re: #286 karmic_inquisitor

Without coming off as a denier (I am not) please allow me to point out the problem with using the southwest / meltwater example as a counter to the Lomberg argument.

Most of the consumption from the Colorado River goes to existing reservoir systems. So were the precipitation to fall as rain and run off, the water would still be stored in reservoirs.

The meltwater argument works in places where reservoir infrastructure doesn’t exist. Himalayan runoff issues would be a huge disaster, keeping Bangladesh under water most of the year and depriving the region of clean water for half of the year, for example.

75% of the water used in the Southwest comes from melts. You will find that the Colarado is fed by them too. This issue is not like Bangladesh, rather that as the climate changes in the South West, the places that get permafrost up in the mountains,will not have it anymore.

Look at the Princeton links for projections.

I used this as one example of an area that would be hard to fix. There are many others. We could also talk about the costs of not having enough food, because crops have failed in the Midwest.