EveryDropCounts

[hungrywithtaste]

Seriously, Stop Demonizing Almonds

We have seen the real cause of the California drought, and it’s one crunchy inch tall. One gallon of water to grow a single nut? BAN THEM ALL, writes everyone. But almond outrage is misplaced. We shouldn’t stop eating any fruit or vegetable due to how much water it takes to grow it. Especially when there actually is a crop that’s stealing California’s water.

“But Californians should not be eating less of California’s food, we should be eating more of it.”

Hear, hear! 

[hungrywithtaste]

Beyond Almonds: A Rogue's Gallery of Guzzlers In California's Drought

California is parched. Wells are running dry. Vegetable fields have been left fallow and lawns are dying. Who can we blame? From almonds to politicians to cheap water, here are seven candidates.

“And [our] thirst is growing, year after year.”

[hungrywithtaste]

Along California's central coast near the beach city of Cambria stands a swath of Monterey pine trees, one of three groupings of the native trees left in the world. The site has been protected for years from tree cutting because of its rarity. Now, in the fourth year of the Golden State's drought, those trees that cover nearly 15 square acres are as much as 90 percent dead, their needles turned from green to grayish-white.

“The Cambria Community Services District Fire Department has applied for grants to fund removing some of the dead Monterey pines...He estimated the expense at more than $400 million....”

[hungrywithtaste]

Are new developments in the decades-long cold war over the average water footprint of beef worth revisiting or does the grudge match remain?

“Why can’t a consensus around a definitive, average water footprint of beef statistic be reached?” 

It’s complicated....

“In the end, the actual number is not what’s important. The bottom line is that it takes a lot of water to produce beef, especially when just a fraction of that water can be used to produce much more food with much lower water footprints.”