In any discussion of dams, as in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, the usual suspects present the values of earth over that of people, who are—to those inspired by the deep ecology platform underlying the environmental movement—the problem, and the less people there are, the closer (in their mind) we are to a solution.
Consequently, any human technology that allows for more people, dams being one, as they provide water storage and allow water transfers encouraging population growth, will be resisted, when the real answer for the growth of humanity is to resist their anti-human advocacy.
An excerpt.
“(09-28) 19:38 PDT -- Thirty years ago, a chunk of chain, an eyebolt and Mark Dubois helped end the era of big dam building in California.
“Dubois, a bearded, 6-foot-8, 30-year-old river guide from Sacramento, chained himself to a rocky outcropping on the north bank of the Stanislaus River and stayed there for a week, determined to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from filling the canyons behind New Melones Dam and submerging the limestone caves, verdant meadows and petroglyphs of the river valley.
“Dubois lost that fight: New Melones had been approved in the 1940s and was well under way when he and the nascent Friends of the River got involved. But he and hundreds of others who celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Stanislaus Campaign next month believe their work is echoing through a new generation as another dam debate emerges in California.
"We didn't win 30 years ago, but the world has changed," Dubois said in a telephone interview from his home on Bainbridge Island in Washington state. "Even though (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) is pushing these dams, people know they don't make sense."
“As California grapples with an aging water-delivery network, growing population, worsening water quality, a drought and the potentially far-reaching effects of global climate change, dams are again on the table.
“Last month Schwarzenegger insisted he would not sign off on any major overhaul of the water system without money for new dams and reservoirs.
“The governor has the support of conservatives and the vast Central Valley, where many farmers are convinced that new, man-made lakes will help offset dry spells and ease the federal rulings that have cut water pumped through the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.”
