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A comment on The High Sierra forest is dying, and you can't count the loss in dead trees. Parent comment

Re:The High Sierra forest is dying, and you can't count the ... by jefurii on Thursday October 06, 2016 @08:03PM (#12657158)
> LA is literally sucking them dry with the aqueduct

Those alfalfa farms where the entire crop is shipped off to China are a huge chunk of the state's water usage. The Central Valley could also move from almonds and other water-intensive crops. If it was just vegetables and tree fruit it wouldn't be so bad.

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Re:The High Sierra forest is dying, and you can't count the ... by losteric on Thursday October 06, 2016 @08:44PM (#12657338)
> The Central Valley could also move from almonds and other water-intensive crops.

Subsidies are a big problem. Washington actually has pretty good climate for growing almonds and there's plenty of resources for thirsty almonds... yet most almonds are grown in California because growers can assume water is essentially free.

Good luck running on a platform to end subsidies though. Media will immediately spin that into "shipping jobs overseas, hurting our poor local farmers". The conservative Central Valley will love that.

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Re:The High Sierra forest is dying, and you can't count the ... by CalRobert on Friday October 07, 2016 @04:26AM (#12659015)
That actually would be a good argument for splitting CA in two. Culturally it's shocking it's one state anyway.
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Re:The High Sierra forest is dying, and you can't count the ... by techdragon on Friday October 07, 2016 @07:12AM (#12659703)
Culturally it's much more diverse than 2 states.. rural, LA, SF, modern suburban intermediate.

California is a strangely successful state considering that if it was a country it would probably have gone the way of Czechoslovakia ages ago.

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