police brutality, gay rights, climate change, and foreign policy decisions they don't like.
Embedded hatred is difficult to combat. It starts in backyard barbecues, religious services, and schools where children are taught they are more entitled to life than others. It has plagued for decades between the Hutus and Tutsis, the Sunnis and Shiites, the Muslims and Hindus, Christians and Muslims, Communism and Democracy, Native and African Americans and White Nationalists. What a waste of human life and resources! How much suffering such conflicts cause!
Despite this, there is hope for change. Consider Vietnam, where, during the war, a diorama of a Vietnamese village was erected at the Chicago Museum of Science, encouraging children to plan and shoot at the village with guns. Nineteen-year-old military recruits were taught to hate the North Vietnamese and died because of it. After losing and Vietnam was united under Communist rule, the country blossomed, becoming an important trading partner of the United States. Nearly 212,000 American tourists visited Vietnam in 2023.
rude, and when my tire hits a pothole.
I'm angry that businesses show little loyalty to employees, that youths bury their noses in phone screens, that so many people are homeless, and that drivers are discourteous at four-way stop signs.things I can affect after learning how corporations take possession of resources like water, which should be a right. I wrote The Water Factor to call people to action. Many of my predictions are already coming true. Last week's news reports reported on the plight of Mexico City residents without water, the theft of water trucks, and how thieves break into pipes to siphon off water for personal use. You and I can change humanity if we put our heads and hearts into it.
Questions about art? Static Intermission is a 16 “ by 20” painting on thick canvas. It is available for $ 395, including shipping in the continental U.S. For information, contact me at [email protected]
Add The Water Factor to your summer reading list. Hold your breath with an eco-thriller that will keep you turning pages. You won’t be sorry. Purchase on AMAZON and Barnes and Noble. Look for it in audio format by the end of next week and in bookstores everywhere.
References:
Why We Hate: The Biology of Hate Activity. Discovery Education. retrieved from https://www.teachingwithtestimony.com/themes/twt_ui/images/Why-We-Hate-Activity-Biology-Of-Hate.pdf
Lathram, B. 2015. We are Wired to Learn, Change, and Engage: The Brain with Dr. David Eagleman. Getting Smart.Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2015/09/23/we-are-wired-to-learn-change-and-engage-the-brain-with-dr-david-eagleman/
Website (2024)10 Tough Questions on Antisemitism Explained. AJC Global Voice. retrieved from https://www.ajc.org/news/10-tough-questions-on-antisemitism-explained
Linehan, M.PhD & Porges, S. PhD &McGonigal, K. PhD & O’Hanlon, B. LMFT(2014)How to Work with a Client Who is Hostile and Critical. NICABM.Retrieved from https://www.nicabm.com/program/fb-anger/?del=gad.1034.anger.allext2&network=g&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21029941112&ad_group_id
Website (2024) Why do People Hate? MedicineNet. Retrieved from https://www.medicinenet.com/why_do_people_hate/article.htm
6/15/2024 1:20:48 PM
I would fall asleep, too, if I had to play Woke games to get elected. The ranting and raving they expose us to are boring, petty, and non-productive.
WOKE FATIGUE
A person who rants against Woke, slides into a Democratic category reserved for closed-minded, intolerant, controlling, and arrogant individuals. If it weren’t for hate-mongers stirring up division, the word would be devoid of emotion and probably relegated to words rarely used. Instead, its usage has become a rallying cry for right and left extremists.
Woke was first used in the Black community after a 1938 Lead Belly audio recording was released. In Scottsboro Boys, a song telling the story of nine Black teenagers and young men falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931, Lead Bellu urges listeners to stay woke, a warning to pay attention to social and political injustice by the states and elected officials. In the mid-1900s, progressive Black Americans used woke in the racial justice movement to refer to someone who was informed, educated, and conscious of social and racial inequality. It wasn’t until 2014, when the Black Lives Matter movement spotlighted police brutality following the police shooting of Michal Brown, that it began being used more often. The word grew in popularity in activist circles spurred by the fatal deaths of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, George Floyd, and others when it was suddenly co-opted.
