The Colorado River flows through 7 states in the southwest United States, supplies water to 40 million people, feeds 4.5 million acres of farmland, and is drying up because of global warming.
In a study published by Water Resources Research, it has been determined that in addition to the 19% water volume loss caused by almost two decades of drought, water in the Colorado River is literally evaporating due to rising temperatures caused by climate change. This is affecting the entirety of the Colorado River Basin. According to the study, high temperatures are evaporating the moisture in snow banks, plants, waterways and the soil. Both of the river’s reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, are already at half their capacity with water managers considering cuts in water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada next year.
The two scientists who administered the study state that even if the drought were to suddenly end, the intensity and resulting effects of climate change are continuous and irreversible.
The water of the Colorado River has been mismanaged for decades with water being pumped far from its original source to supply ever expanding cities that cannot sustainably exist in their hot desert environments. Cities like Las Vegas, Nev. and Phoenix, Ariz. exhaust the river to upkeep golf courses, water parks, and other forms of continuous – and wasteful – development.
The water of the Colorado is also used to irrigate large cash crops that are not suitable for the harsh dry climate of the Southwest. This thoughtless management and lack of planning is typical under the profit driven system of capitalism. Capitalism continues to grow regardless of its environmental limitations, and if it can profit, it will continue to exploit and exhaust our limited resources.
We cannot sit idly by and hope for precipitation to replenish the Colorado River. We cannot rely on capitalism to take its corporate interests out of our natural resources. For the Earth to live, capitalism must end. We need to demand a system that is for the people.
We need to demand a system that provides real solutions to climate change – a system with a planned economy that can provide responsibly for farmers and urban centers alike. We need a system that is based on people’s needs and the needs of the environment. Climate change is the symptom, capitalism is the disease, and socialism is the cure!
