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United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

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Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#41

Post by vik0 »

mrguyorama wrote: post #40
ch4s3 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People screaming overpopulation are always and everywhere on a slippery slope to eugenics. Carrying capacity is mediated by technology. WRT water, wastewater reclamation and desalination have a lot of gains that aren’t widely deployed. Also rewilding and reforestation can do a lot to mitigate creeping aridity.

This doesn't have to be true anymore. Not all "we have too many people" people believe we need to FORCE depopulation. We have strong reason to believe that simply giving people sex ed, ample forms of birth control, and women's rights leads to a self selection of fewer children. Every country that has done these things has seen its fertility drop. Personally the earth can easily, EASILY, support more than ten billion…

> Every country that has done these things has seen its fertility drop.

And this result is somehow supposed to be a good thing? Every country that has this result, no matter how we theorize that it got there in the first place, is now facing a demographic crisis

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#42

Post by ClumsyPilot »

lukan wrote: post #30
genman wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weather is not the problem. Overpopulation is. And it is a local problem, so limiting population elsewhere doesn't help.

You can call it overpopulation, I call it underdesalination. There is lot's of sun there and lot's of seawater.

You can't fix shortage of agricultural or industrial water with desalination because you end up with a bag of potatoes for $50

Desalination only solves water shortages for human consumption. Water shortages mean famine

A single hectare of potatoes need about 7,000 tonns / m3 of water. Desalination costs $1/m3, The cost of growing russet type potatoes for the fresh market was $2032 per acre. So potatoes will be 3 times more expensive

For wheat, the difference is even worse

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#43

Post by ClumsyPilot »

djha-skin wrote: post #15

Cloud seeding is illegal in Utah, because you're taking rain that would have fallen on someone else's field and making it fall on your field. Water rights are a serious business here in the desert. It's not that we can't do these things, it's just that it's not always a good idea.

> rain that would have fallen on someone else's field

Or in the ocean?

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#44

Post by silisili »

yau8edq12i wrote: post #37
djha-skin wrote: post #15

Cloud seeding is illegal in Utah, because you're taking rain that would have fallen on someone else's field and making it fall on your field. Water rights are a serious business here in the desert. It's not that we can't do these things, it's just that it's not always a good idea.

Why are these people farming in the desert to begin with?

There are a -lot- of stuff grown in desert climates, believe it or not. I think it's a fine idea, just that the price needs to accurately reflect the water usage and only then determine if it's worth continuing or not. Right now it's not really factored in at all, and cities are starting to crunch for water.

As an anecdote, I currently live in the desert, and the pecan farmers nearby use so much water that we get mosquitos pretty badly at times of the year.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#45

Post by ch4s3 »

mrguyorama wrote: post #40
ch4s3 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People screaming overpopulation are always and everywhere on a slippery slope to eugenics. Carrying capacity is mediated by technology. WRT water, wastewater reclamation and desalination have a lot of gains that aren’t widely deployed. Also rewilding and reforestation can do a lot to mitigate creeping aridity.

This doesn't have to be true anymore. Not all "we have too many people" people believe we need to FORCE depopulation. We have strong reason to believe that simply giving people sex ed, ample forms of birth control, and women's rights leads to a self selection of fewer children. Every country that has done these things has seen its fertility drop. Personally the earth can easily, EASILY, support more than ten billion…

> that simply giving people sex ed, ample forms of birth control, and women's rights leads to a self selection of fewer children.

The devil is in the details here, and programs focused on contraceptives in developing nations have a very checkered recent history.

> the earth can easily, EASILY, support more than ten billion humans if we stop being so damn stupid about resource utilization

This is sort of what I'm driving at.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#46

Post by rsbrans »

volleygman180 wrote: post #9
rob74 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This tech is not really new - in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, "cloud seeding" airplanes have been flying for years (to avoid hailstorms rather than to make it rain), although the efficacy of the method is disputed, so it's not really widespread. I only learned that this is done where I live when I saw a small airplane flying dangerously close to an approaching storm (which GA aircraft usually do their best to av…

It's been happening in the US for quite awhile too. For example, Colorado regularly performs cloud seeding and other weather modification techniques - https://cwcb.colorado.gov/focus-areas/supply/weather-modific...

[dead]

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#47

Post by lukan »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #42
lukan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can call it overpopulation, I call it underdesalination. There is lot's of sun there and lot's of seawater.

You can't fix shortage of agricultural or industrial water with desalination because you end up with a bag of potatoes for $50 Desalination only solves water shortages for human consumption. Water shortages mean famine A single hectare of potatoes need about 7,000 tonns / m3 of water. Desalination costs $1/m3, The cost of growing russet type potatoes for the fresh market was $2032 per acre. So potatoes will be 3 time…

True, but if you want to grow in the desert, there are more efficient methods and crops to grow, like in closed greenhouses, that keep most of the water.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#48

Post by Log_out_ »

Retric wrote: post #33
lukan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can call it overpopulation, I call it underdesalination. There is lot's of sun there and lot's of seawater.

Desalination is expensive, but it’s not just about the desalination simply pumping water up hill is costly. Nevada averages 5,500 ft above sea level. Moving 1 acre foot of water up that high at 100% efficiency takes ~5.6 MWh and a single mid sized farm can use that much water hourly. Start talking 25 inches of water per year across millions of acres and you’ll need a lot of solar. Worse, commercial reverse osmosis de…

take a black pvc pipe,stick one end into seawatter,add destillation collection crevices and overflowholes,put the other end up high on a hill

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#49

Post by Kerb_ »

genman wrote: post #23
barbazoo wrote: post #11

> The United Nations projects that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will face absolute water scarcity across the world. The Middle East stood out as one of the most water-stressed areas with around 83% of the population in the region prone to experiencing high levels of water stress. > Weather forecasters at the center can observe precipitation patterns in clouds and identify suitable clouds to seed, with the aim of incre…

The weather is not the problem. Overpopulation is. And it is a local problem, so limiting population elsewhere doesn't help.

That's acting like we don't literally trade resources globally to maintain our population level

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#50

Post by throwaway11460 »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #42
lukan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can call it overpopulation, I call it underdesalination. There is lot's of sun there and lot's of seawater.

You can't fix shortage of agricultural or industrial water with desalination because you end up with a bag of potatoes for $50 Desalination only solves water shortages for human consumption. Water shortages mean famine A single hectare of potatoes need about 7,000 tonns / m3 of water. Desalination costs $1/m3, The cost of growing russet type potatoes for the fresh market was $2032 per acre. So potatoes will be 3 time…

Why not ship the potatoes in?
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