Shutting
off Tap Water: Revenge of the Rainforest
By
Robert Hunziker
27
February, 2015
Imagine
this scenario: The following is a Public Service Announcement by the
New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Water,
July 4, 2015: Because of low water levels in state reservoirs, the
Division of Water proclaims a statewide water-rationing program.
Starting next month, on August 1st, 2015, water service will turn off
at 1:00 P.M. on a daily basis for an indeterminate period of time.
Service will return the following morning.
Now,
imagine a city the size of the State of New York with its 20 million
people subjected to the same water-rationing plan. As it happens, São
Paulo, capital city of Brazil, home to 20 million, is such a city.
The water is turned off every day at 1:00 P.M., as reported by Donna
Bowater.1
Brazil
contains an estimated 12% of the world’s fresh water, but São
Paulo is running dry.
Fatally,
the city’s Cantareira Water Reservoir (water resource for 6.2
million of the city’s 20 million) is down to 6% of capacity, yes,
six percent! The city’s other reservoirs are also dangerously low.
Perilously, São Paulo’s days of water supply are numbered.
What’s
the Problem?
Deforestation,
the nearly complete disappearance of the Atlantic Forest and
continuing deforestation of the Amazon, that’s the problem. Forests
have an innate ability to import moisture and to cool down and to
favor rain, which is what makes “regional climates” so unique.
According
to one of Brazil’s leading earth scientist and climatologist, Dr.
Antonio Nobre, Earth System Science Centre and Chief Science Advisor,
National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Brazil: “There is a
hot dry air mass sitting down here [São Paulo] like an elephant and
nothing can move it… If deforestation in the Amazon continues, São
Paulo will probably dry up.”2
According
to Dr. Nobre: “Vegetation-climate equilibrium is teetering on the
brink of the abyss. If it tips, the Amazon will start to become a
much drier savanna, with calamitous consequences.”3
Deforestation
Alters the Climate
“Studies
more than 20 years ago predicted what is happening with lowering
rainfall. Amazon deforestation is altering climate. It is no longer
about models. It is about observation. The connection with the event
in São Paulo is important because finally people are paying
attention.”3
São
Paulo is Brazil’s richest state as well as its principal economic
region. Sorrowfully, it may “dry up.” It could really truly
happen because it’s already mostly there, right now, as of today.
Where
will its 20 million inhabitants go?
Nobody
knows!
The
Atlantic Forest stretches along the eastern coastline of the country.
A few hundred years ago, the forest was twice the size of Texas.
Today, it is maybe 15% of its former self and what remains is highly
fragmented. The forest harbors 5% of the world’s vertebrates and 8%
of Earth’s plants. Illegal logging, land conversion to pasture, and
expansion of urban areas have put extreme stress on the Atlantic
Forest. The same holds true for the giant Amazon rainforest.
Brazil
holds one-third of the world’s remaining rainforests. In the past,
deforestation was the result of poor subsistence farmers, but times
change. Today, large landowners and corporate interests have
cleared the rainforest at an unprecedented rate. At the current rate,
the Amazon rainforest will be further reduced by 40% by 2030.
Rainforests
are the oldest ecosystem on earth and arguably one of the most
critical resources for sustainability of life, dubbed “the lungs of
the planet.”
National
Geographic magazine
summarizes the plight of rainforests in a recent article, stating:
“In the time it takes to read this article, an area of Brazil’s
rainforest larger than 200 football fields will have been destroyed.
The market forces of globalization are invading the Amazon.”4
Yes,
within 20 minutes, only 20, the Amazon rainforest loses the
equivalent of 200 football fields. Americans connect with football.
It is one of the biggest revenue-producing sports in history. And,
that’s not all; football fields provide a good descriptive tool of
dimensions. In fact, 200 football fields are equivalent to the space
required for 1,000 stand alone single-family homes, which means the
Amazon rainforest loses equivalent to 72,000 stand alone
single-family homes, or a small city, per day, everyday, gone
forever. That’s a lot of rainforest gone day-in day-out, which
ironically provides timber for building houses, but, in point of
fact, most of it is burned away. Poof it’s gone, big puffs of
smoke into the atmosphere.
