Beavers (WIPS pg 46). Western US water issues. The single largest use of electricity in CA is used to pump water over the mountains to LA. 80% of CA’s developed water supply is used for agriculture. (WIPS pg 36) Pumping water from the Colorado to the Tuscon is the state’s largest single use of electricity.(WIPS pg 59)  Ogalala. Flooding in areas that can’t infiltrate and hold water.

Desertification and droughts work in tandem. More rainfall falling at once with long stretches in between.

Water Rights. Water Wars. Refugees.

  Heat Domes. Forests are equatorial and arid regions form around 30 degrees north and south of the equator. (Nobre Ted)

Torrential downpours, floods, fires and droughts are all a p There is about half of the green, photosynthesizing land cover compared to 8,000 years ago. 5 B hectares of arid land created in 8,000 years.

Agricultural production depends on fairly reliable temperatures that don’t vary too wildly and don’t negatively impact precipitation. We need energy from the sun to be captured by the plant and use some of it to buffer temperatures through transpiration. Energy that lands on bare soil will evaporate water out of the soil profile, increase rain-discouraging dust aerosols and radiate more heat as sensible heat. All of these factors

Aral Sea Irrigation and salination. Fertile Crescent. Arabian grasslands?