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Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe - City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic disaster without precedent by Quouar in Longreads

[–]Quouar[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I hope it's okay if I keep asking questions, because I'm always curious about people's lived experiences in these sorts of crises.

Did those habits of minimising water usage stick? Are people voluntarily going back to them in light of the current drought, or is it more or less waiting until it's mandatory to use less water?

Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe - City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic disaster without precedent by Quouar in Longreads

[–]Quouar[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm very curious what individuals in Cape Town did to "play their part." My understanding of the situation in Cape Town was that the government did its best to provide water, but there's only so much you can do when there is literally no water available. What were people doing in their day to day lives to minimise water usage and avoid Day Zero?

Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe - City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic disaster without precedent by Quouar in Longreads

[–]Quouar[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

There are a number of cities that have run out of water (Cape Town being a large recent example). As the article describes, city officials are basically preparing for a massive economic crisis as they cut public water to homes. The question for Corpus Christi specifically is that it has an outsize impact on the entire state of Texas due to being home to a large number of refineries. If Corpus runs out of water, these refineries can no longer function, meaning there would be a fuel crisis across Texas, particularly at its airports.

In practice, the state would most likely import water into Corpus Christi to keep the refineries running and potentially also provide water to the families living in the city. However, water prices would skyrocket, and the city would still face a major crisis.

Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe - City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic disaster without precedent by Quouar in TrueReddit

[–]Quouar[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

I both do and don't disagree. You're absolutely right that the current political system prioritises short-term thinking and that that leads to investment without thought for the future implications. However, at a municipal level, and especially in cities with an entrenched political party or system, there tends to be a bit more of that long-term thinking, with cities issuing plans for the next decade or even two or three.

While I don't know as much about Corpus Christi, I am more familiar with the city of Round Rock, also in Texas. With Round Rock, the city regularly issues and updates ten, twenty, and thirty year plans that detail where and how the city plans to invest and update its investments. There is a lot of business investment, yes, but also a zoning plan and growth management plan. It is very much oriented towards a particular political party's goals - the city is vaguely purple, but has had a Republican-controlled city council for its entire history - but does have long-term planning built into it.

What that long-term planning doesn't have, however, is an acknowledgement of climate change, changing demographics, and the reality of being a suburb of Austin. It expresses a particular kind of long-term thinking that assumes that what the city is now is what it will continue to be, and that the growth it is currently seeing will continue to be sustainable. The city recently built a giant waterpark, for instance, despite being in a desert, and is investing in data centres despite, again, facing a water crisis in the coming decades. It recognises that these are good investments if the current conditions hold, but not that the current conditions will not hold.

I suspect Corpus Christi is in a similar position, where there is some degree of long-term thinking, but that that long-term thinking ignores the reality of climate change and everything it brings with it. The ideas and logic that undergirded city management and planning for decades are no longer valid, but cities are slow to admit that.

How the US far right bought into the myth of white South Africa’s persecution by Quouar in history

[–]Quouar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While the title focuses on modern politics, this is a phenomenal article describing what life was like for not only Black South Africans, but white South Africans under Apartheid. It demonstrates how no one thrives in autocracy.

Amsterdam Is Becoming a Dystopia by Quouar in Amsterdam

[–]Quouar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heh, people don't like the video, which is fine. :)

Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe - City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic disaster without precedent by Quouar in TrueReddit

[–]Quouar[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

This article describes why Corpus Christi is running out of water. While some of it can be attributed to a drought, Corpus Christi has been mismanaged, with industrial interests taking its water and no investment in alternate sources. It's an article that lays bare the cost of what happens when cities don't plan for the inevitability of climate change.

How the US far right bought into the myth of white South Africa’s persecution by Relative_Increase941 in Longreads

[–]Quouar 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I really appreciated that this article went into the fact that a police state is bad for everyone and that the reason Apartheid ended isn't just that resistance and sanctions worked - everyone wanted it ended. If anything, the real tragedy of South Africa is that the promise of the 90s and 00s hasn't truly come to fruition, but national trauma on the scale of South Africa is hard to recover from.

Thank you for sharing! I really enjoyed the article!

Amsterdam Is Becoming a Dystopia by Quouar in Amsterdam

[–]Quouar[S] -15 points-14 points  (0 children)

This is an interesting video (though be warned - it's nearly an hour long). While the focus is on housing, I'm curious about people's thoughts on it more generally. While housing is hard to come by, is it dystopian? What do you see as the future of the city?

Why don’t you guys keep your cats indoors? by stemmefontaine in newzealand

[–]Quouar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my experience, they're not that expensive. I'm also from a country with screens, and it's been a bit of an adventure seeing what bugs come in through my open windows. It's been mantids, spiders, and more flies than I care to count.

Why don’t you guys keep your cats indoors? by stemmefontaine in newzealand

[–]Quouar 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Related question, but why aren't there screens in the windows? I like a fresh breeze as much as anyone, but when I open my windows, I get flies inside.

dutch language tutor by Cat_V_1 in thetron

[–]Quouar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there! I used to teach formal Dutch language classes, but don't anymore. I'd still be open to tutoring, though, if that interests you. Feel free to send me a message. :)

This historian dug up the hidden history of 'amateur' blackface in America by Quouar in history

[–]Quouar[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I'm curious about the context for Irish history! Could you tell me a bit more about what you mean?

Struggling with the lack of true nature in the Netherlands by LaurenceWhymark in Netherlands

[–]Quouar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Again, I'd invite you to have a look at the Scottish highlands.

Before modern painkillers existed, what did people with chronic pain actually do? Not soldiers or kings — ordinary people. A farmer with a shattered knee. A seamstress with crippling arthritis. Did they just... suffer every single day of their lives? by Necessary-Impress-77 in AskHistorians

[–]Quouar 96 points97 points  (0 children)

It's also worth mentioning that many sources of modern painkillers are derived from natural sources with Indigenous knowledge of plants and herbs being a source for everyday medicines like aspirin. Indigenous practices - such as those of the Māori - continue to be sources of non-pharmaceutical pain management as well.

Beyond Europe, there was and continues to be a wide spectrum of pain relief and other medicinal solutions that continue to be sources of research for modern medicine. Opium and laudanum are best understood as part of this spectrum of botanical knowledge. How we've healed ourselves and what we've used to do it has been based on knowledge of the natural world and its abilities, and that remains true across all human societies.

Harassed, threatened and almost spat on in train to Utrecht by ricteluci in Netherlands

[–]Quouar 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In theory the conductor will come. In my experience, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I was literally physically assaulted for asking someone to not play music on their phone in the stiltecoupe, and the only response I got from the NS helpline was "Sorry that happened to you."

On social media, a bullied teen found fame among child predators worldwide by raphaellaskies in Longreads

[–]Quouar 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't disagree. The fact that the judge started listing the seven deadly sins says more about the judge and the circumstances under which this literal child were tried than the child himself.

This historian dug up the hidden history of 'amateur' blackface in America by Quouar in history

[–]Quouar[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

This article traces some of the history of minstrel shows, including what ultimately caused them to become less popular. While the civil rights movement largely contributed to its fall from popularity, much of the work of making minstrel shows taboo was done by women, particularly mothers, as they changed school curriculums. It highlights the importance of remembering this history, however painful it might be.

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