The Wrong Targets

 Erik Loomis - with whom I rarely agree - has a post about water rights in the Southwest, which makes the same sort of mistake that I think a lot of leftists make when talking about environmental issues. His point is that Native groups are trying to preserve elements of their environment but struggle because White people want golf courses in Phoenix. 

The problem is that residential and recreational use of water is a small part of the water use in the Colorado Basin. About 80% of the water used in that arid region is used for agriculture, notably winter vegetables. Because it's relatively warm, you can harvest winter vegetables. OK, but there is also a massive amount of water used to grow alfalfa for cattle feed. What's worse, much of that alfalfa is shipped overseas. 

The Southwest is burning through its water supplies to feed cattle in other countries. That is a terrible idea for any number of reasons, but given the crisis in the Southwest, it's insane. 

What's worse, the stubbornly independent Western farmer resists efforts to make irrigation more efficient and sustainable. How can you get this staunchly libertarian group of people to submit to even subsidized efforts to move to drip irrigation?

But back to leftist critiques of places like Vegas and Phoenix. 

There is a cultural stigma attached to these gauche, tacky places that simmers just below the environmental complaints, but the real issue is this weird focus on personal behavior to change macrotrends. It is more important in some circles to be more virtuous than thou than to actually solve the problem. Take carbon. I think hybrids should be the focus of transitioning to more fuel efficient vehicles. They are convenient and fuel efficient, but they aren't EVs. Of course, EVs have to charge themselves from an electrical grid that often produces carbon itself. 

What's more, transportation makes up about 27% of greenhouse emissions in the US, and that includes trucks, trains and airplanes. Industry makes up 24% and electrical generation 25%. Why should we focus on the margins between plug in EVs and hybrids, when we lose our focus on industry? 

Finding a way to reduce carbon emissions in metal work, concrete and other industrial practices would have immediate impacts on the amount of carbon emissions, but I guess you can't lord it over your benighted friends if we tackle carbon emissions that way. A widespread commitment to nuclear power would be the easiest and fastest way to de-carbonize our economy, but "nukes are bad" and powering your home via nuclear power isn't "sticking it to the man" I guess.