Republican conservatives started labeling liberals with it during the last election, using Wokism as a pejorative term for progressive values. It was popularized by former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who penned the book "Woke Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.
According to The Washington Post, the DeSantis administration’s definition of woke is “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,” an ideology he rejected and fought against. His anti-woke agenda created the Parental Rights in Education Law to restrict teaching about race, oppression, gender, and sexual orientation in the classroom. The Stop WOKE Act went further, eliminating content in college and high school courses that led to discussions around systems of oppression. DeSantis banned spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from public college campuses. Hundreds of conservative-led efforts across the country have followed his lead.
Because Woke was associated with Black people, the word became a club white supremacists use to batter those who embrace liberal ideology. Democrats view such people as bullies who destroy lives to leverage a cruel agenda. Wokism has been compared to the Inquisition, The Salem Witch Trials, and McCarthyism. A difference in its use today is that it is heard on both sides of the political aisle, fueling media-driven hatred of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
On the left, Wokism promoted defunding the police laws that resulted in a record number of murders and violent crimes. Without fear of arrest or incarceration, criminals were emboldened to rob, assault, and kill innocent people. On the right, cruelty came to the forefront through racism that indoctrinates black children in schools, teaching that they are innately inferior due to the color of their skin.
The fight for equity in college admissions at top institutions pits poor white and Asian students with excellent grades and test scores against Black and Hispanic students with lower grades. Environmentalists clamoring to raise gas and oil prices to lower carbon emissions hurt those experiencing poverty with no other option. For Americans who rely on government health clinics and state entitlements, the influx of illegal immigrants is a tremendous problem, burdening health care delivery.
Social problems are complex and can't be narrowed down to catchy phrases. They raise moral, economic, and social issues that need to be addressed by rational individuals who don't throw barbs. Woke agitates and divides people instead of pulling them together. It keeps us from solving problems with compassion, equality, morality, and all the ethical things we were taught to embrace as children, by having us play a rigged game of wealth and power that creates permanent victims. It emphasizes identity politics over social class and ideology and reduces complex issues to simplistic narratives that make people afraid to express opinions for fear of misinterpretation.
.
I don't believe I'm the only one with Woke fatigue and its partisan and ideological rhetoric that threatens stability and harmony. We need to reframe social issues and eliminate vitriolic words and simplistic phrases so problems will be considered from a broad perspective. The Water Factor, the first novel in my Rightfully Mine series, explores environmental issues from various perspectives, asking readers to consider an age-old question, whether the earth's reserves should be used for individual profit or the common good. As the world's population increases and natural resources are stretched thin, we must reexamine what constitutes a civil society to avoid bloodshed.
References;
Alfonseca, K. (2024) What does ‘woke’ mean, and why are some conservatives using it?ABC News. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/woke-conservatives/story?id=93051138
Hanson, V. (2022) Wokism is a Cruel and Dangerous Cult. Independent Institute. |Retrieved from https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=13968&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1K-
Matter of Opinion podcast (2023) The Woke Burnout Is Real—And Politics is Catching Up. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/opinion/woke-culture-wars-schools.html?
Neiman. S. (2023) The Fatal Tension at the Heart of Wokeism. Time Magazine. Retrieved from https://time.com/6290367/susan-neiman-tension-at-the-heart-of-wokeism/
Please share your thoughts about Woke Fatigue on my blog site at www.eichingerfineart.com/blog
Questions about art? Contact me at [email protected]
Winner of the FIrebird Internatioan Award for best dystopian novels and a Literary Titan Gold Metal recipiant for best thriller.
Add The Water Factor to your summer reading list. It is an eco-thriller about corporate crime that will keep you turning pages.
Purchase The Water Factor today. You won't be sorry. On AMAZON
or Barnes and Noble. Soon to be in audio format and in bookstores everywhere.
6/8/2024 3:47:15 PM
Rock Creek Awakens
How wonderful are the gurgling sounds from a freshwater creek flowing rapidly on a hot summer day! There was a time when you also drink its cool water without getting sick.
