Global Warming; the death of the Colorado River and the coming conflicts

Bill Gardner- December 30th 2009    

The power outages were infrequent in the beginning then the scheduled rolling blackouts began in 2014 and the people of Phoenix became alarmed. By 2018 more than three million refugees had fled Arizona.  For years the warning signs had been ignored, or simply wished away. Over the course of two decades the Colorado River had disappeared and so in the course of a year did the Nation’s fourth largest city. The once booming metropolis has become a ghost town, reclaimed by the desert while political operatives continued to argue the facts of global warming on behalf of the pollution industry.

       While the introduction may seem implausible, the fact is we have quietly passed the tipping point in the desert southwest. Life as we know it is about to change forever. As a region the desert southwest relies on snow melt for nearly all of its water supply. Fed by annual Rocky Mountain snow melts the Colorado River is the life blood of this otherwise arid region. According to recent reports (Christensen) the Colorado is no longer capable of supporting the annual demands we have placed on it. As the Colorado River System provides nearly all of our water, 20% of Arizona’s electricity and a whopping 13% of the nation’s food supply, the systems death will be truly catastrophic (Imperial County Farm Bureau). 

        The construction of Hoover Dam in the 1930’s harnessed the mighty Colorado and brought prosperity and development to the desert southwest. The rapid growth of the region led to the expansion of the Colorado River basins management via the addition of the Glen Canyon Dam which created Lake Powell in the 1960’s. Today the two dams, Hoover and Glen Canyon generate hydroelectric power which is sent as far away as Los Angeles and provides clean renewable energy to millions of people. This power production will end in less than 10 years according to a recent study (Barnett and Pierce), as what were once the world’s largest man made reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell, disappear. What is behind this looming crisis? Global warming and the reduced snow pack it creates. The reduction in snow fall in the Colorado River Basin including Arizona have already reduced Lake Mead to 43% of its capacity down from 51% only a year ago, at the current rate of decline the lake will not be able to meet the requirements of the Imperial Valley growers in 5 years. The farms and ranches of the Imperial Valley currently grow 13% of the national food supply 100% of the water supply for these farms comes from the Colorado River. Reports say this entire area will revert to desert by 2021 (Kunzig).

       We have a crisis on our hands, created by global warming. Many continue to doubt against all scientific data that Co2 creates a warming of the atmosphere, or that man has an impact on Co2 concentrations in the atmosphere. The science says otherwise. Ice cores taken from both Polar Regions give us accurate readings of atmospheric conditions over the past 21000 years by using a spectrometer to analyze the ices composition.  According to Environmental Engineering Professor Victor Ponce of San Diego State University, the rate of change in the Co2 content of the atmosphere since the industrial revolution began is 100 times the historical average. From the beginning of mans use of agriculture 10,000 years ago until 1900 the average increase of Co2 in the atmosphere was 0.00478 parts per million, from 1900 to 1959 the average increase had risen to .44 parts per million per year. Since 1959, the average increase has accelerated to an average of 1.42 parts per million per year.  Effectively we have added more Co2 into the atmosphere more over the last 50 years then was added in the preceding 10,000 years combined!  (Ponce) What could account for this rapid growth in atmospheric Co2 levels? Man’s use of fossil fuels, the rapid deforestation of the planet and the explosion in human population are the only three variables in the equation. The rapid rise in Co2 levels corresponds with the rise in global temperatures, or if you believe industry lobbyists it’s merely a coincidence, in fact they would have you believe Co2 is good for you.

      Arizona sits on the front line in the global warming debate we are after all sitting in the center of one of the world’s great deserts. Yet over the past two decades we have grown our Co2 emissions by more than any other state in the nation a staggering 61% (McKinnon). Six of our state’s largest power plants burn coal these plants are responsible for 56% of the total Co2 emissions. The local population consistently mocks environmental news as propaganda blissfully ignorant they continue to build golf courses and plant winter lawns as if they lived in the Midwest. Arizonan’s deal with global warming by lowering the temperature on the air conditioners, or jumping in their pools. What will they do when the pools are dry and the water stops flowing?  According to Charlie Ester, water resources manager for the Salt River Project, “we are going to hurt, or move”. Ester runs the series of 6 dams on the Salt and Verde River basins which supply two thirds of the water required by the City of Phoenix and its suburbs (Kunzig). Many Arizona’s believe falsely that the Salt and Verde River systems make them immune from the drying up of the Colorado River. Researchers using tree ring dating have identified an 800 year pattern of direct correlation between the Colorado and Salt and Verde River systems. The study proved that if the Colorado goes dry so too will the Salt and Verde (Kunzig). What happens then?

     The power outages were infrequent in the beginning then the scheduled rolling blackouts began in 2014 and the people of Phoenix became alarmed. By 2018 more than three million refugees had fled Arizona.  For years the warning signs had been ignored, or simply wished away. Over the course of two decades the Colorado River had disappeared and so in the course of a year did the Nation’s fourth largest city. Yet the debate raged on, does Co2 cause climate change, is global warming real?

     The water wars are next, today 40% of the world’s population is affected by a water war they are small in scale but like the one raging in Darfur, once they start they will are devastating to humanity. While today we American’s fight for and defend our access to oil, in the near future this will shift to water. Like our ancestors we will fight for access to the water hole, rather than spears and stones we will use missiles, robotic drones and Special Forces soldiers.

     “Water, thou hast no taste, no color, no odor; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself … Of the riches that exist in the world, thou art the rarest and also the most delicate thou so pure within the bowels of the earth!”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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