That said, there is a chemical compound that can be seen as in need of serious forward-thinking management. This molecule has a direct effect on matters of today, is measurable, and is a commodity to virtually every living thing on land . . .

That commodity is fresh water.

How is it that hotels in Las Vegas can have lavish fountains, and developments in the deserts of Dubai can have ample drinking water? The answer is forward-thinking water management. In the first case, water used in the hotels and casinos is cleaned and pumped into the fountains of Vegas . . . In the Emirates, they use the largest source of water in the world . . . the ocean . . . to get their fresh water.

In New York City, more fresh water flows past Manhattan in a few days than flows into Southern California over the better part of a year. Georgia has dense swampland yet dry lakes, while western Washington state lives with five months of continual rainfall, but relies on the Columbia River to quench the thirst of the eastern part of the state.

Those that have it, don?EUR??,,????'???t see the urgency of distributing it to those who decide to live where it is not . . . Why should they? If we choose to live in the desert, how can we ask others to disrupt their way of life to support ours?!?

Still, in areas where water is not a given, it is often allowed to fall and escape. In areas where floods might recharge aquifers, levies are built to hold the water in channels and homes are put in the flood plains. In Arizona, flash floods are purposefully channeled to dissipate into the dry desert floor.

They steer straight the Mississippi so New Orleans can be built on this side of the gulf. After all, the loss of marshland from low water at the mouth of the river is what allows hurricanes to cause so much destruction . . . right? It certainly couldn?EUR??,,????'???t be the measurable cause and effect from a growing population?EUR??,,????'???s demand on the fresh water from the river . . .

Wouldn?EUR??,,????'???t it be more prudent to plan for floodwater capture or for natural rhythms and take advantage of the benefits these natural occurrences provide? They have found that by letting the forests burn they thrive. Maybe we should let the floods flood and learn to grow in such a way as to take advantage of these natural occurrences.

And what about technology . . . Is it too early to start discussing the pipeline from the great lakes to the southwest?

Or would saltwater conversion, rainwater capture and wastewater filtration be more practical?

Interestingly enough, Scientific American features on its cover a lawn being mowed and questions whether green waste is the answer to the ethanol supply source. If that?EUR??,,????'???s the case, then will cities be paying citizens to tear out their artificial lawns and replace them with oxygen producing, green fuel-producing fescue? What if you water it with the treated wastewater from your plumbing and captured rainwater that first fell on the solar panels of your house . . .

?EUR??,,????'??+God Bless