http://www.californiadroughtupdate.org/pdf/20170223-California-Drought-(and-Flood)-Update.pdf
I guess I’ll maintain the new title for this report for at least a few more weeks. Floods, like droughts, come and go, but we scribes shall always be. Ours is not to do or die, but to, hopefully, enlighten a few minds and give some direction. And direction is what the nation requires. For as the noise and bedlam that inundates the airways and the social media provides the distraction from the reality that urgently needs to be understood, sorting out what is important is what I hope to do.
As the historic drought of the past five plus years slowly fades away, and now the record rainfall replaces it, it may well be time to remind us all that mankind must never be subject to the whims of nature, but, through that great gift of human creativity, we must discover and master less imperfectly the fundamental laws of the universe, and then wield that knowledge to continuously improve life on Earth, and in the future the Cosmos.
That mankind has always altered nature to provide for his existence, for his well-being, there should be no argument to the contrary. That there is such an argument is a problem and demonstrates what more than 40 years of incessant propaganda promoting the idiotic “post-industrial society” and the idea that mankind is a plague on “nature,” can do. One would think that if those who have been sucked into such ideas would reflect a little, they would understand that mankind is not only a part of nature, and created by nature, but is the most perfect of nature’s creations. For mankind is a species, unlike all other species, that, like all the processes of nature is creative. Humans bring into being by a deliberate intent that which had never existed, and thus mankind is self-evolving– that is we deliberately change our behavior, we change our relationship to the rest of the universe by the creative power of our minds to create, build and use that which we create to adjust nature to our needs. No animal can do that.
This week’s report will include the U.S. Drought Monitor, but will focus more on the flood and the attention it has given to the fragile state of the state’s water infrastructure, which not just provides water, but also is the flood-control system.
Following the Drought Monitor is a summary report written three days ago, which shall serve as an overview. The remainder of this week’s report will cover the flood, the weather and the status of the flood-control system.
Next week we shall turn to the broader question of infrastructure, or better conceptualized as productive platforms of scientific and technological progress that transform the entire economy. We must think about and bring into being those discoveries of science which eliminate less productive activity in our economy, and bring into being occupations and skills that do not exist today. That is what human progress has always done, and must continue to do so.
I suggest a look at the American Society of Civil Engineer’s “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.” This report is issued every four years, with the new report due out on March 1. The 2013 report concludes that just in order to repair the nation’s existing infrastructure by 2020 the cost would be $3.7 trillion. The link below takes you to the entire report, at which you can explore the nation, all the states and all the areas of infrastructure.