During the past 40 years, close to 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been cut down—more than in all the previous 450 years since European colonization began… Scientists fear that an additional 20 percent of the trees will be lost over the next two decades into the atmosphere. If that happens, the forest’s ecology will begin to unravel. In fact, the Amazon produces half its own rainfall through the moisture it releases into the atmosphere. Eliminate enough of that rain through clearing, and the remaining trees dry out and die.4
Rainforests
are the World’s Most Invaluable Nэtural Resource
Nature
at work: (1) The Amazon produces half of its own rainfall and most of
the rain south of the Amazon and east of the Andes, (2) rainforests
sequester carbon by holding and absorbing carbon dioxide, thus,
controlling global warming as it actually cleanses the atmosphere.
(3) rainforests maintain remarkable panoply of life with species not
found anywhere else and provide medicinal products, like cancer
treatment, and (4) these spectacular forests produce 20% of the
planet’s oxygen. Every fifth breath murmurs “thank you
rainforests.”
Rainforests
cover less than 2% of Earth’s total surface area but are home to
50% of the plants and animals. That’s a lot of “bang for the
buck.” Moreover, critical for survival, the rainforests act as the
world’s thermostat by regulating temperatures and weather patterns,
and they are absolutely necessary in maintaining Earth’s supply of
drinking and fresh water. For confirmation of the significance of
that “necessity,” ask the residents of São Paulo.
As
for the size of the world’s rainforests, “the original untouched
resource of six million square miles of rainforests” has already
been chopped down by 60%. Only 2.4 million square miles remain today.
Regrettably,
according to The
Guardian:
“Forest clearance has accelerated under Brazil’s president, Dilma
Rousseff [since 2011] after efforts to protect the Amazon were
weakened… satellite
data indicated a 190% surge in deforestation in
August and September [2014].”
Is
the Problem Bigger than Solutions?
“A
paradox of chance,” claims Dr. Antonio Nobre: “Remarkably, there
is a quadrangle of land in South America that should be desert. It’s
on line with the deserts, but it is not. It’s the Amazon
rainforest.”
Based
upon studies of the Amazon’s impact on climate, Dr. Antonio Nobre
offers a solution to climate change/global warming. Rebuild
Forests. Yes, rebuild ’em: “We can save planet Earth. I’m
not talking about only the Amazon. The Amazon teaches us a lesson on
how pristine nature works… We can save other areas, including
deserts, if we could establish forests in those areas, we can reverse
climate change, including global warming.”5
For
example, fighting back. China is building a giant green wall, a tree
belt, hoping to stop the Kubuqi Desert from spreading east along the
front line of the huge Chinese Dust Bowl, the world’s largest dust
bowl. Fifty years ago, portions of this same eastern desert area were
grasslands, growing crops, raising cattle and sheep. Today,
windstorms from the Kubuqi send plumes all the way across the Pacific
to the U.S. West Coast.
Ergo,
proof positive people do not need to stand by idly twiddling thumbs,
watching human-caused climate change ravage countryside. Things can
be done!
However,
as for China, it may already be too late: “Northwestern China is on
the verge of a massive ecological meltdown.”6
Thus,
the most provocative question surrounding the global warming issue
is: When is the problem bigger than solutions?
The
global warming/climate change issue is much, much deeper and
considerably more robust than this short essay depicts. It is a
gargantuan monster that is likely already out of control with CO2 in
the atmosphere at levels flashing warning signals going back hundreds
of thousands of years, frightening real
scientists but
not enough to frighten the U.S. Congress into instituting a
nationwide renewables initiative. In fact, Congress is stiff and
lifeless.
As
it goes, the overriding climate change quandary consists of (1)
“fossil fuels ruling the world,” (2) COP’s (Conference of
Parties aka; UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) ineffective
endless meetings, ho-hum, and (3) frankly, most of the people in the
world don’t give a damn. End of story.
Meanwhile,
with deforestation in the Amazon once again accelerating, hapless São
Paulo may morph into a real life version of Road
Warrior (Warner
Bros. 1981), a dusty, dirty vision of the future where resources are
hard to find and decent people turn nasty as desperate marauding
groups battle for survival in the desert.
Maybe
that’ll wake people up!
Robert
Hunziker (MA,
economic history, DePaul University) is a freelance writer and
environmental journalist whose articles have been translated into
foreign languages and appeared in over 50 journals, magazines, and
sites worldwide, like Z Magazine, European Project on Ocean
Acidification, Ecosocialism Canada, Climate Himalaya, Counterpunch,
Dissident Voice, Comite Valmy, and UK Progressive. He has been
interviewed about climate change on Pacifica Radio, KPFK, FM90.7,
Indymedia On Air, and the World View Show/UK, as well as Thom
Hartmann’s Big Picture, and Norman B’s Life Elsewhere, 88.5 WMNF.
