Clean, fresh water is so important to our world. Idahoans and most of the Western United States have ongoing contentious battles over water rights. Southern Idaho is a high desert and in spite of the favorable climate, long summer growing days and fertile soils, abundant water is the key to many of our most productive and profitable crops thriving. Our system of dams, reservoirs, and nature’s own underground storage aquifers have been the life blood of our agricultural economy as well as allowing continued economic growth in the urban areas. The river systems, like the Snake, Salmon, and Clearwater, and their tributaries provide tremendous outdoor recreation activity and a highway to the ocean for our anadromous fish. The large dams built to provide hydro power to a growing Western economy remain in place although their benefit today is questioned by many environmental activists. I am a big supporter of water that falls in the form of snow and we are fortunate to have that winter mountain supply to provide water well into the fall most years. Water is the lifeblood of the West.
I read with interest about the MOSE project that went into operation this year in Venice. For many centuries the famous city floods during the aqua alta, high water – caused by high tides between October and March that lasts a few hours. If you live in the lowest areas, when the flood sirens go off you raise everything at ground level off the floor to keep it dry. Often the local shops in the San Marco and Rialto must close. Knee deep water is not great for outdoor wine drinking. In spite of years of cost overruns and a bit of corruption the 78 flood gates rise from the floor of the lagoon and form a dam, stopping the Adriatic Sea. This year the city has remained dry. This may only be a temporary relief as ocean waters will continue to rise with the melting ice caps if the planet does not take prompt action. I hear the costs of limiting green house gases are too high. This damn system is reported to have cost $1.3 billion more than the original estimate a $6.5 billion investment that took nearly 20 years to complete.
In 1990, Theo Jansen, a Dutch artist and inventor created Strandbeests—his “beach Creatures.” The creations can walk on the sand, powered by wind, and he calls them “new forms of life.” Mindful of the rising sea levels and what that might mean for the Low Countries he imagined a race of wind powered beach beings that could bring sand from the waters edge inland to build a water barrier. This Sisyphean task of dune building produced the Strandbeests. You can watch them on the attached video. Jansen is maybe a bit ahead of his time, however, he is using artificial intelligence to allow the machine to stop itself before an obstacle, like the ocean, move in soft sand with a pressed air technology. These beautiful works of art are not likely to be the solution to the water challenges posed by rising sea levels. It is an excellent distraction from the craziness we are enduring today.
Thanks to the Electoral College system and all of those who bravely stood up to the bizarre challenges to our democracy. The Court system, regardless of any partisan pressure, worked perfectly. Vaccines will be increasingly available so it is up to us to minimize the ongoing spread of COVID and protect lives by wearing masks, social distancing and following hand washing protocol.
Happy birthday to my youngest Brother Jeff. Enjoy the week end. Mike