Fortunately, California Only Has 55 Electoral Votes
This is Henry Miller with the good news on gene-splicing:
Plant biologists have identified genes that regulate water use and transferred them into important crop plants…… Aside from new varieties that have lower water requirements, pest- and disease-resistant gene-spliced crop varieties also make water use more efficient indirectly…… We get more crop for the drop.
Now for the bad news:
In several EU countries, national bans on new gene-spliced varieties are in place, in clear violation of EU rules, and the European Commission has repeatedly proven itself incapable of removing the barriers….. Even worse, and cruelly ironic in light of California’s water shortage, is the fact that over the last few years four of the state’s counties – Trinity, Mendocino, Marin and Santa Cruz – have actually banned the cultivation or sale of gene-spliced plants, including those that are drought-resistant.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wI6uAOHzvo
“California Dreaming”
In the future it will have fewer electoral votes. Higher taxes will speed the exodus of the productive part of the population.
The unproductive sorts who remain can sit around and listed to the mamas and papas.
They may have only 55 electoral votes, but they are holding a slew of powerful positions in the Congress and we are all paying a heavy price for it.
I believe those California counties are all high- income areas where everyone drinks bottled water anyway.
[…] Fortunately, California Only Has 55 Electoral Votes | John Goodman … […]
You are making the assumption that you can reduce evapotranspiration of plants without reducing photosynthesis. The CO2 required for photosynthesis moves through the same stomata in the leaves that allows water to leave the plant. If you reduce transpiration you reduce the ability to uptake CO2.
Yield increases generally entail increased water use by the plant. Note that drip systems in agriculture have been adopted to increase production and give a high degree of control, distribution uniformity and amount, but are more costly, which is justified by increased yields. California farmers have among their ranks some of the most efficient operations in the world and one district has production and efficiency comparable to the entire state of Isreal.