High good, low bad: Mead in May 2012
Posted on | June 1, 2012 | 2 Comments
Click on the cover to be taken to the "Aloud" program at the Los Angeles Public Library, where "Moral Ground" editor Kathleen Dean Moore will be part of a panel on western water on June 6, 2012.
Spoiler alert. It’s low bad for the monthly Mead report. The largest reservoir in the United States, which serves Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico, was at 1,119.38 feet at the close of May, 2012. That’s lower than it’s been for seven months, a mere 44 feet and change above a level that will invoke shortages in Arizona and Nevada. But! Now that doomsayers like me are all cheered up at any opportunity to remind wastrels with lawns, “We told you so,” it emerges that there is a more constructive voice in town. As clarification, it merits adding that the town is Los Angeles and the voice is that of philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore.
On Wednesday, June 6th, Moore will be among the panelists at the Los Angeles Public Library’s “Aloud” program. The theme: “The Elemental West: Reflections on Moving Water.” Invoking wild streams is a risky choice for an event in Los Angeles, where “moving water” is far more likely to be a ribbon of sprinkler run-off in a gutter than a stream. But if anyone can strike authentically elemental notes, it’s Moore. For those of you who haven’t heard of her, the Oregon State University professor of philosophy is editor of “Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril,” a collection of essays by contributors as various as Archbishop Tutu, Bill McKibben and Gary Snyder on what it will take to prompt us to act on conclusive science that climate change is real and our water systems are in collapse. “Yes, global climate disruption is a technological issue that calls for our smartest and most far-sighted innovations,” she argues. “It is a scientific issue, calling for brave and honest research. It is an economic issue, calling for good thinking about meaningful, life-sustaining work and true wealth. It is a political issue, one that will inevitably involve contest and demand compromise. But we believe that climate change is fundamentally a moral issue, and it calls – it begs – for a moral response.”
In order to embrace conservation, we have to first decide, in Moore’s words, that “it’s wrong to wreck the world.” Anyone interested in conservation should be at the Los Angeles Public Library on June 6th at 7pm. For details click here.
Tags: Colorado River > Kathleen Dean Moore > Lake Mead > Los Angeles Public Library
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North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
June 1st, 2012 @ 7:31 pm
looking for the like button
June 1st, 2012 @ 8:25 pm
Me too. Hope to see you there.