One theme united many of the stories we heard this week. From the push back of Day Zero in Cape Town, to "Sanivation" in Kenya, to the decision of Costa Rican farmers to transition from coffee to pineapples, pressure drove change.
My values for this week are recognition and discipline. Every day it seems we are bombarded with the same message: Act Now! We see the UN climate clock get closer to midnight, hear about another natural disaster related to climate change, or simply have a conversation with a friend. Yet...after a while...the message doesn't hit us as hard anymore. We get numb to it.
We have to account for this.
I envision a world where we are able to put enough pressure on ourselves to address issues like water conservation...without having to even think about Day Zero. On the surface, this seems like an impossible challenge. I think about how often I procrastinate on my major assignments. Only when I face significant pressure do I usually get started. How can we possibly be this disciplined on a large scale?
The answer lies in imposed conservation. My proposed intervention follows a similar water pricing model to the one discussed in class. Regional governments would make the first 5,000 gallons of water a household uses per month free, then impose a charge of 25 cents/additional gallon used. A progressive pricing scheme could be applied, where lower-income households get a lower cost per additional gallon while higher-income households pay more. The exact costs would need to be worked out and likely adjusted to best incentivize water conservation. A similar pricing scheme could be used to limit corporation water usage.
Think again about our assignments. When we have a deadline for a portion of our larger assignment (e.g. a proposal or outline for a paper), we start working on it earlier. If we place initial barriers on usage, we don't get into a situation like Cape Town. We can recognize the issue early and be disciplined enough to avoid a crisis.
@CoSphere
I strongly agree with the approach of tiered water pricing, it could guarantee the basic human needs as well as ensure people are charged for unnecessary water usage. The water bill starting line could be variant based on local conditions and every country or even every city could have their own policies based on the local climate, population, water accessibility or any other factors.
Hi Philip,
Great post! I really resonated with what you said about going numb to all the bad news. It's so important that we continue to put pressure on ourselves to do the right thing and to fight for a future where we aren't bombarded with terrible news on a daily basis. I love your idea for imposed conservation!
Hi Philip, I love the idea of pinning down the problem using more feasible solutions early on, before it becomes a more serious issue that would require more significant sacrifices if addressed later. I'm curious what your thoughts are about how this pricing system you suggested would affect the availability of food to folks with varying levels of income? I know you mentioned that the water pricing system for households would be adjusted based on the household's income, which seems fair. However, we know the price of food would go up significantly if we were to put a price on the water used to produce food, and this would not take into account the individual income levels of people, does that make sense? I guess I am just thinking that food would become unaffordable to people with lower incomes if farmers and food producers were to get charged for water, and what your thoughts are about getting around this. Really good ideas here and a great proposed solution!
Hi Philip! I really admired the awareness you had in your post and I agree with you that getting desensitized to the news around us is a huge problem. Even for me, thinking about the UN climate clock has scared me for many years now but it always goes to the back of my mind eventually. The idea of water pricing is one that I would like to see as well, with hopes that it can improve water sustainability.
Hey Philip, I was just wondering what some of your thoughts are on what the effects of adding higher pricing on industrial uses of waters would be and how we could mitigate some of those effects governmentally. I would be interested in seeing a more global scale sustainable irrigation system at play for farms.
Hey Philip, I really appreciate that you have thought through every detail of your imposed conservation proposal. Your proposal (as well as water pricing in general) has reminded me of how BC Hydro charge for electricity, and how they have rebate/ reward programs when a household manages to consume a significantly lower amount of power for a certain period of time compared to their last bill. The only down-side about water pricing schemes in Vancouver (or other municipals that are charging flat rate for water) is the retrofitting of all pipe and water supply facilities to install meters.
Hey Phillip, this post was super enjoyable to read and so insightful. One question that arose in my mind in the midst of reading it was; How do we know if this proposed model would be sufficient? Are there any examples of this model being tested out as a small scale operation?
I really like your idea on imposed conservation! Do you think this is something that could occur globally or would it only be able to work in nations where water is easily accessible?