He can be contacted at: rlhunziker@gmail.com. Read
other articles by Robert.
Notes:
1.
São Paulo correspondent, Taps
Run Dry in Brazil’s Biggest City as Drought Bites, The
Telegraph,
February 23, 2015. [↩]
2.
Wyre Davies, Rio de Janeiro correspondent, Brazil Drought: São Paulo
Sleepwalking Into Water Crisis, BBC News, November 7, 2014. [↩]
3.
Jonathan Watts in Rio Janeiro, Amazon Rainforest Losing Ability to
Regulate Climate, Scientist Warns, The
Guardian,
October 31, 2014. [↩]
[↩]
5.
Antonio Donato Nobre, “The Magic of the Amazon: A River That Flows
Invisibly All Around Us”, TEDxAmazonia,
November 2010. [↩]
6.
Lester R. Brown, “The World’s Biggest Dust Bowl: China is Losing
the War on Advancing Deserts”, The
New York Times,
August 13, 2013. [↩]
Behold
Sao Paulo
Behold
Sao Paulo, Brazil, a mega-city of 20 million, about to run out of
water in 60 days.
Come
May or June, the place may have become a war zone, and come June or
July, a death trap. This won't be hard to visualize. Just imagine
yourself living in an apartment somewhere in the thick of it, and the
tap is dry - for days on end, may be weeks, months... with no relief
in sight.
I
don't need to imagine; I have experience. When I was a kid of about
10 in Hong Kong, there used to be water rationing during the dry
winter season. Four hours of tap water for the city block every
fourth day. Those living on high floors still had not a drop, due to
everyone lower down having their taps turned on. People were
screaming, "HEY! DOWNSTAIRS! TURN OFF YOUR (expletive optional)
TAP!!!" I lived on the 4th floor, and had to line up at the
communal tap in the street with a bucket in each hand, then had to
stagger back up 4 flights of stairs due to the absence of an
elevator. Yet, through it all, there was courtesy and order.
But
there is a major difference. Back in Hong Kong, we knew that water
would come for at least 4 hours 4 days hence, and later, the summer
monsoon will come to refill the reservoirs, guaranteed. Now in Sao
Paulo, there is no promises, no guarantees, no end in sight.
What
would I do were I in the middle of the city? I would get the hell out
ASAP. But, where to? And what if millions of my fellow citizens have
the same idea? A mass exodus to... nowhere? Ah, wait. How about the
Amazon? Still lots of water there. The rainforest be damned.
This
leads to another concern. As of this writing, a mass exodus does not
appear to be happening, meaning that few are taking it seriously, in
which case the vast majority of the residents will be surprised,
unprepared, in 2 months' time, perhaps fatally, when it is too late.
Sao
Paulo is in dire straights, but it is not the only one. Others are
not far behind, and closer to home, including Las Vegas, Phoenix and
Tucson. and according to this article, Las Vegas is proving this
latest point about Sao Paulo.
[...
Consider Las Vegas while you ponder all this: Here's a city with no
water future whatsoever, continuing to build new casinos and grow its
population even as the water level of Lake Mead has already dropped
to emergency levels (and continues to plummet). What do the people of
Las Vegas imagine they will drink when all the cheap, easy water is
gone?... The sobering truth is that nearly everyone who lives in Las
Vegas doesn't think about this. By definition, anyone who realized
the truth about the disappearing water throughout Nevada, Arizona and
California would have already sold their property and moved away.
Those who still inhabit regions with unsustainable water supplies --
such as Sao Paulo -- are choosing to make believe the problem doesn't
exist...]
See
more at:
and
this
Sao
Paulo will be the city to watch, and not in a good sense. If you are
from Sao Paulo, please comment.
Anthony
Marr
founder
of
Heal
Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global
Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
author
of
OMNI-SCIENCE
and the Human Destiny (2003)
HOMO-SAPIENS
Save Your Earth (2008)
The
Meaning of Life According to Anthony Marr (2014)
The
Fortunate and the Called-Upon (2014)
ANTI-HUNTER
Battle of the Century (to be published
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