News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Epic Drought in West Is Literally Moving Mountains by declan on Friday August 22, 2014 @12:56AM (#8210933)
Yep. When I go to my neighborhood grocery store in the SF bay area, half of the fruits and vegetables tend to be arriving from Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America or Washington state already. The percentage is even higher in the off-season. Put another way: Where do Maine or Texas or Hawaii get fruits and vegetables that aren't local? (And why are we growing rice in drought conditions?)

Also: desalination puts a floor on the cost of water for drinking purposes. Modern desalination techniques are very electricity-bound, though, in terms of cost.

Re:Epic Drought in West Is Literally Moving Mountains by rdl on Friday August 22, 2014 @02:12AM (#8211084)
Alfalfa and other animal feed grown in CA due to senior water rights seems even crazy, even relative to California's baseline level of crazy. Whenever I see a restaurant (usually in the Central Valley) which has signs out that they don't serve water on the table by default due to the drought, it's hard to take anything seriously.