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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bread Upon The Water who wrote (136096)	4/7/2010 6:20:46 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541938

Many years ago, there was this proposal called NAWAPA . Old enough that the web references are fragmentary and sometimes amusing, but there was a recent reference or two you might find amusing, e.g. In summary, NAWAPA involves tapping fresh water from the northern-flowing rivers of northwest Canada and Alaska, and diverting them in a southward direction through a series of canals, lifts and drops through the Canadian Rockies and eventually to destinations in the arid regions of Southern California, Arizona and Northern Mexico. . . . Here's what NAWAPA would do, if the effort was put into getting it built in the spirit of the WPA projects of the Great Depression era: 1. Tens of thousands of jobs would be created that would last for years while the project is constructed. 2. Fresh water would be deployed to arid regions of the Southwestern U.S. that would be used for irrigating crops, whose proliferation would cool the planet and create added rainfall. 3. Massive amounts of surplus, clean hydro-electric power, beyond that tapped to drive NAWAPA, itself, would light up whole regions of the West. 4. As the world's fast-emerging most scarce resource, an abundance of new resources of fresh water would be tapped and effectively deployed to avert shortages. fcnp.com Thought you'd particularly like #3, who say's there's no free lunch? The whole thing sounds really, really implausible on the face of it, but who can say? But... first google hit that shows up traces back to Lyndon LaRouche, a guy not exactly known for really tight analysis. Maybe he was just ahead of his time, though. schillerinstitute.org Edit: For more amusement, there's this ancient little promo thing from youtube.com , which in the commentary has the classic LaRouche signature of some weird Queen of England conspiracy thing.

To: Bread Upon The Water who wrote (136096)	4/7/2010 8:07:39 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 541938

There are lots of dreams which are scientifically feasible... this is only one of them. It doesn't break the laws of thermodynamics, anyway. Desalination - Energy Down the Drain Posted by Nate Hagens on March 2, 2009 - 9:47am This is a guest essay by Debbie Cook, former Mayor of Huntington Beach, CA and ASPO-USA Board member. Debbie recently lost the election for the 46th Congressional district in California. It is a testament to our nations current focus that we have few leaders like her in DC aware that energy and natural resources are ultimately what we have to spend. Her essay looks at the energy required to turn ocean water into potable water. The interrelationships of energy and water in our social systems will be paramount going forward--as we need water to procure most energy and energy to procure most water. And we are learning that more money won't magically procure more of either. Energy Down the Drain The Next Worst Idea The next worst idea to turning tar sands into synthetic crude is turning ocean water into municipal drinking water. Sounds great until you zoom in on the environmental costs and energetic consequences. It may be technically feasible, but in the end it is unsustainable and will be just one more stranded asset. In 2003, I was one of two elected officials invited to serve on the California Desalination Task Force. The task force was the result of Assembly Bill 2717 (Hertzberg), authorizing the Department of Water Resources to study desalination facilities and “report on potential opportunities and impediments...” theoildrum.com