Read this sweeping, hilarious look at the demand for Great Lakes water in the Sunbelt, courtesy of Chicagoan Edward McClelland.
For the last half-century, the Great Lakes states have been on the losing end of a migration that would have baffled our nomadic ancestors. Ignoring thousands of years of prophetic wisdom, from Moses to Sam Kinison, Americans have been moving away from fresh water and into the desert. In the most recent Census Bureau survey, the two fastest-growing states -- Nevada and Arizona -- were two of the driest. Michigan and New York, states awash in water, actually lost people. Some of these migrants were looking for work, following factory jobs down South. But others just couldn't stand the gloomy Northern winters. Now, those cold-weather refugees are discovering that the climate that's so well-suited to year-round golf is not so well-suited to providing millions of people with life's most essential element: H. Two. Oh.
In some ways, the piece is inspiring. While I don't quite agree with the method of "calling up the [Michigan Militia]," I admire the outage of someone like Rep. Vernon Ehlers, who has every right to defend his region's water supply. People who move to locations known to have resource deficiencies should suffer some of those consequences. And it's nice to see public officials stand up for residents who don't make the easy decision and jet to "paradise." Even if McClelland's plea for a population U-turn isn't likely any time soon -- people's housing choices are shaped more by short-term preferences than sustainability -- it's nice to think about. Unless my rent jumps. Then y'all can move back south.
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Adam Doster, a contributing editor at In These Times, is a Chicago-based freelance writer and former reporter-blogger for Progress Illinois.
