Interesting stuff

  1. Interesting: Check out Dutch party platforms (there are many parties) as interpreted by an AI.
  2. Read: Our climate goals are completely at odds with our rising fossil fuel consumption.
  3. Act! “Watershed moment”: new EU rules on Airbnb-style rentals agreed. Good, now tax those revenues and sue the money to help neighborhoods damaged by outsiders displacing locals — as I suggested in 2017.
  4. Listen to the story of a Black community that finally — after 80 years — was able to get a police shooting range moved out of earshot gunshot #EnvironmentalJustice.
  5. Read: Some companies are releasing “unfiltered” AIs, which will help with innovation but also with spreading lies and enabling bad actors. A classic dilemma.
  6. Listen: Why Is It So Hard (and Expensive) to Build Anything in America?
  7. Read: Warming climate is spreading plant diseases (bacteria, molds, etc.), which will weaken food security.
  8. It’s getting hot in here… the Earth had its first +2C day on 17 Nov; the entire year of 2024 may average +1.5C over the 1850-1900 baseline. US states — and cities in particular — are moving towards unliveable (note year in the picture):

H/T to CD

Albuquerque’s lawn problem

Nathalie writes*

Albuquerque, New Mexico, is teetering on the cliff of total water disaster. In August of 2022, one of its main water sources, the Rio Grande river, ran dry in Albuquerque for the first time in forty years, an undeniable sign of chronic overuse. Another major source, the Colorado river is facing a similar fate, and the city’s underground aquifer has struggled for years. And, of the remaining groundwater sources, several have been contaminated by local Air Force bases with PFAS, or toxic ‘forever chemicals’ which are extremely difficult to remove. Drought and scarcity is a critical issue facing the region and is expected to worsen, but you wouldn’t know it from the landscape. Despite being a desert city, Albuquerque boasts an impressive nineteen golf courses, widespread irrigated agriculture, and countless lush, green lawns.

For a city in a temperate climate with plentiful water resources, so much green wouldn’t be issue. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case, and by pretending to be such a city Albuquerque has overused its water sources for decades. Its water ‘savings account’ has been depleted, but many local landscapers still act like they’ve got a blank check. And legislators agree: one report found that wealthy landowners were getting tax breaks to water their lawns amidst a major drought crisis.

Golf courses are another major guzzler, with one in Albuquerque taking 530 acre feet of public water per year, or around 650 million liters. In New Mexico as a whole, each golf course typically uses between approximately 123 million and 616 million liters of water yearly, making them the largest users in the commercial category.

While residential and commercial water overuse is a problem, the agricultural sector is by far the biggest contributor. Nearly 80% of New Mexico’s water supply goes to agriculture – primarily dairies, pecan, and alfalfa farms. The problem is circular: the more New Mexico heats up, the more water is needed, and the more resources are depleted. One report found that as temperatures rise, farmers will need to irrigate 15% more than they currently do to match current crop yields.

The Rio Grande drying up just south of Albuquerque in 2022.

However, there are local movements trying to change the system. Xeriscaping, or desert landscaping, is growing in popularity, and the Albuquerque water authority offers rebates in exchange for its adoption. There’s also pushes for education: Albuquerque offers free irrigation classes to help local gardeners better manage their water use. The benefits is substantial: when residents adopt desert landscaping, outdoor water use often drops from 50-70% of residential use to 3%. Through these efforts, from 1990 to 2015 residential water usage among Albuquerque Water Authority customers dropped by around 37 million liters per year. In fact, groundwater sources have even begun to rebound Nonetheless, little progress has been made in advancing agricultural water conservation. Ultimately, conservation, especially for residential use, is going in the right direction, but huge parts of the system continue to waste massive quantities of water. If current trends continue, Albuquerque is facing down a future as dry as the sand it stands on.

Bottom Line: Despite major droughts and scarcity, New Mexico continues to squander its water on agricultural and commercial uses. Some conservationists are trying to turn the tide and introduce a more desert-friendly landscape, but it’s an uphill battle which is moving far too slowly.