Of the seventy percent of the Earth covered with water, ninety-seven percent is salt water. Last week, a reader asked if I knew anything about desalinization. Though I know a little, her query inspired me to investigate further. Because I was involved in bringing the Blueback, a WWII submarine, to OMSi, I know that submarines have a distillation apparatus that heats and vaporizes seawater. When the salts are removed and the vapor is cooled, the condensation goes into a freshwater collecting tank. Submarines can produce 10,0000 to 40,000 gallons daily to cool electronic equipment and support the crew.
I also know that Israel has major desalination plants that push saltwater through membranes with microscopic pores, leaving larger salt molecules behind. The drought of 2018 pushed the country to the edge, scorching the Fertile Crescent and forcing Israel to confront the shortage. The problem they had at first was with seawater microorganisms colonizing and blocking the pores, requiring costly, chemical-intensive cleaning. Researchers didn't give up; designing a chemical-free system using porous lava stone to capture the microorganisms before reaching the membranes made the process more efficient and less expensive. Israel gets fifty-five percent of its domestic water from desalination and produces more water than it needs, inspiring other parched nations to do the same. Desalination costs one-third of what it did in the 1990s.
You might wonder why California doesn't build desalination plants on the Pacific coast and pump water inland. They have twelve that are very expensive to run, making it prohibitive to pump water to a state like Nevada without a shoreline. Like most environmental solutions, there are pros and cons to every possibility. The advantage is that it is possible to produce large amounts of potable water by removing salt and other minerals through reverse cosmos, thus increasing the water supply for drinking water, agricultural irrigation, and industrial needs. Desalinization provides independence from seasonal variations, a significant advantage in regions where availability fluctuates wildly.
Disadvantages start with the initial capital expenses for building the plants and the ongoing operational costs, which include significant energy consumption. Desalinization machines are expensive, with considerable continuing maintenance and energy costs. Until costs come down and the plants become more affordable, widespread adoption is unlikely, but that may change in the future.
Removing salt from water increases climate change concerns by contributing to a high carbon footprint since the process relies on fossil fuels. The chemicals used in the process can affect water quality, posing a health risk because of its high sodium content. Disposing minerals from seawater (brine) back into the ocean creates additional problems by elevating salt and chemicals harmful to marine life and disrupting the balance of aquatic ecosystems. Proper brine disposal management is crucial to minimize environmental impact.
California doesn't have a shortage of water, but it does have a shortage of cheap water. The state uses an ancient system for water allocation, where some people get it for free while others have to pay. Most of their water is used for agriculture, and those ag users don't pay market rates. Without subsidies, many types of farming wouldn't be cost-effective. Yet, without modification, the subsidy and allocation program set up when show packs were historically high will create an ongoing crisis. All farms should have drip irrigation that goes directly into the soil rather than get absorbed in the air. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, up to a million acres of prime farmland may need to come out of production in the San Joaquin Valley. Almonds, alfalfa, dates, kiwis, rice, and cotton belong on the chopping block. Grain and other hay crops, turf farms, wheat, and sunflowers are the lowest uses, while vineyards, pistachios, olives, plums, prunes, and apricots are in the middle.
Water Use in California
Water rights vary from state to state, with great differences between the eastern and western parts of the United States. In the East, they are uniformly riparian, while in the West, they are hybrid appropriations depending on complex ownership laws. Transferring ownership doesn’t guarantee that water rights will be attached. Based on English Common law, Riparian rights grant water rights to property owners “whose land physically touches a river, pond, or lake.” The right is transferred when the land is sold and remains valid even if the right is never exercised and the water isn’t used. Appropriative rights allocate water based on historical usage rather than land ownership. It is based on seniority and can be lost if not used regularly. Senior rights holders can use their allocation even if there isn’t enough leftover for junior rights holders. The system is tricky for states west of the Mississippi River and too complex to discuss.
In all states, it’s wise to remember that purchasers are not just buying land but also water rights. Reading The Water Factor will provide a glimpse into the fights arising from antiquated laws in a world with over 8 billion people. Find out what is happening in your community and keep abreast of issues that deprive you of your right to clean, affordable water.
