[Sosfbay-discuss] OpEd Submitted for Tuesday's Morgan Hill Times.

[Wes Rolley]

I was flipping through the channels past mindless infomercials and 
self-important sports commentators looking for something that we tell me 
to pay attention when I chanced on the end of Mr. Smith Goes to 
Washington and Jimmy Stewart reminded me that “Lost causes are the only 
ones worth fighting for.” It is with that in mind that I review some of 
those topics that I have written about in the past and will continue to 
write about even though they sometimes seem to be a lost cause.

*Climate Change: * It would be difficult this month, following the 
inconclusive conclusion of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in 
Copenhagen, to not write about climate change. The one thing that did 
happen was an unofficial agreement that it was dangerous to mess with 
the status quo, even though the status quo is what got us into this 
predicament in the first place.

Mainstream journalism does not do their job on this topic, choosing to 
make the story about a made up controversy over emails rather than about 
the facts that any observant being can see all around us. Environmental 
organizations do not make it easier to get the story right, with their 
focus on far off fauna and polar bears floating on a melting ice pack in 
the arctic. Had they focused on the fact that many insects are now able 
to have an additional generation each year in a warming climate, a fact 
that threatens our food supply, we may have paid more attention.

Still, with every new piece of scientific evidence making a stronger 
case for man-caused climate change linked to the emissions of greenhouse 
gasses, primarily CO2 and methane, the American public's assessment of 
the situation is diverging from the facts that are noted. Most climate 
scientists will admit to error, but the errors we have been seeing are 
those that arose from underestimating the effects rather than 
over-hyping what they had documented earlier.

*Water Planning: *California may or may not be coming out of a drought. 
Even with the heavy rains we had earlier, we are tracking only slightly 
above normal in a year with a moderately strong El Niño. If that 
continues, we may have a normal year by with depleted reservoir levels, 
not return to normal. That is only one part of the problem.

Maybe a more important issue deals with ground water, the way we measure 
it (or don't) and what we have done over the years. Un-restricted 
pumping of ground water leads inevitably to subsidence, a sinking of the 
ground when the earth settles into the space where water used to be. We 
should know all about the area around Alviso, now below sea level. We 
may not be as familiar with subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley where 
28 feet of subsidence was documented by 1977 and they have not stopped 
pumping it yet.

Ground water is important for California and yet, the legislation that 
came out of the special session of the legislature this fall (SBX7.6) 
only “mandates” ground water monitoring but is unenforceable, unfunded 
and mostly relies on volunteerism with no recourse when well owners fail 
to volunteer. It was a costly charade that must be exposed and the 
situation corrected.

Then, comes the question of paying for groundwater. We know that the 
Santa Clara Valley Water District spends money to recharge the aquifer 
under South County. We also know that their accounting has been 
questionable, that they have been charged with double dipping and that 
they lost a law suit over a violation of the State Constitution.

*Health Care:* The legislation that passed the two houses of Congress 
still needs to be reconciled so we don't know what will eventually 
happen with it. With either version, I would classify it as the health 
insurance equivalent of the banking system bailout we experienced last 
year with the exception that the banks are having to pay the money back. 
It is worth noting that on the day that the Senate passed their version 
of the Health Care bill, health insurance company stocks reached a 52 
week high.

California legislation SB 810 introduced by Mark Leno would provide for 
universal coverage in California, but might not be legal if the House 
version of the US Health Care bill forms the basis for reconciliation. I 
get agina every time I hear a politician label ours the the best health 
care system in the world. It may be the most expensive, David Brooks 
opined on New Hour that it is headed toward over 20% of GDP and our 
outcomes are not as good as many other countries.

*Green Party: * Some tell me that the Green Party is a lost cause. It's 
numbers are in decline and Democrats are running as the small-g “green 
party.” Even the always endorse a Democrat California League of 
Conservation Voters has co-opted the brand and put up a web site called 
GreenGov2010.org.

Still, if I look at the three big issues above, the Green Party is on 
the correct side of each one, supporting the use of basic climate 
science in determining how to provide for our energy future, defining a 
management process for water basin oriented water planning and 
supporting true health care reform either through SB 810 or another 
method should Congress decide that they can't allow states to do what is 
best for their citizens.

So, maybe the some of all of these lost causes is just enough to keep me 
going

-- 
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better
 and you don't,
 then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente

Wes Rolley
17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
http://www.refpub.com/ -- Tel: 408.778.3024