* Please help my Water Scarcity students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂

Tbilisi’s deadly floods

Kato writes*

The night of June 13, 2015, is a moment in Tbilisi’s history that residents will never forget. What is now known as the “June Tragedy” was a Saturday evening when the thunderstorm hit Tbilisi, swelling river Vere and causing a destructive flood that killed 21 residents. Excessive atmospheric precipitation has caused the swelling of the Vere River periodically starting from 1893, which has had detrimental effects on Tbilisi’s economy and infrastructure. Originating from Georgia’s eastern slopes, the river flows into the Mtkvari River basin in Tbilisi, the valley covering heavily inhabited settlements, like Vake and Bagebi.

Rescuers in Tbilisi street after 2015 flooding. June, 2015

There are two dimensions of the flood, natural and human. Experts have deduced the main natural cause of the 2015 flood to be the torrential rainfall that lasted for about 3 hours, creating an excessive amount of surface water on the slopes of the Vere Valley. Deforestation and human degradation of forest covers have resulted in the loss of its water-retention ability, causing a deadly flood. In the Vere Valley, the forest cover has decreased from 8% to 0.4% (HumanRights, 2015), and none of the trees are older than 20, which is relatively young compared to the required 40-50-year lifespan.

Different causes have been attributed to the severity of the flood’s effect, but one of them is certain- the increasing infrastructure in the river’s valley. Merab Gafrindashvili, the head of the Geology Department of the National Agency of the Ministry of Environmental Protection stated: “Since the 50s, the exploitation of the Vere River began in an unsystematic manner. The floodplain of the river belongs to the river, we started building residential houses, houses, parking lots and a zoo in this place, due to which the river could not carry the timber and sand material brought down by the flood.” (NewPress, 2015)

Due to the increasing effects of climate change, the floods have only been increasing in Tbilisi. The most recent occurred on 30th August 2023, when precipitation exceeded 2015’s flood by 200 percent. Once again the root of the tragedy was the landslide on the road connecting Tskneti-Bethania. The land mass amounting to one million cubic meters in the Vere River Valley caused destructive flooding. According to the official reports the damage done amounted to around US$90 million (Sputnik, 2023).

Georgia, as a county with a high risk of natural disasters, has been trying to adapt to the accelerated speed of climate change and take measures. Due to frequent rains, rivers start to rise, coming out of the riverbed and destroying local infrastructure. The government has been adapting to the circumstances by funding projects with UNDP to ensure protection from natural risks (UNDP, 2021). Nevertheless, it still has a long way to go as even the capital, Tbilisi, “lacks an updated master plan with infrastructure development based on clearly defined construction standards and a thorough assessment of the environmental and social impact of growth.” (Medium, 2015).

As water levels rise, it is taking a toll on residential life, agriculture, and economic development. Governments and experts should strive to prevent future catastrophes by any means. In the words of Louisa Vinton, UNDP Representative Resident of Georgia: “There is nothing inevitable about a natural disaster. They are always caused ultimately by human beings. So if human beings cause natural disasters, then they can prevent them.” (UNDP, 2021)

Bottom Line: Destructive floods, torrential rainfall, exploitation, rising water levels, natural disasters.


* Please help my Water Scarcity students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂

The climate crisis is drying out La Paz

Laszlo writes*

Bolivia is one of the countries that is most affected by climate change, which plays a significant role in water resource depletion. Its capital, La Paz, and its agglomeration El Alto, located in the mountain range of the Andes, are particularly affected by it as it is 3,500 meters above sea level, where climate is changing faster.

In parallel, population increase is a common pressure on water resources worldwide. La Paz’s growth rate being around 4 percent and El Alto’s being 8 percent annually increases water demand. The drinkable water supply has been plummeting for the last 30 years.

