July 15, 2017

Many aquifers are being rapidly depleted throughout the world, and this does not factor in climate change. Case in point, the southern portion of the Ogallala Aquifer, a prime agricultural region in the U.S., is estimated to have no more that 20 years left. Simultaneously, according to the United Nations, the world’s population is expected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100. All of these additional mouths will need to be fed, yet food production will necessarily decline for lack of water with which to irrigate the fields.

It is the responsibility of those in power everywhere to address this impending catastrophe; not doing so, by extension, borders on willful negligence to protect their people from preventable genocide. This begs the question, how many governments, large or small, have it in their agenda to address this issue, solely or collectively? How many are considering, even if only as a pipe dream, the possibility of diverting funds from the merchants of death to the peasants and farmers that feed us all?