The Victor Davis Hanson Show Water, Waste, and Losing Face
Dec 28, 2023
Topics discussed include California's controversial water situation, declining fertility rates and the troubled state of the Catholic Church, the Pope's approval of same-sex blessings, funding of the Wuhan lab and COVID-19 connections, the origins of COVID-19 and backlash against scientists, and the normalization of plagiarism.
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Follow Israel For Practical Water Practices
- Do look to Israel's water strategy for practical steps: desalination plus treated sewage for irrigation rather than potable needs.
- Hanson notes Israel runs large desal plants and recycles sewage mainly for agriculture, while California has different geography.
Water Scarcity Is Driven By Policy Choices
- California's water shortage is political and ideological, not purely hydrological, driven by environmental restrictions and refusal to build reservoirs.
- Hanson links opposition to dams and protections for the delta smelt to choices that force reliance on costly sewage-recycling proposals.
Education Decline Undermines Infrastructure Capacity
- Declining public-sector capacity and education quality undermines complex infrastructure projects.
- Hanson ties poor test scores, weakened universities, and loss of skilled residents to failures like high-speed rail and water projects.