• Vupware@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    Meanwhile, the rest of the world will completely disregard this cautionary tale and continue to extract groundwater to farm until only saltwater remains.

    Then, as billions of people are dying of starvation, thirst, and societal downfall, the elite will finally prioritize desalination R&D and if/when they get something to work they will hail it as a revolutionary step for humanity and completely disregard the fact that this R&D / subsequent proliferation could have been initiated decades ago when the problem was first apparent.

    Voila, no more overpopulation crisis, and water, what the civilized world once considered a human right, is now used as a method for exerting control, as it is only ever potable (sans rainwater) after being processed.

    • BanMe@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Parts of the US, like all the major cities in Texas, are actively sinking because we’re draining the aquifers that took millennia to fill. It’s yet another problem just festering, fascinating to watch as the reality approaches.

        • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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          22 hours ago

          Maybe not suppose to exist in their current size (the same could be said for a lot of large cities), but humans have lived in both for thousands of years.