<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Spain experiencing severe drought due to climate change]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by caniscandida http://www.grist.org/article/it-actually-doesnt-fall-on-the-plain-or-anywhere-else/ Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:57:36 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/it-actually-doesnt-fall-on-the-plain-or-anywhere-else/1 Spain and the US Southwest

This is a very sad story, for those of us who love Spain and the Spanish people.  I have been to all three of the places mentioned, at one time or another.  Barcelona is indeed a brilliant, world-class cultural center; Valencia has less to offer artistically, but has been enhancing its image nicely in the last few years; Murcia is a charming agricultural backwater, renowned for its almond plantations, and for almond-paste confections.

It just goes to show, though, that the EU is apparently still functioning rather differently than the US.  It is mind-boggling, not to say perverse, that in the US, we manage to get enough water to LA, San Diego, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, etc. -- which is pathetic, actually, but whatever.  Meanwhile, Spain has done very well for itself within the EU, being at the top of the second tier, and receiving a lot of funding for infrastructure.  (And you appreciate that when you visit Portugal right after Spain, as we did; Portugal is another wonderful country, and Lisbon is a beautiful capital, and Coimbra is a lovely university town: but it is remarkable how much poorer the country looks, by comparison with Spain.)  Yet it is curious that water is not so easily moved around within the EU -- to Spain, for example -- as it is in the US.

Conservation of water has historically always been a big issue in eastern Spain.  Arabic-speaking Muslims ruled in Murcia for many centuries, in that long stretch of medieval history when Muslims were at the forefront of technological innovations and improvements of the quality of life; their impressive irrigation systems can be seen in the surprisingly well-watered town of Elche, in the province of Murcia.

In Valencia, controversy about the use or allotment of water resources led to the creation of an impressive city council and judiciary, which meets to this day regularly on the steps of the cathedral: a powerful democratic institution, in a country that American Anglo-Saxon Protestants knee-jerkingly and prejudiciously associate with Catholic monarchical authoritarianism.

In northern New Mexico, at the border of the Spanish Empire at its greatest extent, the admired "acequia" irrigation system, as fundamental to old Spanish society there as the celebration of Good Friday and Easter, has its roots in medieval Spanish democracy.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

]]> Spain and the US Southwest

This is a very sad story, for those of us who love Spain and the Spanish people.  I have been to all three of the places mentioned, at one time or another.  Barcelona is indeed a brilliant, world-class cultural center; Valencia has less to offer artistically, but has been enhancing its image nicely in the last few years; Murcia is a charming agricultural backwater, renowned for its almond plantations, and for almond-paste confections.

It just goes to show, though, that the EU is apparently still functioning rather differently than the US.  It is mind-boggling, not to say perverse, that in the US, we manage to get enough water to LA, San Diego, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, etc. -- which is pathetic, actually, but whatever.  Meanwhile, Spain has done very well for itself within the EU, being at the top of the second tier, and receiving a lot of funding for infrastructure.  (And you appreciate that when you visit Portugal right after Spain, as we did; Portugal is another wonderful country, and Lisbon is a beautiful capital, and Coimbra is a lovely university town: but it is remarkable how much poorer the country looks, by comparison with Spain.)  Yet it is curious that water is not so easily moved around within the EU -- to Spain, for example -- as it is in the US.

Conservation of water has historically always been a big issue in eastern Spain.  Arabic-speaking Muslims ruled in Murcia for many centuries, in that long stretch of medieval history when Muslims were at the forefront of technological innovations and improvements of the quality of life; their impressive irrigation systems can be seen in the surprisingly well-watered town of Elche, in the province of Murcia.

In Valencia, controversy about the use or allotment of water resources led to the creation of an impressive city council and judiciary, which meets to this day regularly on the steps of the cathedral: a powerful democratic institution, in a country that American Anglo-Saxon Protestants knee-jerkingly and prejudiciously associate with Catholic monarchical authoritarianism.

In northern New Mexico, at the border of the Spanish Empire at its greatest extent, the admired "acequia" irrigation system, as fundamental to old Spanish society there as the celebration of Good Friday and Easter, has its roots in medieval Spanish democracy.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

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