THE WELL-FIXER'S WARNING

[hunter]

4. This is a "Tragedy of the Commons."

The commons in this case is the groundwater.

In economic science, the tragedy of the commons is a situation in which individual users, who have open access to a resource unhampered by shared social structures or formal rules that govern access and use, act independently according to their own self-interest and, contrary to the common good of all users, cause depletion of the resource through their uncoordinated action.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

The local groundwater problems in California's Central Valley are very similar to the larger problem of global warming.

The solutions to the problems are obvious, but there are no political or social mechanisms to deal with them and too many fucking idiots who believe in magic -- that if you build more dams, pay off enough politicians, and pray for rain then some idiot god will provide.

To quit fossil fuels you have to quit fossil fuels. You have to leave coal, oil, and gas "reserves" in the earth, which means they are not reserves, they are not assets.

To stop the overdraft of groundwater you have stop pumping. If that means you have to quit certain water intensive crops (silage for cows would be one example) and restore certain agricultural lands to a somewhat natural state, then that's what you have to do.