“If I could increase it, I would”

These are the words  of Tim Brown, CEO of Nestle Waters, responding when asked if Nestle would decrease the extraction of ground water to supply its California bottling operations. He would increase it if he could. He doesn’t see the historic California drought as anything more than an opportunity – all of those who thirst are simply potential customers.

This is what privatization of public resources has resulted in. This is why we have governments. This is why we have governance. This is why the Conservatives are no longer in power in Alberta.

A troubling picture

A just-published report  (enhanced pdf) containing new measurements of global sea-level rise has some troubling news – the rate of sea level increase has accelerated over the past twenty years. What I would argue is the most troubling is the increased precision with which these measurements are made owing to new satellite techniques.

It’s like knowing to the millimetre how long the knife at your throat is.

The figure below is figure 2 from the paper and shows the measured change since 1900. Note that these are from a combination of satellite methods and tide gauge measurements. Note also, the decreasing uncertainty.

Let me put a finer point on it. Note the increasing certainty.

(h/t iflscience)