Glaciers contribute around 15 to 30 percent of supply. Due to rising temperatures (0.8 degrees in 1999 to 1 degree in 2018) and the shortening of precipitation seasons from 6 months to 3 months, their surface area has decreased by 40 percent since 1999, meaning lower supply.

Climate change also affects precipitation, which nearly 90 percent of the City’s reservoirs rely on.

The lack of effective and maintained infrastructure for water management does not help the effects of the climate crisis either. The reservoirs located in the heights of the La Paz agglomeration lose lots of water from evaporation and higher temperatures. 45 percent of the city’s water is lost due to defective dams and irrigation.

The climate crisis has been the cause of various crises in the past, such as the 2016-17 water crisis. In November 2016, the south area, city center, and some parts of El Alto experienced a sudden water shortage and were alarmed by the fact that the main water-providing dams (Incachaca, Hampaturi, and Ajuankhota) were at their lowest capacities. In the following months, 94 neighborhoods in La Paz and El Alto suffered from receiving water for only 3 hours every 3 days.

This winter (summer for the northern hemisphere) was been one of the hottest on record. As of September 2023, residents of the agglomeration of La Paz, El Alto, have been only given access to water at dedicated times of the day. A popular water shortage “reflex” has been activated, and water is rationed.

Taking into account these factors, governmental entities have not yet started to track glacier retreats and neither have they started implementing strategies to tackle the consequences of the climate crisis on water resources.

Bottom Line: La Paz is experiencing a deepening water crisis exacerbated by the lack of proactive measures and strategic planning from governmental entities.


* Please help my Water Scarcity students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂

Buybacks and droughts – The Murray

Per writes*

Two Cities, One Community. Albury Wodonga is a rural region along the mighty Murray River, which is separated by the NSW/Victoria border.

Living along the Murray can be both a blessing and a curse. During rainy season, there is an abundance of water, but the dry season places extreme stress not only on the community, but also policy makers and regulators who have to manage the distribution of water effectively and sustainably.

The recent major droughts in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) have increased water scarcity. According to the Australian Government, in times of extreme droughts, water allocation is drastically reduced for agricultural as well as environmental uses.

The government defines some of the visible effects of droughts in the Basin: economic suffering, loss of drinking water, reduced crop yields, and decline in flora and fauna.

The government has implemented water buybacks to try to address economic and environmental issues. Water buybacks ensure that the entire Murray Darling Basin has enough water when the river dries out. Buybacks allow the government to set water aside, to create a reserve for extreme droughts that can be used to protect wetlands, fish, and waterbirds. (Rotche, 2023). Water buybacks also aim to stop people from extracting scarce water to sell for profit.

The droughts have caused many political and environmental issues in Albury Wodonga. In 2019, farmers drove their tractors onto the streets to protest high water prices during a drought. The farmers acknowledged water scarcity  but they were unhappy about the distribution of water. Major irrigation companies had not left enough water for farmers and people.

The documentary “When the river runs dry” demonstrates how overexploitation of the Murray River is not just bad for the citizens of Albury Wodonga, but also the ecosystems along the Murray River. The documentary also shows how river communities can be negatively impacted by illegal activities from towns upstream.

Bottom Line: Droughts in the Darling Basin cause severe environmental, political and social issues. There are mixed views towards water buybacks, as they can cause an unfair allocation of drinking water, by which major irrigation companies are prioritized, leaving not enough water for recreational and essential usage. Thus, the droughts continue to pose severe issues in Albury Wodonga, and policy makers and regulators must continue to search for a sustainable and effective solution to ensure fair allocation.


* Please help my Water Scarcity students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂

The Garden of Eden’s non-idyllic waters

Marta writes*

The Tigris and Euphrates have long defined Mesopotamia (literally “between rivers”) as the cradle of human civilization. Historically associated with biblical Garden of Eden, these waters symbolise abundance and life. The contrast between this imagery and the current state of these waters is dramatic. (The New York Times, 2023). In 2018, more than 118.000 people were hospitalized in Basra, southern Iraq, due to water contamination (Human Rights Watch, 2019). The Shatt al-Arab (SAA) river, formed by the convergence of Tigris and Euphrates in Southern Iraq, represents the main source of water in Basra but its quality is alarmingly poor.

