The four news stories I chose to analyze all revolve around the drought in California. I got all of the news stories from npr.org and other resources are cited. The links to the news stories are also provided.
Article #1 Summary—California Battles The Drought With Successful Conservation Efforts:
http://www.npr.org/2015/08/28/435415997/california-battles-the-drought-with-successful-conservation-efforts
In an NPR news story (August 28, 2015), Nathan Rott discusses California’s success with water conservation. Recently, the state’s governor mandated water cutbacks, aiming at a 25% decrease. Since then, the state has had a 31% decrease in water consumption, with 21% of that being conserved in Los Angeles. Rott interviews three people living on the same street in Los Angeles regarding their water conservation tactics. On person stopped watering their grass, while another removed their grass completely. A third removed thirsty ivy in favor of plants that are conducive to conserving water. Overall, California has definitely reached it’s goal, and it needs to continue to conserve this much water in order to survive this horrible drought.
Article #2 Summary—Despite The Drought, California Farms See Record Sales In 2014:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/27/434649587/despite-the-drought-california-farms-see-record-sales
In an NPR news story (August 27, 2015), Dan Charles discusses the reasons for prospering California farms. Over the past year, some California farmers have earned record revenue. This may seem surprising, given the fact that California is in a drought, but there are actually two very practical reasons for this. The first is that the prices of all crops have been raised. This is due to supply and demand. There is less supply and more demand, so the farmers are able to raise prices on crops. The second reason is that some California farmers have been pumping water from the ground. For the farmers that don't have access to wells or underground water, their farms fail, which means that investors pour money into the farms that do have access to water, causing those farms to thrive. These two practices seem to be the only way farms can thrive this year.
Article #3 Summary—Farmworkers See Jobs, Earnings Shrivel In California Drought:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/27/434763709/farmworkers-see-jobs-earnings-shrivel-in-california-drought
In an NPR news story (August 27, 2015), Lesley McClurg discusses the job and revenue deficiencies caused by the drought. In California, 21,000 farmworkers are currently unemployed due to the effects of the drought. Due to the drought, there are fewer crops being produced and, therefore, fewer workers needed. Because of the unemployment the drought is causing, standard of living is going down in many parts of California. Some families can barely afford to put food on the table at all. The fruit that is being produced is also smaller, meaning that farmworkers that actually have a job still aren't being paid as much as they used to because smaller fruit is less valuable than larger fruit. Unfortunately, the drought is hurting the residents of California in many ways.
Article #4 Summary—In Search Of A Drought Strategy, California Looks Down Under:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/19/432885101/in-search-of-salvation-from-drought-california-looks-down-under
In an NPR news story (August 20, 2015), Dan Charles discusses the past droughts in Australia, and how residents of California need to take some ideas from Australia. It has been estimated that the drought will cost California’s economy about $2.7 billion. In order to lower that number, many farmers have been hurting the environment instead. This could all be avoidable, though, if California took a few lessons from Australia. Australia is naturally a much dryer place than California and recently they suffered a horrible drought, but managed to come out of it with minimal damage. The main way Australia has survived is that their government put much stricter restrictions on water than California has, and the citizens of Australia have really embraced water conservation, unlike the citizens of California. The average citizen of Australia uses half the amount of water as the average resident of California does. In addition, California sells shares of their water. Just like we have titles for property, Australians have titles for water. If California would adopt some of these practices, the drought may stop negatively affecting them.
Analysis of Articles:
The drought in California is negatively affecting the state in two ways: economically and environmentally. Economically, the drought is causing fewer fields to be planted, and therefore less help needed to harvest crops. This means that the unemployment rate in California is raising drastically, while the standard of living is lowering. Some farms, the farms with access to water, are doing very well. This is actually a bad thing, though, because few farms are doing exceptionally well, instead of many farms doing somewhat well. Environmentally, the drought is causing the land to dry up. In an effort to lessen the effect to the economy, many farmers are pumping water from underground. This permanently damages the soil and lessens its ability to soak up water in general, while also causing the ground to sink in some places. Luckily, the residents of California are doing a good job conserving water, but, they could be doing a better job if they followed Australia’s lead.
The drought in California doesn't just affect the residents of California, it also affects the rest of the US. Many crops are grown in California, including grapes, almonds, strawberries, oranges, walnuts, apricots, figs, dates, kiwi, nectarines, olives, pistachios, prunes, avocados, lemons, melons, peaches, and plums. (www.netstate.com) Due to the amount of crops grown in California, and how much the rest of the US relies on those crops, the drought could have some serious ramifications for everyone. Due to the lowering of supply and the raising of demand, prices have been drastically raised on all California crops. This could mean that many people won’t have the money to buy these crops, and they may have to resort to eating mainly cheap, processed foods. This could end up raising the obesity rate in America even more.
This also might affect the US economy overall if California can no longer export any crops to other countries. This would hurt the amount of money the US makes, and could hurt other countries that purchase California crops.
