What if farmers had to pay for water?

[pixy0stix]

Gift link - Strawberry Case Study: What if Farmers had to pay for water?

“There’s a big public-policy argument for pricing groundwater,” Mr. Preonas said. “But if you were to try something this across the country, it would mean farmers would shift away from growing crops like corn, or leave agriculture altogether. Any way you cut it, it would likely raise food prices. But the alternative is running out of water.”

[wawa]

Haveno't finished yet, but so far everything in this article is just making me shout "GOOD. YES. DO IT!"

Like, animal feed and textile crops become more expensive? so people have to eat less meat and buy less cheap clothing? omg how is that not a BENEFIT of this idea?

Please for the love of god can we just accept that our entire system is teetering on this giant pile of unpaid for external costs to every cheap thing we have and START ATTACHING THOSE COSTS TO THOSE THINGS so the market has any chance whatsoever of correcting? this is true ACROSS EVERY SINGLE SECTOR OF EVERY SINGLE THING EVER.

It's already too late, but like....can we start chipping away at that externality debt so there's just slightly less to pay for when it all comes due at once with the entire collapse of our fucking ecosystem??? We're like people with a shoebox full of maxed out credit cards whining about the idea of paying above the mins for even one of them.

now to go read the rest of it...

[wawa]

ok, finished it now.
THIS THIS THIS.

“We can’t get away with producing something for which the resources do not exist,”

WE ALL NEED THIS STAMPED ON OUR FOREHEADS. 

[wawa]

god. the idea that we have to solve this within the realm of capitalism, but actaully pricing something to reflect it's ACTUAL cost is politically challenging to the point where we're not goign to do it....it's WILDLY frustrating.
It's probably the thing that makes me the most hopeless about any mitigation of the path we're on.

We have to work within capitalism. k. sure.
Here's a solution using the levers of capitalism (pricing resources consumed directly in the market) - "oh no, not like that."

Like, whatever shall people do when cheap crops are more expensive? WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO WHEN ENTIRE REGIONS RUN OUT OF WATER ENTIRELY?

[pixy0stix]

YES! *raises fists*

I think that people assume that they'll just move if it becomes bad. Move where? Where is not going to get bad, because I can't think of a single solitary place where things are going to continue on as they were.

[bugandbibs]

Yes, yes we should. As the article pointed out, when the farmers started being charged for the water they found ways to use less/waste less because there was incentive to be mindful of the resources.

We are headed to a very dangerous situation and pretending that we aren’t running out of road to kick the can down is ridiculous. The biggest impacts will come from changes at business/corporation levels.