The poisoning and related protests by residents captured international attention. Multiple studies have been conducted to investigate the quality of SAA waters and the roots of the contamination. The results revealed that SAA waters are not suitable for drinking or irrigation (according to Iraqi and  WHO standards) due to high salinity and high concentration of calcium and Total Dissolved Solids.

Human Rights Watch report places these results in the context of years of water mismanagement by local and federal authorities. Water treatment plants are not meeting standards for removing contaminants, testing water quality, and sufficient chlorine levels. Moreover, the decentralization of power over water management encouraged private and public entities to discharge untreated waste into the river and illegally tap into the sewage network.

HRW recorded two oil spills in the SAA near Basra. In addition, satellite imagery reveals garbage accumulation and two unidentified pipelines releasing large volumes of waste liquid into the canals in Basra. According to HRW, in the period from March 2018 to November 2018 general poor water quality might have been aggravated by a large algal bloom along the SAA, causing the disease outbreak. High temperatures, accumulation of garbage, presence of human and animal sewage, fertilizers and oil residues in the water facilitate algal proliferation (Human Rights Watch, 2019).

In response to Basra water crisis, the United Nations and different partners offered support to Basra Water Directorate and to the local governorate. For instance, Japan International Cooperation Agency and the United States Agency for International Development financed rehabilitation of multiple water treatment plants in Basra governorate while UK government financed through a loan the construction of a desalination plant on the sea in Faw district. (United Nations, 2020). Despite the positive intentions of these projects, their effects are limited. As in other cases of water scarcity, it takes time to regenerate the water system and collective efforts from all actors within the Tigris and Euphrates watershed is required to achieve substantial results.

Bottom Line: Formed by the convergence of Tigris and Euphrates in Southern Iraq, the Shatt al-Arab river suffer from alarming contamination and salinity. In Basra, the poor water quality of the river connected to water mismanagement caused widespread of illness and constitute a major unsolved water crisis.


* Please help my Water Scarcity students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂

The missing Mississippi?

Silan writes*

Well, it’s not really “missing”, but the Mississippi River is experiencing record low levels of water in multiple places.

The Mississippi River provides drinking water for the residents of New Orleans, Louisiana, and its historically low water levels the past few years have posed a huge risk to that supply. Furthermore, the Gulf of Mexico has begun creeping up the Mississippi River. In early October of this year, the saltwater was 20 miles from New Orleans (Chavez 2023). This salt water intrusion has endangered the ecosystems on the banks of the river as well as created the risk of salinization of New Orleans’ already dwindling water supply.

Predictions of threatened safe drinking water supplies in New Orleans have stirred panic despite efforts from the local government to keep residents calm. Water bottles in supermarkets have begun selling out as people hoard water supplies in their fright (Chavez 2023).

But why is this happening now? Climate change is the general answer. Extreme temperatures have plagued states all along the Mississippi and the high temperatures as well as lack of rain has facilitated the drying up of the river we are seeing at the moment (Wright 2023). Lack of water flow in the river has destroyed its ability to push the saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico out as it normally would (Davis 2023).

Because the issue stems from climate change it is extremely difficult to solve as there is not one identifiable person who can be held responsible or be stopped. Consequently, dealing with this potential drinking water crisis in New Orleans is centered over temporary solutions and reactions to the effects rather than addressing the source of the issue.

One such “solution” is a sill or levee, a pile of sediment built to prevent or slow certain water flow, to slow the approach of salt water. Following  President Joe Biden’s September 2023 declaration of a federal emergency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began building up the current sill to hold off more salt water intrusion (Hrvacevic 2023).

