No droughts in history like California right now

Discussion in 'Environment & Conservation' started by Josephwalker, Oct 6, 2020.

  1. Josephwalker

    Josephwalker Banned

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    Better think again my AGW friends. This little California drought is nothing put into historical perspective.


    Collapse 7. The Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) culture in the Southwest U.S. in the 11th - 12th centuries AD. Beginning in 1150 AD, North America experienced a 300-year drought called the Great Drought. This drought has often been cited as a primary cause of the collapse of the ancestral Puebloan (formally called Anasazi) civilization in the Southwest U.S., and abandonment of places like the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The Mississippian culture, a mound-building Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States, also collapsed at this time.




    https://www.wunderground.com/blog/J...s-or-nations-that-collapsed-from-drought.html
     
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  2. Have at it

    Have at it Banned

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    You forgot about the great drought in 5684 BC it was really hot that year
     
  3. AFM

    AFM Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    None of the claims of more wildfires, more hurricanes, more droughts, more torndoes, etc due to global warming has any credence. Roger Pielke Jr. shows this by data and IPCC AR's in his book "The Rightful Place of Science: Disasters and Climate Change".

    For example on droughts:


    Pielke, Roger. The Rightful Place of Science: Disasters and Climate Change (pp. 80-81). Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, Arizona State University. Kindle Edition.
     
  4. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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    Just piling on here, but it's worth doing. It was worse back then . . .
    New Study: Western North America Was Much Warmer And Drier With Peak Wildfire Rates When CO2 Was 265ppm
    By Kenneth Richard on 12. November 2020

    Share this...
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    The southwestern US was nearly a desert from about 9000 to 5000 years ago, when Holocene peaks in aridity, surface temperature, and wildfire rates occurred. Arctic sea ice was at its lowest extent of the Holocene during these years.
    [​IMG]

    Image Source: Lachniet et al., 2020
    A new extensively-referenced study (Lachniet et al., 2020) reviewing many dozens of climate records from across western North America has determined there is nothing unprecedented or even unusual about the modern climate for this region.
     
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  5. Daniel Light

    Daniel Light Well-Known Member

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    And the possibility that drought led to the collapse of multiple societies is comforting how?
     
  6. Josephwalker

    Josephwalker Banned

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    Not comforting just reality. Learn to face it instead of fear it.
     
  7. AFM

    AFM Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    This 300 year drought corresponds to the global cooling period after the Medieval Warm Period.
     
  8. bringiton

    bringiton Well-Known Member

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    There's no reason to think it is worse now, or will get worse.
     
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  9. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The name "California" means "hot oven".

    An apt name for what the Spanish discovered there in the 1700s.

    (or at least this is one possible historical interpretation; there are other possible etymologies of the name)
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2020
  10. AFM

    AFM Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yes. Global warming will result in greater levels of global precipitation.
     
  11. bringiton

    bringiton Well-Known Member

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    Right. That is as certain as anything in empirical science, and is a major reason periods of warm global climate were called, "optimums" before that term was ruled politically incorrect.
     
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  12. AFM

    AFM Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It’s odd how many people think that warming will result in desertification. It will actually result in more rain forest lands and a general “greening” of the globe.
     
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  13. bringiton

    bringiton Well-Known Member

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    Not when that is the constant chant of the media.
    Right. But the global greening effect of atmospheric CO2 fertilization is of course far greater, especially in water-stressed environments, than its modest effect through increased temperature, rainfall, and growing season length.
     
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  14. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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  15. AFM

    AFM Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yes. Global warming which is beneficial results in more water vapor in the air and more precipitation. The earth is greening as a result of that and of course the increased CO2.
     
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  16. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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  17. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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  18. dharbert

    dharbert Well-Known Member

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    Apparently California is too stupid to realize that it is parked right by a few hundred quadrillion gallons of ocean water. Install desalination plants...
     
  19. bringiton

    bringiton Well-Known Member

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    CA's problem is more in misallocation, because agricultural users get water far below cost.
     
  20. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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  21. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The problem is mostly that the state doesn't have enough water for both agriculture and its population which has now ballooned to 40 million people (surpassing the entire country of Canada, by the way, as unbelievable as that sounds).

    (Most of this population increase was fueled by immigration from other foreign countries)

    Unfortunately, the state supplies about 85-90% of the total fresh produce sold in the US. The warm dry climate makes it very easy to grow fruits and vegetables which will not have disease issues, and which can be grown the year-round and will ripen well. Unfortunately that same warm dry climate creates water shortage issues.
    Those fruits and vegetables can of course be grown in other parts of the country, but the commercial costs will end up being higher.
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2021
  22. bringiton

    bringiton Well-Known Member

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    No, the problem is that the state wastes fantastic amounts of water because it is under-priced for agriculture. As a result, CA farmers grow a large amount of e.g., rice, a crop that requires immense amounts of water, even though the climate is too dry for rice.
    No, they can also be grown in CA using less water. There is just no reason for a farmer to use less water because it is so cheap.
     
  23. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I disagree. Even with water at discounted rates, water is still very expensive (relatively speaking) to farmers. Many of these farmers in the state had to cut down their trees and abandon their orchards because the water got too expensive.
    Water for agricultural use now is still very much more expensive than it was 30 or 40 years ago in that state.
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2021
  24. bringiton

    bringiton Well-Known Member

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    Any actual evidence for any of these claims?
     
  25. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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