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James K's avatar

The corporate conglomerates don't care about the people their projects will affect. They don't care about the environment. They don't care how many species will go extinct due to their irresponsible actions.

The current administration, who's campaigns they fund don't care either. They don't care about climate change because they know they won't be around when the Earth becomes unlivable for the human species. They don't care about the future of our planet. They only care about how much money they can put in their pockets today. This is their addiction.

Parents can't feed their children. They can't afford to give them a better education than they had. They can't afford healthcare, gas, utilities, childcare, rent or a new home.

They don't care and it's time to do something about it. Peacefully protest. Call your Congressman. Hold up a sign in the rain. Pass out information packets. Attend strategy meetings and town halls.

Most importantly, VOTE. Make your voice heard. This story is proof that if you do these things it works.

Kayjay2e's avatar

Thanks for organizing and documenting.

.......'s avatar

It is wonderful reading about a community that was successful. Most times, these projects come in under the radar, and it is hard to stop them once in progress. Congratulations to those citizens in Indiana.

Shawn McCarthy's avatar

Shawn here...yeah, our early warning was critical to having enough time to get momentum built.

Thank you!

Muhammad Rahimtoola's avatar

Fabulous. For the community to stay informed, aware, alert and united are all steps in the correct direction. It's the individual efforts that create the ripple effect eventually. Great work and results.

Betsy Johnson's avatar

This alliance was crazy effective! Proud to have worked with them. We have a strong community.

Shawn McCarthy's avatar

"worked with them."

Talk about underselling. You were part of 'them!'

James K's avatar

I've retired from being a musician singer-songwriter for over 50 years. I'm also retired after 28 years in the military. I'm 100% disabled from being blown up 5 times and shot once. I'm also 67 years old and draw social security.

I have military retirement health care, VA health care and Medicare. I am blessed.

20% of my income goes to paying the bills and groceries. 20% of my income goes to savings. 10% of my income goes to college funds for my 3 grandchildren. 10% of my income goes to taxes. 10% of my income goes to a missionary church to the homeless. 10% of my income goes to the local soup kitchen where I sing and play guitar for the homeless. 10% of my income goes to the 3 best young female vocalist singer-songwriters on the planet through Patreon. 5% of my income goes to art and painting supplies. And 5% of my income goes to $20 bills that I pass out to people I meet during the day.

I'm no angel. I'm just not addicted to money. I'm not a corporate conglomerate.

James K's avatar

From Science Alert:

Tremendously Grave': The First US City Is on Track to Run Out of Water

Environment

25 July 2026

By David Nield

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'tremendously Grave': The First US City Is on Track to Run Out of Water

It seems inconceivable, even if you're aware of the perilous situation that the world's water supplies are in, but a developed coastal city in Texas that more than 300,000 people call home is now in serious danger of running out of water.

The city is Corpus Christi, and difficulties with water scarcity are now coming to a head after years of concerns over shortages.

There are multiple issues combining here, perhaps most importantly the arrival of major industrial developments, off the back of the unlocking of vast oil and gas reserves that came with the shale revolution.

One plastics chemical complex, built in 2022, uses as much water for cooling every day as all the Corpus Christi residents combined.

A planned seawater desalination plant, which was supposed to ease some of the pressure brought on by rising industrial water usage, never materialized, further compounding the problem of supply.

And then there's climate change: Texas has been hit by a series of historical droughts in recent years. It all adds up to a scarcity of water that life and businesses rely on.

"Corpus Christi has come as close to running out of water as practically any city in the United States," says Dylan Baddour, a journalist at Inside Climate News.

"They've rebounded a good bit since the beginning of this year, but they have about one year of water in storage right now, which would already be considered an emergency for any city."

Reservoir chart

Water levels in Lake Corpus Christi, the second-largest reservoir supplying the city. (Water Data for Texas)

While rainfall during 2026 has eased the pressure somewhat, reservoir levels are still precariously low, and it's not clear how much longer the situation can go on for.

The desalination plant plans haven't been completely abandoned.

There's still a proposal on the table to build a huge facility for removing salt and impurities from seawater, which would produce an estimated 378 million liters (100 million gallons) of water a day (twice as much as the biggest desalination plant currently in the US, in San Diego).

However, the plant has been discussed since 2017, and efforts to move forward with it are being caught up in red tape and questions over funding. The bill for the facility is reportedly in the region of $6 billion.

"There were years of fumbling around, of folks trying to get something on the books, other people seeking to stop it, and all the while, water was running out," says Arcelia Martin, also a journalist at Inside Climate News.

Other options being explored are groundwater wells drilled deep underground – already supplying 12 million gallons a day – but these solutions are also vulnerable to drought. Plans to use wastewater for industrial cooling purposes are also being explored, with supplies set to go online this year.

City residents have faced restrictions around watering their gardens or washing their cars since August 2024, but it was expected that emergency measures might have to be introduced as early as December 2026.

Thanks to the rains we've seen this year, that prediction has now been pushed back to September 2027, but there's still very little margin for error. City authorities need to find a solution to the water scarcity problem, and quickly.

Emergency measures might include rolling 'water blackouts', where water is only available for some parts of the day, for example. However, that's not really a solution for industrial uses – these refineries and plants would have to be shut down, bringing subsequent knock-on effects on the economy and communities.

Sadly, as with other natural resources, it seems that we haven't been appreciating what we had until we're dangerously close to running out.

Related: UN Report Warns There's a Different Type of 'Pandemic' Coming For The World

"What this story shows us is that point where we begin to see what it means for a city to run out of water," says Baddour.

"It's never really happened here, or on a large scale in the world, in modern times."

"The possibilities that it raises are tremendously grave, and that's what we're dealing with here."