Friday Five: February 7, 2014

Earlier this week, I posted images from some freshwater sources that we humans have all but dried up.  In California, some communities find themselves on the verge of that catastrophe.  What's the old saying? We can live 3 months without food but only 3 days without water?
California drought: 17 communities could run out of water within 60 to 120 days, state says
"Most of the affected water districts have so few customers that they can't charge enough money to pay for backup water supplies or repair failing equipment, leaving them more vulnerable to drought than large urban areas.
The state health department compiled the list after surveying the more than 3,000 water agencies in California last week. The list will be updated weekly, Mazzera said."

Imagine you desperately want to take your family to a cottage near the lake, but you live in the city.  You cannot get there - at least until recently - without using a vehicle powered by refined crude oil.  That reliance on crude means that a refinery had to process it and deliver it to your local gas station.  Now imagine that the train carrying that crude to your local refinery spilled a load of that crude into the lake adjacent to the cottage...still want to go?
Communities along rail lines worry about explosions
"Initially, when crude by rail got started, it occurred in the Bakken play in North Dakota. The initial idea was to use rail to get crude to market simply to bide the time until pipelines were built out with enough capacity. But once crude oil got going, the commodity traders and the exploration and production companies realized that rail gave them faster transit times, the ability to ramp up more quickly than pipelines, and the ability to take the crude oil to different destinations where a higher price could be received for those barrels."

Not that accidents associated with fossil fuel transfer and processing ever occur, especially never involving water.
Tons of coal ash spill into North Carolina river
"'It's the latest in a series of spills and leaks into waterways, including drinking water reservoirs and upstream from drinking water uptakes, and groundwater,' Frank Holleman, a senior attorney at the center, said in statement. Holleman represents several environmental groups who have taken Duke Energy to court over the storage of coal ash, a byproduct of coal-fired energy plants."
West Virginia spill criticism grows amid new fear over tainted water
"Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, the largest in West Virginia, said in an interview Friday that the water can't be considered completely safe because scientists don't know the possible health effects of exposure to the chemical. He said officials have confused the 300,000 residents whose water was tainted by first declaring it safe, then resuming distribution of bottled water Thursday."

Every once in a while, the markets get it right.  Pharmacies can make more money if they offer other well-being and urgent care services, but most - if not all - health providers will not partner with a pharmacy if that business sells...how shall we say it...the leading cause of human-caused death.  I fear that I heap praise on an entity for following common sense, but given the lack of common sense over the last thousand years or so, it merits a toast to CVS for leading the way.  I know you did it for long-term financial reasons, but that does not mean you did the wrong thing.
CVS takes a stand, halts tobacco sales
"Still, as both CVS executives and industry analysts noted Wednesday, the move will make it easier for the company to form partnerships with doctors, hospitals, and insurers and allow the chain to expand its brand as a health care provider — a business expected to become more lucrative as the population ages and the new federal health care law increases demand for basic services such as checkups."

The move by CVS is just one of several things that give me hope that we will get this thing solved.  And if a sustainable future involves jetpacks...all the better!
Future near perfect: How humans can still save the day by 2050
"Key features of this world, fingers crossed, include: an economy almost completely powered by renewable energy; a global population stabilized around 9 billion people; food systems based on community use and closed-loop systems; inefficiency in water management all but eliminated thanks largely to drip irrigation and rainwater capture; comprehensive preventative healthcare with a side of nanotechnology; worldwide sharing economies; and personal jetpacks."

Happy Friday!