The Colorado River #CORiver crisis affects the whole of the Southwest: humans, wildlife, food supply, air quality.
But there's an overarching, urgent moral imperative, & that's the 40 million people who rely on it.
The inequities between those people present a stark reality 🧵:
But there's an overarching, urgent moral imperative, & that's the 40 million people who rely on it.
The inequities between those people present a stark reality 🧵:
People hear 40M & they mostly think of golf courses & suburbs. Maybe they think of alfalfa farms & winter broccoli.
But there are millions & millions people from low income, disadvantaged communities throughout the Basin whose lives are on the line.
But there are millions & millions people from low income, disadvantaged communities throughout the Basin whose lives are on the line.
Urban Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Clark, Maricopa, and Pima Counties have an avg. 14% poverty rate. That's millions of people. The vast majority of whom rely on the Colorado River to sustain their lives. People who probably have no ability to leave if the tap runs dry.
The gallows humor around Las Vegas is, "One day things will get so bad with Lake Mead and the heat that we'll all have to leave." Haha, very funny, but a macabre grain of truth.
And the implied question that hangs in the air afterwards is chilling: who gets left behind?
And the implied question that hangs in the air afterwards is chilling: who gets left behind?
If the reservoirs go to deadpool, if the river runs dry, if the unthinkable happens... who gets left behind?
Those millions of people in the cities of the Lower Basin who rely on the Colorado River and live below the poverty line will have no means to leave if the taps run dry.
Those millions of people in the cities of the Lower Basin who rely on the Colorado River and live below the poverty line will have no means to leave if the taps run dry.
Even if the unthinkable happens, even if municipal supplies crash and there is, one day, an outmigration from the cities of the Lower Basin - there are millions who will not have the resources to get out. And these cities are surrounded by desert - you can't walk.
We have so many priorities to balance with the River - domestic use, agriculture, wildlife, international treaties. But we can't overlook the deep inequities between the power of those stakeholders.
Even for us as an environmental group - we're able to operate from a place of privilege, using the robust environmental regulatory regime in this country to push our priorities on the River - namely wildlife habitat and natural flow regimes.
There are many advocates for the frontline communities of the Lower Basin, but they are not primarily focused on water supply for those communities. I'm not sure that frontline urban communities have a seat at the table in #CORiver negotiations.
Of course, there are economically disadvantaged communities throughout the Basin. Urban communities in the Upper Basin: CO, NM, UT. Rural communities in all 7 states. And lest we forget, we stole all of this water from the original indigenous inhabitants of the Southwest.
The common thread is that limited economic resources means a limited ability to respond when disaster comes to the Colorado River. While some in business may face economic ruin if the River collapses, many... millions... could have their actual lives on the line.
This isn't some abstract discussion. We could be looking at deadpool in a few years. Deadpool means the Colorado River runs dry. Deadpool is apocalypse. Deadpool is game over.
And while the ecosystems and wildlife of the Colorado River are beloved to me and we fight for them every day...
It's the people, the communities, the folks who won't be able to leave if the unthinkable happens that keep me awake at night.
It's the people, the communities, the folks who won't be able to leave if the unthinkable happens that keep me awake at night.
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