Purchase The Water Factor today. You won’t be sorry.
On AMAZON
or Barnes and Noble. Soon to be in bookstores everywhere.
References:
Shook. (2023) What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Desalination Plants? NE Water. Retrieved from https://www.newater.com/pros-and-cons-of-desalination-plants/#:~:text
Website (2016 ) Israel Proves the DesalinationEra is Here. Scientific America. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the-desalination-era-is-here/
Website (2024) Water Rights by State. AQUAOSO. Retrieved from https://aquaoso.com/water-rights/
Website (2024) How Submarines Work. How Stuff Works. Retrieved from https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/submarine2.htm#:~:text
Please share your comments below.
6/1/2024 1:16:34 PM
EMERGING
Emerge from your shell, and don’t let yourself be fooled. Nothing is more important than access to clean water. Take action before it is too late, like in Mexico City.
Sunday’s headline in the Washington Post last week read, “Mexico City’s water ‘Day Zero’ may come even for the wealthiest residents. The city of 22 million residents gets its water from a dry system. Some fear it will run out of water by the end of the month. Last January, Raquel Campos received a message from her condo’s building manager saying the city hadn’t delivered water to its cistern. Taps in her upscale home went dry four days later. When it went on, days later, the pressure was much lower. To cover the cost of having water delivered, her monthly condo expenses increased by thirty percent.
This could happen in the United States as well. No…I made a mistake. This is happening in the United States. Jackson, Mississippi; Baltimore, Maryland; Houston, Texas; and Flint, Michigan, are among the cities facing a similar crisis. Many communities lack the resources to maintain their water infrastructure, septic system, and wastewater treatment. As aquifers and streams dry up, Latino, Black, and Indigenous communities and those in low-income and rural areas are disproportionately affected. Being forced to rely on bottled water costs an estimated $1,350 per person yearly. My novel, The Water Factor, is set on a Native American reservation and in Ethiopia to show vivid examples of what is occurring worldwide.
Can you imagine what would happen if the Colorado River went completely dry? After supporting life for over six million years, it will affect the entire ecosystem, forcing animals that drink from the river and eat the plants that grow by it to leave. It will put an end to inspiring river trips through the Grand Canyon. The Biden administration is trying to combat the unsustainable use by dedicating 15 billion dollars to Arizona, California, Nevada, and several Native American tribes in exchange for cutting their water consumption by the end of 2036.
Do you wonder what is happening in your backyard? The following are a few examples, but every state is affected.
- Oregon: Water shortages and groundwater problems have been chronic issues in Central Oregon for over a century. Soaring regional growth over the past two decades will make the challenges even more difficult to resolve. As this region's population increases, so will the number of straws pulling on a finite amount of water resources.
- Michigan: Michigan is lucky to be surrounded by four great lakes, over 11,000 inland lakes, and 63 major watersheds. However, the state faces microplastic pollution, contaminated drinking water, PFAS contamination, algae blooms in Lake Erie, Failing septic systems, and erosion.
- New York City: NYC’s water supply is unfiltered, and an aggressive watershed protection program is needed to protect it at its source. The quality of its drinking water depends on it. The most significant threats to NYC are sprawl, aging infrastructure with lead pipes, and pharmaceuticals in its waters. Water shortages due to drought occasionally affect New York City because the reservoirs supplying the city are upstate.
- North Carolina: North Carolina has historically been considered a water-rich state. However, the state has faced water shortages recently due to rapid population growth, drought, and aquifer degradation. Experts predict that if present growth and water use trends continue, North Carolinians will find it increasingly difficult to satisfy their water needs in the coming decades.
- Louisiana: Big and small communities in south Louisiana, including the state's two largest metro areas, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, are grappling with saltwater intrusion into underground aquifers and critical surface water sources like the Mississippi River. Drinking water for millions of people is threatened.
- Kentucky: Surface- and groundwater supplies in Kentucky are susceptible to pollution from both natural and manmade sources. Naturally occurring substances such as iron, manganese, barium, selenium, hydrogen sulfide, and salt may be present at undesirable levels.
