Impacts of the California Drought

Impacts of the California Drought In 2015, California was once more taking stock of its water supply, coming out of the winter season in its fourth year of drought. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, the proportion of the state’s area in severe drought had not significantly changed since a year before, at 98%. However, the proportion classified as under exceptional drought conditions leaped from 22% to 40%. Much of the worst hit area is in the Central Valley, where the dominant land use is irrigation-dependent agriculture. Also included in the exceptional drought category are the Sierra Nevada Mountains and a large swath of the central and southern coasts. There was much hope that the winter 2014-2015 would bring El Nià ±o conditions, resulting in above normal rainfall across the state, and deep snow at high elevations. The encouraging predictions from earlier in the year did not materialize. In fact, in late March 2015, the southern and central Sierra Nevada snowpack was only at 10% of its long-term average water content and only at 7% in the northern Sierra Nevada. To top it off, spring temperatures were quite above average, with record high temperatures observed all over the West. So yes, California is really in a drought. How Is the Drought Affecting the Environment? Energy: About 15 percent of California’s electricity is provided by hydroelectric turbines operating on large water reservoirs. Those reservoirs are abnormally low, reducing hydropower’s contribution to the state’s energy portfolio. To compensate, the state needs to rely more on non-renewable sources like natural gas. Fortunately, in 2015 utility-scale solar power reached new heights, now at 5% of California’s energy portfolio.Wildfires: California’s grasslands, chaparral, and savannas are fire-adapted ecosystems, but this prolonged drought is keeping the vegetation tinder dry and vulnerable to intense wildfires. These wildfires create air pollution, displace and kill wildlife, and damage property.Wildlife: While much of the wildlife in California can weather temporary dry conditions, a prolonged drought can lead to increased mortality and reduced reproduction. Drought is an additional stressor affecting endangered species already burdened by habita t loss, invasive species, and other conservation problems. Many species of migratory fish are endangered in California, notably salmon. Low river flows due to the drought reduce access to spawning grounds. People will also feel the effects of the drought. Farmers in California are heavily dependent on irrigation to grow crops like alfalfa, rice, cotton, and many fruits and vegetables. California’s multi-billion dollar almond and walnut industry is particularly water intensive, with estimates that it takes 1 gallon of water to grow a single almond, over 4 gallons for a single walnut. Beef cattle and dairy cows are raised on forage crops like hay, alfalfa, and grains, and on vast pastures that require rainfall to be productive. Competition for water needed for agriculture, domestic use, and aquatic ecosystems, are leading to conflicts over water use. Compromises need to be made, and again this year large swaths of farmland will remain fallow, and the fields that are farmed will be producing less. This will lead to price increases for a wide variety of foods. Is There Some Relief in Sight? On March 5, 2015, meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finally announced the return of El Nià ±o conditions. This large scale climate phenomenon usually is associated with wetter conditions for the western U.S., but due to its late spring timing, it did not provide enough moisture to relieve California from drought conditions. Global climate change throws a good measure of uncertainty in forecasts based on historical observations, but perhaps some comfort can be taken by looking at historical climate data: multi-year droughts have happened in the past, and all have eventually subsided. El Nià ±o conditions have subsided  during the 2016-17 winter, but a number of powerful storms are bringing a copious amount of moisture in the form of rain and snow. It wont be until later that we will really know if its enough to bring the state out of the drought. Sources: California Department of Water Resources. Statewide Summary of Snow Water Content. NIDIS. US Drought Portal.

How Honorifics Are Used in English

How Honorifics Are Used in English An honorific is a conventional word, title, or grammatical form that signals respect, politeness, or social deference. Also known as a  courtesy title or an address term. The most common forms of honorifics (sometimes called  referent honorifics) are honorary titles used  before names  in salutations- for example, Mr. Spock,  Princess Leia, Professor X. In comparison to languages such as Japanese and Korean, English doesnt have an especially rich system of honorifics. Commonly used honorifics  in English include Mr., Mrs., Ms., Captain, Coach, Professor, Reverend  (to a member of the clergy),  and  Your Honor  (to a judge), among others. (The abbreviations Mr., Mrs., and Ms. usually end in a period in American English  but not in British English- Mr, Mrs, and Ms.) Examples and Observations Mrs. Lancaster, you are an impressively punctual person, Augustus said as he sat down next to me.(John Green, The Fault in Our Stars. Dutton, 2012)The Reverend Bond walked up to the horse, smiling up at Benton.Afternoon, Reverend, Benton said to him.Good afternoon, Mister Benton, Bond answered. My apologies for stopping you. I just wanted to find out how things went yesterday.(Richard Matheson, The Gun Fight. M. Evans, 1993)Princess Dala:  The Pink Panther is in my safe, at . . ..Inspector Jacques Clouseau: Your Highness, please. Dont say it, not here.(Claudia Cardinale and Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther, 1963)The New York Times waited until 1986 to announce that it would embrace the use of Ms. as an honorific alongside Miss and Mrs.(Ben Zimmer, Ms. The New York Times, Oct. 23, 2009)John Bercow, Speaker, Britains First Commoner (thats an honorific for the class conscious of you out there), was greeting and welcoming his new intake in Portcullis House. He is master of this domain .(Simon Carr, My Ill-Tempered Encounter With the Speaker. The Independent, May 12, 2010) The Honorifics Maam and Sir in the U.S. and Britain-The use of maam and sir is  much more common in the South than elsewhere in the United States, where calling adults maam and sir can be taken as being disrespectful or cheeky. In the South, the terms convey just the opposite. Johnson (2008) reported that when two English 101 classes  at a university in South Carolina were surveyed, data showed that Southern English speakers used maam and sir for three reasons: to address someone older or in an authority position, to show respect, or to maintain or reestablish good relations with someone. Maam and sir are also frequently used by Southerners in customer service, such as restaurant servers.(Anne H. Charity Hudley and Christine Mallinson, Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools.  Teachers College Press, 2011)Now you must understand  that in the British Isles, the  honorific Sir  is very widely used to bestow a  knighthood  on any citizen who performs exc eptionally well in public life. A leading jockey can become a Sir. A leading actor. Famous cricket players. Queen Elizabeth has awarded the title in honorary form to [U.S. presidents] Reagan and Bush.(James A. Michener,  Recessional. Random House, 1994) H.L. Mencken on HonorificsAmong the honorifics in everyday use in England and the United States, one finds many notable divergences between the two languages. On the one hand the English are almost as diligent as the Germans in bestowing titles of honor upon their men of mark, and on the other hand, they are very careful to withhold such titles from men who do not legally bear them. In America, every practitioner of any branch of the healing art, even a chiropodist or an osteopath, is a doctor ipso facto, but in England, a good many surgeons lack the title and it is not common in the lesser ranks. . . .In all save a few large cities of America every male pedagogue is a professor, and so is every band leader, dancing master, and medical consultant. But in England, the title is very rigidly restricted to men who hold chairs in the universities, a necessarily small body.(H.L. Mencken, The American Language, 1921)T-V DistinctionIn many languages . . . the second person plural pronoun of address doubles as an honorific form to singular respected or distant alters. Such usages are called T/V systems, after the French tu and vous (see Brown and Gilman 1960). In such languages, the use of a T (singular non-honorific pronoun) to a non-familiar alter can claim solidarity.Other address forms used to convey such in-group membership include generic names and terms of address like Mac, mate, buddy, pal, honey, dear, duckie, luv, babe, Mom, blondie, brother, sister, cutie, sweetheart, guys, fellas.(Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge University Press, 1987) Pronunciation: ah-ne-RI-fik