txrancher69 said:

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There is not a population problem. if you allot 900sf, which is the size of a small apartment, to every living person on the planet, they will all fit within the borders of Texas. 8 billion people, 268,597 square miles in Texas

Everyone from Europe, India, China, Africa, the Americas, South Pacific, Japan and everywhere else. The entire world empty of humans except Texas and here everyone has 900sf. Think about that. As a race we have political problems of all kinds, but not over population.

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You could fit all of them in the Sahara Desert as well....but you can't live there due to lack of resources. Space isn't an issue, even in the hill country. It is a function of available resources and the number of people drawing on those resources faster than they can replenish.

Mas89 said:

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What part of Utah? Drove thru there coming home from Idaho in July. Great views.

Plenty of water in Se Tx. 12 inch water well will still pump 3,000 gpm with the pump set at 260'. I guess it's too far to pump it uphill to the hill country. Luckily the Llano River ran all summer.

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Salt Lake City. Alta, in the southeast part of the county, got 6 feet.

Over the long run, population will decline, we won't have to do anything other than what we are doing now, via declining birth rates.

Biggest risk to human beings is themselves. If you discourage hydrocarbon production for example, you raise the price of food exponentially (fertilizers, diesel). Eventually, crops fail in marginal soil locations and people starve.

BrazosDog02 said:

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schmellba99 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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1) Too many ranchitos with unregulated, if you can drill it you can pump it water wells.

2) Overgrazing in the 1800's by sheep/goat farmers led to widespread massive errosion.
2a) Overgrazing combined with elimination of fire leads to introduction to non-native species that are not drought tolerant and highly wasteful of groundwater.

My understanding that prior to 2 above much of the hill country that we recognize today as rocky hillsides and scrub oak and cedar (ash juniper) was grassland.

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You neglected the single biggest factor - the simple fact that the central Texas ecosystem cannot handle the amount of people that live there long term without serious issues affecting natural resources, the primary one being water availability.

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I agree. So how do we go about getting people to go away? I figure if the water runs out, then it will probably work itself out but that takes a long time. Better yet, if you have any ideas on making whats left of the rural country less desirable for folks, I would be interested in that.

Y'all are trying to solve the wrong problem. Stop figuring out how to supply more water, figure out how to remove the demand for it.

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You're just shifting the problem to some other part of the country. There's flat out too many people on this rock. When you have two adults and they feel the need to have more than two kids, well, the population keeps growing.

Fortunately, long term, the trend is shifting. You'll certainly see global population peak this century than start to decline and ultimately probably be less than it is now.

In the meantime we need to do a better job of conserving water. But the permanent solution is less people.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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BrazosDog02 said:

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schmellba99 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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1) Too many ranchitos with unregulated, if you can drill it you can pump it water wells.

2) Overgrazing in the 1800's by sheep/goat farmers led to widespread massive errosion.
2a) Overgrazing combined with elimination of fire leads to introduction to non-native species that are not drought tolerant and highly wasteful of groundwater.

My understanding that prior to 2 above much of the hill country that we recognize today as rocky hillsides and scrub oak and cedar (ash juniper) was grassland.

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You neglected the single biggest factor - the simple fact that the central Texas ecosystem cannot handle the amount of people that live there long term without serious issues affecting natural resources, the primary one being water availability.

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I agree. So how do we go about getting people to go away? I figure if the water runs out, then it will probably work itself out but that takes a long time. Better yet, if you have any ideas on making whats left of the rural country less desirable for folks, I would be interested in that.

Y'all are trying to solve the wrong problem. Stop figuring out how to supply more water, figure out how to remove the demand for it.

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You're just shifting the problem to some other part of the country. There's flat out too many people on this rock. When you have two adults and they feel the need to have more than two kids, well, the population keeps growing.

Fortunately, long term, the trend is shifting. You'll certainly see global population peak this century than start to decline and ultimately probably be less than it is now.

In the meantime we need to do a better job of conserving water. But the permanent solution is less people.

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I think the key is to start valuing water for what it is really worth, and people will be much more interested in conserving it.

txags92 said:

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Ol_Ag_02 said:

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BrazosDog02 said:

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schmellba99 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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1) Too many ranchitos with unregulated, if you can drill it you can pump it water wells.

2) Overgrazing in the 1800's by sheep/goat farmers led to widespread massive errosion.
2a) Overgrazing combined with elimination of fire leads to introduction to non-native species that are not drought tolerant and highly wasteful of groundwater.

My understanding that prior to 2 above much of the hill country that we recognize today as rocky hillsides and scrub oak and cedar (ash juniper) was grassland.

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You neglected the single biggest factor - the simple fact that the central Texas ecosystem cannot handle the amount of people that live there long term without serious issues affecting natural resources, the primary one being water availability.

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I agree. So how do we go about getting people to go away? I figure if the water runs out, then it will probably work itself out but that takes a long time. Better yet, if you have any ideas on making whats left of the rural country less desirable for folks, I would be interested in that.

Y'all are trying to solve the wrong problem. Stop figuring out how to supply more water, figure out how to remove the demand for it.

---

You're just shifting the problem to some other part of the country. There's flat out too many people on this rock. When you have two adults and they feel the need to have more than two kids, well, the population keeps growing.

Fortunately, long term, the trend is shifting. You'll certainly see global population peak this century than start to decline and ultimately probably be less than it is now.

In the meantime we need to do a better job of conserving water. But the permanent solution is less people.

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I think the key is to start valuing water for what it is really worth, and people will be much more interested in conserving it.

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I agree with you. But you always see these kinds of posts on here. Usually they're Lamenting about carving up ranches, hunting resources, subdivisions, and concrete. This time it's about water.

The answer to all those is there are too many people, but when you bring it up and state the obvious solution of "stop having so many kids" people really don't like that answer. It's uncomfortable.

If humanity keeps breeding them at a greater than replacement rate they all need somewhere to go. It's simple math. Nothing nefarious.

Texas needs to spend the rainy day fund in nuclear power and desalination plants on the gulf

schmellba99 said:

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txrancher69 said:

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There is not a population problem. if you allot 900sf, which is the size of a small apartment, to every living person on the planet, they will all fit within the borders of Texas. 8 billion people, 268,597 square miles in Texas

Everyone from Europe, India, China, Africa, the Americas, South Pacific, Japan and everywhere else. The entire world empty of humans except Texas and here everyone has 900sf. Think about that. As a race we have political problems of all kinds, but not over population.

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You could fit all of them in the Sahara Desert as well....but you can't live there due to lack of resources. Space isn't an issue, even in the hill country. It is a function of available resources and the number of people drawing on those resources faster than they can replenish.

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Rather simple reply and you miss the point entirely, perhaps intentionally. But granted it is a big picture look at how humans operate in the world so maybe you don't think in those terms.

My post was in reply to those saying we are overpopulated with not enough space and that is the problem. We are not overpopulated. You say available resources and people over using them is the problem. But that is only an expression and result of the real problem so you are not there yet.

Political power structures, whether Marxist, Capitalist, Islamic, Democrat, Republican, Communist, Statist or any other you care to name, control the allocation of resources in a given physical area through exercise of their power and rule making. That will do one of three things to any resource: over exploit it, waste it, or use it wisely. By and large it is never the latter.

bevokilla said:

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Texas needs to spend the rainy day fund in nuclear power and desalination plants on the gulf

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Texas should have already spent the rainy day fund in nuclear power and desalinization plants on the gulf.