According to a PBS article by Roby Chavez on the topic, the U.S. Army Corps has also been shipping 36 million gallons of water each day to dilute salt water content in the river and providing desalination equipment to the greater New Orleans area in an attempt to address this emergency. Additionally, while neighboring parishes to New Orleans have begun building a pipeline to transport safe drinking water from upriver, New Orleans mayor, Latoya Cantrell, has refrained from such efforts. This is based on recent and updated predictions that the saltwater will not reach New Orleans this time as was previously predicted.

Bottom Line: While the saltwater may not reach New Orleans this time, what will happen when extreme droughts and rising sea levels continue and the city finds itself facing the same crisis over and over again? Rather than solely short term solutions perhaps climate change, as the root cause, needs to be more directly addressed to effectively resolve this water issue.


* Please help my Water Scarcity students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂

So maybe not kill ALL the lawyers?

I’m not typically a fan of lawyers, mostly due to experiences of (a) immoral behavior in pursuit of winning at all costs and/or (b) writing laws that increase demand for lawyers without increasing quality of life.

Now, let’s look to a few good aspects of lawyering that I have recently had the (mis)fortune — due to legal disputes — to be reminded about:

Lawyers are good for…

  • Giving you advice and an alternative perspective.
  • Supporting you in a dispute (=someone on your team)
  • Understanding legal details, processes and norms.
  • Working for you when you’re busy elsewhere.

So, let’s not kill all the lawyers — not just yet 😉


ps: In countries with populations from multiple cultures, it’s useful to have rules — and the lawyers to enforce them — to reduce friction (thus, spending a bit on lawyers to save a lot elsewhere) and help everyone get along. In more homogenous cultures, customs may be more important than rules in terms of delivering less friction at lower cost. But those cultures can run into serious issues if, for example, they start to diversify, cultural norms are no longer shared, and there is no tradition of using rules (and lawyers!) to work out disputes. Tricky.

Interesting stuff

  1. Just before SBF was convicted on all charges (yay!), I wrote commented on an NYT article: This trial will get a lot of attention, either way. If he’s found innocent, then grifters everywhere will rejoice and Americans will lose huge multiples of SBF-theft. If he’s found guilty, then founders will pay more attention to accounting, risk and liability. Which future do you want?
    I prefer the future we got.
  2. Climate chaos I: The Panama canal loses half its capacity due to drought.
  3. Climate chaos II: We are not paying attention to the “small” crises that make up 99.7 percent of all CC-related disruptions.
  4. Climate chaos III: We need to move from fossil fuels to renewables, but Wall Street is not interested.
  5. Read: Widespread facial recognition in public areas ends privacy.
  6. Read: The right to free speech trumps the right to comfort
  7. Watch this guy describe how he smuggled ecstasy into the US
  8. Plan: The Dutch now project sea level rise of +1-2m by 2100 and +3-5m (!). Time to read Life Plus 2m?
  9. Read: The Sphere in Vegas feeds our need to film everything (too much)
  10. Read: For some Black people, the use of “Sir” and “Madam” is a way of restoring dignity.

Review: Tally-Ho videos…

I bought my first wooden boat in 2021. That’s when people started telling me that I should watch the Sampson Boat Company’s videos on restoring the 1910 yacht Tally-Ho.

And so I did… for 160+ videos (each averaging 25 minutes) during which Leo  Goolden (the owner of SBC) explains and shows what he’s doing and why.

Leo is a very smart, talented and charismatic shipbuilder (“… and sailor”) — read this interview — and here are a few of my favorite videos:

35: Asking for volunteers (this went way better than he expected)

37: The mind of a boatbuilder

48: Leo’s story

58: Ship of Theseus…

89: “Hey Pete, what are you doing?” (Pete is a very cool guy without feet)

132: How to sharpen tools

144: Fancy woodwork…

168: Tally-ho leaves the shed — time for a mast!

These videos are insightful, funny, and technically well produced. I have learned a lot about wooden boat (re)building, as well as fallen in love with the shipwrights in Port Townsend, WA. FIVE STARS.


Here are all my reviews.