Future Thinking
I've been giving a little thought to the future lately, especially those things that seem to be happening to our climate. Now I know the Republiguns and the MAGiopaths scoff at the idea of a changing climate, and they may be right (dream on, honey). Still, we do know that our atmospheric happenings are becoming more extreme, so I've come up with a few helpful ideas that might save us from extinction.
First, we need to start building our houses round, not rectangular. If you've ever seen the consequences of a tornado in farm country you'll see flattened fields, destroyed houses and barns, and ruptured fencing. Rarely, however, do you see a silo destroyed. Whether from a tornado or a hurricane, the wind just eases around that shape of structure. Of course nothing's foolproof against an angry nature, but at least such shapes are a reasonable hedge. The nice thing about this, too, is that round is always more aesthetically pleasing than rectangular.
In northern Illinois we've experienced some drought this summer, mostly from around mid-July on into the fall. I think the crops will do okay although yield might be down. Nevertheless, our water supply needs to be at the forefront of great concern. A number of the western states are experiencing water shortages due to lack of rain, thus forcing them to rely more heavily on diminishing aquifers. At the same time we have massive rainfall and flooding in other parts of the country – no shortage of water there and even the aquifers are being replenished. It benefits no one, of course, if one part of the country is parched while another part is woefully awash.
What we need is a way to equitably distribute these wet riches. My proposal is that we construct a pipeline system comparable to the interstate highway system. Water could then be shipped from overflowing reservoirs in one part of the country to near-empty reservoirs in other parts of the country. No one region needs to suffer from drought while another is literally awash in excess water. Nor would one region feel it had to legislatively scheme against another to keep its crops irrigated or its lawns green. In fact, such a system could conceivably be built on the actual rights-of-way of the interstate highway system.
Here in the Midwest we don't have to worry a lot about the melting of the polar icecaps and the attendant sea level rise. But our coastal cities – east, west, and south – do, and those regions contain massive engines of our national economy as well as millions of people. From Portland to Miami Beach, from San Diego to Crescent City, we're looking at cities that could experience a sea level rise of ten feet or more. Ten feet in Manhattan? Forget about the subway.
What to do? Plans are already afoot for building massive sea walls. That could help in some areas, although places like Manhattan and Miami Beach would look like cities in giant bath tubs. The best answer is to move our economic, manufacturing, and cultural centers well inland: think Wyoming, North Dakota, Utah, Nebraska, and so on.
Yet power outages are one of the most catastrophic effects of storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Water systems stop working, heating and air conditioning systems stop working, virtually all of our tech systems from cellphones to computers to data centers stop working. Traffic controls go dark, and most airline and mass transit systems shut down. Clearly, this business of having our electrical power dependent on wires strung from vulnerable wooden poles or massive steel towers is so old school. It's time to bury this problem – literally.
My neighborhood rarely experiences a power outage because our power lines are all underground. In addition, we need a unified national power grid (sorry, Texas) that is as much as possible buried underground. We have plenty of generating capacity; it's just that we can't channel it where it's needed in our current system. In the future, then, regions that are experiencing unusually high power demands due to extreme heat or extreme cold would no longer have to require shut-downs or rolling blackouts.
Of course this will all cost a great deal (most likely trillions), but it we're not going to take seriously the things we need to do to counter climate change, then we'd better get damn serious about addressing the consequences.
G.K. Wuori © 2024
Photoillustration by the author