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Re:Indonesia Plans to Move Its Capital Out of Jakarta, a Cit... by walrus01 on Monday April 29, 2019 @04:23PM (#19782255)
Not causing sinking, but if we drain this, agriculture in the US will be severely impacted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

"

Since the 1940s, pumping from the Ogallala has drawn the aquifer down more than 300 feet (90 m) in some areas. Producers have taken steps to reduce their reliance on irrigated water. Streamlined operations allow them to produce significantly greater yield using roughly the same amount of water needed four decades ago. Still, losses to the aquifer between 2001 and 2011 equated to a third of its cumulative depletion during the entire 20th century. The Ogallala is recharged primarily by rainwater, but only about one inch of precipitation actually reaches the aquifer annually. Rainfall in most of the Texas High Plains is minimal, evaporation is high, and infiltration rates are slow.[24] "

Re:Indonesia Plans to Move Its Capital Out of Jakarta, a Cit... by DoreenMichele on Monday April 29, 2019 @04:58PM (#19782561)
Subsidence is a widespread problem in the US:

Subsidence is a global problem and, in the United States, more than 17,000 square miles in 45 States, an area roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined, have been directly affected by subsidence.

https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/subsidence.html

I can't readily find anything stating outright that there is subsidence associated with the Ogallala Aquifer, but my recollection is I have seen such in the past.

Re:Indonesia Plans to Move Its Capital Out of Jakarta, a Cit... by SapporoChris on Monday April 29, 2019 @04:57PM (#19782551)
From the listed article, a 9% draw down since extraction started in 1950. I consider this a concern and actions should be taken. But it seems like there is plenty of time to take action, and there will be lots of continuing warning signs such as wells that need deepening. I'm for taking action, but I think global warming is a larger problem. Oh hey, global warming will probably exacerbate the Ogallal situation!

Also, in evil mind frame here, if USA loses out on cheap food, perhaps it will deal a blow to the obesity epidemic.

Re:Indonesia Plans to Move Its Capital Out of Jakarta, a Cit... by munk-a on Monday April 29, 2019 @05:12PM (#19782665)
Currently in the US, 8% of grown corn is the stuff we eat, and 11% is devoted to sugar production (and some other stuff) - with Ethanol production and livestock feed accounting for 60% of the total usage[1]. If there were droughts we'd probably see Ethanol become price inefficient first, then livestock, and it's that 11% of corn that gets transformed into sweeteners that is really driving obesity in the modern world.

The other issue that seems to be related to obesity is the weird chemicals we're imbibing - both knowingly through food consumption[2] and unknowingly by their entrance into the food chain[3]. The USA really needs to get it's act together about finding out wtf is poisoning all of the people there and fix that. I'd love it if they could get their stuff together about fighting obesity - there is something fundamentally wrong with the western diet that is more prevalent in cheap foods and making some greedy people a quick buck while setting society up for a really heavy cost in the near future. A recent decrease in activity certainly contributes, but it's more than just a lack of exercise.

[1] Corn usage... leaning on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_...

[2] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325034.php

[3] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3mzve/human-wast...

Re:Indonesia Plans to Move Its Capital Out of Jakarta, a Cit... by AnimalMuppet on Monday April 29, 2019 @05:22PM (#19782735)
I'm not sure that cheap food, by itself, causes obesity. I suspect that it's more like flavor-enhanced food, and food that has calories but little other nutrition, cause obesity.