Articles

California's wild fires are the big environmental news this week, but I still cannot stop thinking about Atlanta's water shortage. In case you haven't heard, a big part of the Southeast has been in the grips of a severe drought for the past two years. According to some reports, things are so serious that Atlanta is down to about a three month's supply of drinking water. Officials are calling for conservation, but what if it is not enough? What if the faucets of the Southeast run dry? Based on the stories that I have read, there is no plan B.

If the city of Atlanta really does run out of water what will the nation's response be? Will the city simply be sacrificed the way New Orleans was after Katrina? Will George Bush say, "No water? Let them drink Coke!" Will the federal government make any effort at all to save the region, or is this the way the American republic will crumble - one city at a time, each due to different, foreseeable and preventable disasters?

Part of the reason that the Southeast's drought is so fascinating is that it is a perfect metaphor for so many other unfolding events in our modern society. The pattern is by now well known: A looming problem is identified, warning bells are sounded, but no action is taken to address the problem. For a long time nothing happens, so the threat is presumed to be overblown. Those who sound warnings are ridiculed as Chicken Littles. But suddenly - seemingly out of the blue - the problem comes home to roost with a vengeance. Disaster strikes. Everyone is caught "off guard" because warnings fell on deaf ears for so many years.