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- cross-posted to:
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World Meteorological Organization says water is ‘canary in the coalmine of climate change’ and calls for urgent action
Rivers dried up at the highest rate in three decades in 2023, putting global water supply at risk, data has shown.
Over the past five years, there have been lower-than-average river levels across the globe and reservoirs have also been low, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of Global Water Resources report.
In 2023, more than 50% of global river catchment areas showed abnormal conditions, with most being in deficit. This was similar in 2022 and 2021. Areas facing severe drought and low river discharge conditions included large territories of North, Central and South America; for instance, the Amazon and Mississippi rivers had record low water levels. On the other side of the globe, in Asia and Oceania, the large Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mekong river basins experienced lower-than-normal conditions almost over the entire basin territories.
So far, my plan for this is ‘Move to Minnesota’.
Lots of fresh water, rental/housing prices are not completely absurd (yet?), and as the Earth generally warms it will probably make for more mild winters.
You’re not going to be the only one with plans like that. There’s a few billion more of us that would like some water too. In an actual resource conflict, that water is most likely going to be secured, prioritized, and rationed by government authorities first, if some random militias or warlords don’t get to it first.
This isn’t going to be a case of “oh I’ll just move away from the fighting and chill and keep going to work and paying taxes”. It’s going to come to you no matter where you are. Easy access to fresh water is a pretty basic foundation of an advanced, stable society.
Oh yes, I am well aware that those things will happen, but its still probably better to be nearer to the actual resource than farther from it.
I moved from Colorado to the great lakes region partly for this reason. I was evacuated from both my home and workplace multiple times in the last 10 years I lived there due to wildfires. I don’t miss living in the high desert. Cloudy winters are an adjustment though.