Spain contemplates its world citizenship as deserts spread within.

[NNadir]

When it comes to the consequences of global climate change, it is rare that countries reap what they sow.

Developed countries produce most of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but the effects have largely been felt elsewhere, from Pacific islands disappearing beneath the seas to devastating droughts in Africa.

There are dramatic signs, however, that the frontline in the war against environmental catastrophe has begun to shift, with one developed country above all others - Spain - in the firing line.

According to the UN, the deserts of Africa are poised to jump the Mediterranean and within 50 years, one-third of Spain will be desert. Spain is suffering from its worst drought since 1947 and it is clear that the process of desertification has already begun.

Travel through the south-eastern provinces of Murcia and Almeria, and you could be forgiven for thinking that you've entered the barren badlands of North Africa. Across the region, hillsides denuded of trees segue into plains of unrelenting, desert-like monotony.

In much of the country's south-east - the "market garden of Europe" - water storage levels have dipped below 12 per cent, river levels have fallen by 41 per cent in less than a year and, in some places, it has not rained in 15 years. Some villages have simply run out of water...

...Between 1990 and 2004, Spain's greenhouse gas emissions increased by 45 per cent, more than any other developed country and three times the level it agreed to under the Kyoto Protocols. Spain is also Europe's most flagrant violator of environmental regulations. Overgrazing, irresponsible irrigation practices and soil erosion are widespread.

But nothing has damaged Spain's environment quite like the massive building developments along the country's Mediterranean coast. Last year alone, 350,000 holiday homes were built and planning permits were approved for a further 1.65 million. It is possible to travel for hundreds of coastal kilometres without leaving residential areas.

As a result, water consumption in some coastal regions has increased 15-fold in the past 15 years, while each of the 160 golf courses built since 2000 uses the same water resources as a town of 16,000 people...

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=55187

[RebelOne]

1. It is its world citizenship, not it's. It's is the possessive.

Please use the proper grammar in these posts. We do not need the freepers mocking us.

[NNadir]

2. Very sorry about that. I don't give a shit about the Freepers BTW.

I fixed the grammatical error, even though I'm quite sure that it's not of grand political importance.

[skooooo]

10. No, "it's" is a contraction for "it is."

[Massacure]

11. Who cares if they mock us?

NNadir is more intelligent than the whole damn lot of them combined.

[TygrBright]

3. AAAAAGH!! Golf courses! Don't say 'golf courses' in SPAIN of all places!

It makes me crazy right now. What IS it with public policymakers of ANY nationality, that they can't see the stupidity in unchecked golf course development?

OK, I admit, some of it has to do with not having seen a SINGLE INCH of moisture in any form this past winter... no rain, snow, nothing, barely a sprinkle. And almost nothing in the mountains, a snowpack so pitiful it doesn't even merit the term, which means we will have no water this summer except if we get rain, and no assurance of that.

AND THE GOD-DAMNED GOLF COURSE half a mile away is IRRIGATING THE HELL OUT of its greens AND fairways, sprinklers hissing on every other morning, just pissing away the little that's left in our reservoirs and acequias.

And me stumbling over a five-gallon bucket in the shower so I'll have enough to water a few container plants.

Golf was invented in Scotland. Scotland is a WET CLIMATE. Golf courses belong in WET CLIMATES. Hellooooo, anyone listening out there?

irritatedly,
Bright

[MADem]

5. Nothing wrong with golf courses, IF they adapt themselves to local

conditions!! Why not let a desert golf course BE desert? Shit, use astroturf for the greens, or skip greens altogether, and call them "browns" with packed earth...and leave the rest of the place reasonably natural? Skip the water features, and go for massive sand traps instead?

[Divernan]

7. Next you'll be telling Cheney to hunt Fierce WILD quail, not farm-raised

I really like your idea, but then I've always found golf an unappealing sport. Riding around manicured courses in carts, not getting any exercise worth mentioning. Your idea would put the rough back in rough. Boring as playing golf is, it's a laugh riot compared to sitting inside watching it on television.

[MADem]

9. I played golf at a great course in Italy, that was damn wild

Right outside of Rome, in fact. The fairways were not "fair" in the golf course sense, and were only slightly less rough than the roughs. The greens were half bald, and they left 'em that way. If it rained, there were water features, if not, there might not be. Still and all, it was a challenging course, had a great clubhouse, you were expected to play nine, have a (really great) meal, take a nap, and play nine--and that's how they scheduled the tee times. Very civilized!!!

Oh, and no carts--you walked! If you didn't happen to have a trolley to pull your bag behind you, you could rent one if you didn't want to lug your bag (I've got my own, it's a champ), but it was a shank's mare evolution!

[MADem]

4. I lived in Spain before those holiday homes went up

Miles of undisturbed shore...it was lovely. Now, it's a hellhole, full of loud, rude, sunburned people who won't go with the flow of the country. A real shame.

[happydreams]

6. With all the refugees flooding in from Africa

they should be right at home. What's the prob? :bounce:

[xchrom]

8. charming post.