- California: California’s relationship with water continues to generate controversy. The most essential issues center on distributing and sharing the resource — getting the water to the right place at the right time — while not harming the environment and aquatic species. Distribution is coupled with conflicts between competing interests over available supplies. The water demand is highest during dry summer when little natural precipitation or snowmelt occurs. California’s capricious climate also leads to extended periods of drought and major floods.The water demand is highest during dry summer when little natural precipitation or snowmelt occurs. California's capricious climate also leads to extended periods of drought and major floods. Though the situation improved in 2023, Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs remain at 36% capacity.
- North Dakota: North Dakota has 37 documented cases of groundwater quality degradation. About two-thirds of those cases involve gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, or lubricating oil contamination from leakage or spills. Most of the degradation can be corrected by simple means, such as excavating contaminated earth materials.
- Illinois: Many Illinois rivers, streams, and lakes are contaminated with E. coli bacteria; contain fish that have been exposed to mercury and PCBs; exhibit low oxygen levels; and contain excessive phosphorus, manganese, siltation, suspended solids, and algae, all of which negatively impact aquatic life.
- Texas: Texas is prone to periods of drought that impact water availability for agricultural, industrial, and municipal uses that exacerbate existing water challenges. Another hot, dry summer may push parts of Texas to the brink. The Rio Grande hasn’t flowed consistently into the Gulf of Mexico since the early 2000s. And, because the Colorado River is running dry, Water releases to coastal wetlands have been halted, affecting bays and estuaries. In Corpus Christi, a major refining and export hub for Texas shale oil and gas, city authorities have imposed water use restrictions on residents. At the same time, they let the region’s largest industrial water consumers operate unabated.
THE WATER FACTOR: A RIGHTFULLY MINE NOVEL. It may have all the bells and whistles of a thriller set in the future, but it is based on factual events that have already occurred. The Water Factor will have you turning pages as you learn what happened when water became a commodity and was no longer a right. If you don't see it in your local bookstore yet, ask them to order it. Learn more at my author's website www.marilynneeichinger.com To purchase immediately go to Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
References:
Patel, K. (2024) Mexico City’s water ‘Day Zero’ may come even for the wealthiest residents. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/05/25/mexico-city-water-day-zero/
O’Neil, R. (2023) Addressing a Growing Water Crisis in the U.C. CDC Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.cdcfoundation.org/blog/addressing-growing-water-crisis-us
Jhung, L. (2024) What Will Happen if the Colorado River Drys Up? Outside. Retrieved from https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/colorado-river-drying-up/
Kohn, M (2024) Rising population, shrinking water: Central Oregon works to solve chronic water troubles Deschutes River Conservancy. Retrieved from https://www.deschutesriver.org/in-the-media/rising-population-shrinking-water-central-oregon-works-to-solve-chronic-water-troubles#:
2024 Website. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. North Carolina Water Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-02/documents/ws-ourwater-north-carolina-state-fact-sheet.pdf
2024 website Louisiana's Rural Water Problems Persist Despite Federal AidGoverning. Retrieved from https://www.governing.com/infrastructure/louisianas-rural-water-problems-persist-despite-federal-aid#:~:text
2024 website. Sources of Water. University of Kentucky Geological Survey. Retrieved from https://www.uky.edu/KGS/education/factsheet/factsheet_water.pdf
Garklavs, G. (2024). North Dakota Ground-Water Quality, U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved from https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/0744/report.pdf
2024Website. Protecting clean water in Illinois is essential to community, economic, and ecosystem health. Illinois Environmental Council. Retrieved from https://ilenviro.org/clean-water/#:~:text
Baddour, D. (2024) Another hot, dry summer may push water supplies in parts of Texas to the brink. Inside Climate News. Retrieved from https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/22/texas-water-supply-reservoirs-drought/
2024 Website. California Water Challenges Remain Despite Significant Precipitation in 2023. Environment, Land & Resources. Retrieved from https://www.globalelr.com/2024/02/california-water-challenges-remain-despite-significant-precipitation-in-2023/#:~:text/
