Water crisis coming in 15 years unless the world acts now, UN report warns • Hacker News Board

Re: Water crisis coming in 15 years unless the world acts now, UN report warns

#61

Post by veb » Sat, Mar 21, 2015, 12:49 AM UTC

cpncrunch wrote: post #60

veb wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is the waste... the salt that's left over. What happens to it? In the Persian Gulf (I think...) they have basically killed everything in the water from the abundance of salt that's been put back into the sea water.[1] There is a theory that if we continue making the Gulf warmer by putting so much salt in, it could be a catalyst for plunging the world into an ice age. Who knows if that's true. Already here i…

The salt was in the water to begin with. If you read that reference that you posted, you'll see that the problem is the waste chemicals (not salt), and the increase in temperature of the water. It's plausible that they could filter out the waste chemicals, but I'm not sure about the heat.

Yeah, you're right that salt is in the water already and isn't technically waste. I just called it that because as a 'left over', it feels like it's waste.

However... it doesn't mean much that salt is in the water already. You're taking the water out, but leaving all the salt. That can't be good at all.

Re: Water crisis coming in 15 years unless the world acts now, UN report warns

#62

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Mar 21, 2015, 6:21 PM UTC

systemtheory wrote: post #48

phkahler wrote: post #4

They point to population growth as a contributing factor, yet they never suggest anyone do anything about that. How about free birth control to anyone who wants it? How about permanent birth control to any adult who wants it? I'd say free to anyone below some income level since the middle class can afford it anyway. With increasing productivity we don't have jobs for all the people anyway, why not encourage making le…

"I'd say free to anyone below some income level since the middle class can afford it anyway." I totally understand you're coming from a good place here, but this is exactly the type of thing that can go all sorts of wrong when implemented by people coming from not such a good place. Also, this could come across any number of ways if you're coming from a different place (socioeconomic wise). For instance. Well off fam…

[deleted]

Re: Water crisis coming in 15 years unless the world acts now, UN report warns

#63

Post by youngtaff » Sat, Mar 21, 2015, 9:05 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #54

youngtaff wrote: post #22

If our weather is getting more unpredictable due to climate change why don't we get better at capturing the heavy rain we experience in some parts of the world and allowing it to sink in to the ground rather than running off into rivers. Particularly thinking of some of the flooding in UK and Europe over the last decade. If the ice caps melt due to rising temperature surely this means more water in the atmosphere and…

This might work in the UK. There is no national water infrastructure, so although it rains a lot, there are regular droughts - especially in the South East where most of the population lives. There's been some noise about fixing this, but after privatisation there's no commercial interest in taking on national-scale projects without government subsidy. Somewhere like CA is largely desert anyway, and there's no obviou…

When ever I go to the US I'm surprised at how water inefficient many places are - hotels with square flat basins that need a huge amount to water to fill to a usable level, to toilets that just seem to flush gallons down the drain.

Re: Water crisis coming in 15 years unless the world acts now, UN report warns

#64

Post by phkahler » Sat, Mar 21, 2015, 11:23 PM UTC

__m wrote: post #37

phkahler wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I think one of the keys to "controlling" population growth is to bring people out of poverty. That implies that poor people have a higher reproductive rate - which I believe is true. A shortcut is to offer birth control to poor people. Many of them don't actually want a bunch of kids, but when you're poor there's not much to do and sex is free. I agree it'd be nice to bring people out of poverty, but shouldn't we…

there is probably more behind that than boredom. Maybe they want many kids to support them when they get older.

I know a guy that grew up in a rural US town but went to college and is quite successful now. He went back and visited his ex girlfriend from high school. She had a kid to support and was going nowhere. He said he was extremely lucky not to fall into that trap. An exact quote: "There were two things to do in Beaverton, and I didn't drink".

Re: Water crisis coming in 15 years unless the world acts now, UN report warns

#65

Post by phkahler » Mon, Mar 23, 2015, 8:17 PM UTC

edkennedy wrote: post #28

phkahler wrote: post #4

They point to population growth as a contributing factor, yet they never suggest anyone do anything about that. How about free birth control to anyone who wants it? How about permanent birth control to any adult who wants it? I'd say free to anyone below some income level since the middle class can afford it anyway. With increasing productivity we don't have jobs for all the people anyway, why not encourage making le…

Lovely ideas, but very far out of reach. Some of our elected officials would rip apart planned parenthood and impose strict rules on birth control if they could.

>> Lovely ideas, but very far out of reach. Some of our elected officials would rip apart planned parenthood and impose strict rules on birth control if they could.

Much of the opposition to planned parenthood is their being a provider of abortions. Witness the new healthcare law requirements for insurance to cover birth control. But then Hobby Lobby wants an exception. I'm just advocating the offering of permanent procedures, which should be cheaper long term.