Not desert, but without irrigation much of Southern California is too arid to grow the crops that people are growing there. And without subsidized irrigation and an exploited non-citizen workforce much of it would be economically untenable. Water hungry industries, green lawns, and golf courses just add to the problem. Similar to vacation houses on the outer banks, I don’ think that it is wise to encourage land uses that are only going to be even more difficult to support as climate change slowly makes everything worse. As bad as it is now, it will almost certainly be significantly worse 50 years from now and worse than that 100 years from now. Just as cutting carbon NOW is necessary, so is making planning decisions that put fewer people, their livelihoods and futures at risk as the climate changes,. Band-aiding infrastructure to support people where they are is important, but we should be planning for a significantly worse picture on the future, rather than piling sandbags on the low-tide line and saying “we’re done.”