Overall, the drought in California is an issue that has the potential to negatively affect many people.
Article #1 Summary—California Battles The Drought With Successful Conservation Efforts:
http://www.npr.org/2015/08/28/435415997/california-battles-the-drought-with-successful-conservation-efforts
In an NPR news story (August 28, 2015), Nathan Rott discusses California’s success with water conservation. Recently, the state’s governor mandated water cutbacks, aiming at a 25% decrease. Since then, the state has had a 31% decrease in water consumption, with 21% of that being conserved in Los Angeles. Rott interviews three people living on the same street in Los Angeles regarding their water conservation tactics. On person stopped watering their grass, while another removed their grass completely. A third removed thirsty ivy in favor of plants that are conducive to conserving water. Overall, California has definitely reached it’s goal, and it needs to continue to conserve this much water in order to survive this horrible drought.
Article #2 Summary—Despite The Drought, California Farms See Record Sales In 2014:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/27/434649587/despite-the-drought-california-farms-see-record-sales
In an NPR news story (August 27, 2015), Dan Charles discusses the reasons for prospering California farms. Over the past year, some California farmers have earned record revenue. This may seem surprising, given the fact that California is in a drought, but there are actually two very practical reasons for this. The first is that the prices of all crops have been raised. This is due to supply and demand. There is less supply and more demand, so the farmers are able to raise prices on crops. The second reason is that some California farmers have been pumping water from the ground. For the farmers that don't have access to wells or underground water, their farms fail, which means that investors pour money into the farms that do have access to water, causing those farms to thrive. These two practices seem to be the only way farms can thrive this year.
Article #3 Summary—Farmworkers See Jobs, Earnings Shrivel In California Drought:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/27/434763709/farmworkers-see-jobs-earnings-shrivel-in-california-drought
In an NPR news story (August 27, 2015), Lesley McClurg discusses the job and revenue deficiencies caused by the drought. In California, 21,000 farmworkers are currently unemployed due to the effects of the drought. Due to the drought, there are fewer crops being produced and, therefore, fewer workers needed. Because of the unemployment the drought is causing, standard of living is going down in many parts of California. Some families can barely afford to put food on the table at all. The fruit that is being produced is also smaller, meaning that farmworkers that actually have a job still aren't being paid as much as they used to because smaller fruit is less valuable than larger fruit. Unfortunately, the drought is hurting the residents of California in many ways.
Article #4 Summary—In Search Of A Drought Strategy, California Looks Down Under:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/19/432885101/in-search-of-salvation-from-drought-california-looks-down-under
In an NPR news story (August 20, 2015), Dan Charles discusses the past droughts in Australia, and how residents of California need to take some ideas from Australia. It has been estimated that the drought will cost California’s economy about $2.7 billion. In order to lower that number, many farmers have been hurting the environment instead. This could all be avoidable, though, if California took a few lessons from Australia. Australia is naturally a much dryer place than California and recently they suffered a horrible drought, but managed to come out of it with minimal damage. The main way Australia has survived is that their government put much stricter restrictions on water than California has, and the citizens of Australia have really embraced water conservation, unlike the citizens of California. The average citizen of Australia uses half the amount of water as the average resident of California does. In addition, California sells shares of their water. Just like we have titles for property, Australians have titles for water. If California would adopt some of these practices, the drought may stop negatively affecting them.
Analysis of Articles:
The drought in California is negatively affecting the state in two ways: economically and environmentally. Economically, the drought is causing fewer fields to be planted, and therefore less help needed to harvest crops. This means that the unemployment rate in California is raising drastically, while the standard of living is lowering. Some farms, the farms with access to water, are doing very well. This is actually a bad thing, though, because few farms are doing exceptionally well, instead of many farms doing somewhat well. Environmentally, the drought is causing the land to dry up. In an effort to lessen the effect to the economy, many farmers are pumping water from underground. This permanently damages the soil and lessens its ability to soak up water in general, while also causing the ground to sink in some places. Luckily, the residents of California are doing a good job conserving water, but, they could be doing a better job if they followed Australia’s lead.
The drought in California doesn't just affect the residents of California, it also affects the rest of the US. Many crops are grown in California, including grapes, almonds, strawberries, oranges, walnuts, apricots, figs, dates, kiwi, nectarines, olives, pistachios, prunes, avocados, lemons, melons, peaches, and plums. (www.netstate.com) Due to the amount of crops grown in California, and how much the rest of the US relies on those crops, the drought could have some serious ramifications for everyone. Due to the lowering of supply and the raising of demand, prices have been drastically raised on all California crops. This could mean that many people won’t have the money to buy these crops, and they may have to resort to eating mainly cheap, processed foods. This could end up raising the obesity rate in America even more.
This also might affect the US economy overall if California can no longer export any crops to other countries. This would hurt the amount of money the US makes, and could hurt other countries that purchase California crops.
Overall, the drought in California is an issue that has the potential to negatively affect many people.