OK, I have written about Climate for a bit. Now I will get a little specific, and venture into the dangerous world of predictions. However, I do think that by this summer we may be seeing some serious internal refugee problems in America, caused by climate.

These are gut feelings, from years of reading, but I think scientific study will bear me out.

In the American Southwest, 2007 was the year were there was not enough water for both humans and agriculture. Predictably, the Bushies swept the problem under the rug. The water was diverted to the population, corporate agriculture was subsidized.

This year however, there will not be enough water to satisfy either one.

Los Angeles area has some 10 million people. When the white man first arrived, the Los Angeles basin, in it’s natural state, supported an Indian population of 3,000. Now eventually, I think most of these people will have to leave. There is just not enough water. But for the year of 2008, I think that they can get by. But it may very well mean no more swimming pools, and no verdant lawns. If you garden in L.A., it will have to be cactus. Public fountains and so forth will disappear. But this year, I don’t feel that there will have to be evacuations. Water rationing should help the city get by.

Now while Los Angeles is a city that produces things that America and the world actually uses, Las Vegas is a fantasy creation, in the high desert. 1.5 million people live there. I understand that he latest rage is afternoon parties in huge pools run by casinos. Paris Hilton is said to be a regular. I have never been to this city, but photos show gaudy casinos with extravagant water fountains and pools everywhere. In the high desert. My guess as to what the Las Vegas area water resources could actually support would be few. No more pool parties, sorry Paris.

Now the American southwest does draw water extensively from areas far away. Water is even transported across the Rockies from the Oglala aquifer in the Great Plains states.

However Vegas is vulnerable in another way. It is totally based on fantasy play. To play there, you have to drive or fly in a plane. We are looking at oil going permanently over $100 a barrel folks, so not that many people will go there. So then the economic livelihood for all those people who live there disappears, and they go somewhere else. It becomes just another ghost town in the desert.

Now for the bad biggie, Atlanta. People in the area are saying that if it does not rain in the next three months, they are in real trouble. It is my theory that Atlanta has created it’s own drought, all that urban sprawl has created a heat island, which has grown larger over the years. It pushes rain away. Now, we are looking at the desertification of the American southeast. If I am correct, and the city of Atlanta is the cause, there is no solution that can restore the climate. In less than a couple of thousand years. 5 million people live in the Atlanta area. Atlanta has no system to draw water from far flung regions like the southwest does. So the effects will be immediate.

I think that this summer will we see people moving away from these regions. Evacuating 500,000 people from Katrina showed how woefully deficient America is in handling large scale disasters. Let us imagine one million water refugees from Vegas, and two or three million from Atlanta. Of course, in Katrina people had to move in a few days. In case of drought, people will move over a period of months. Still we will most likely end up with several million internal refugees.

Of course, George Bush is not responsible for building cities in the desert, or creating heat islands. We all did that. But he has for the seven years of Presidency refused to admit that climate change exists. And done nothing about it. Now, we will all pay the price.