Opinion: The monsoon can’t save us
As I wrote this, news arrived that Sen. Joe Manchin — the coal-loving Democrat from West Virginia — finally agreed to support a climate bill that would potentially cut planet-warming emissions by some 40% by 2030. It will be a huge step forward (fossil fuel-friendly provisions aside) if it makes it through Congress, but it won’t do much to ease the West’s desiccation anytime soon. That gives the collective users of the region’s water no choice but to cut our consumption, and fast.
-Written by Jonathan Thompson, a contributing editor at High Country News and author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands.