Comment by dpc050505
6 days ago
2 billion people rely on quickly melting glaciers, a lot of water tables that depend on rainfall aren't being replenished at the rate they're being emptied.
You can cover your ears and ignore physics all you want. If you take out more water from an ecosystem than what is coming in, eventually you run out.
> If you take out more water from an ecosystem than what is coming in, eventually you run out.
That's fine, people will move elsewhere. Unless the water is literally disappearing from the planet.
Sure, and the people who live near oceans can just sell their houses and move as sea levels rise.
People forced to migrate due to fresh water scarcity will migrate to where fresh water can be found, which is likely where other people already are, increasing pressure on the increasingly scarce water and other resources in that area, driving conflict, disease, famine, further migration into increasingly stressed areas and leading to social and ecological collapse across the board.
Access to reliable fresh water is foundational to stable society.
> That's fine, people will move elsewhere
That's how one creates a refugee crisis. All those thirsty people fleeing an area where the lack of water has made their property worthless...
They will need somewhere to go, and housing and jobs when they get there - and if they don't find it, that's when things get dicey all round.
Look at what's happening in Sri Lanka or the middle east (drought causing famine was a catalyst to the arab spring) for an example of what happens when people try to move elsewhere.