Trudy Wischemann writes a weekly column for a couple of Central Valley newspapers, and I religiously read those columns. One of her recent columns is titled, "Without Shelter," and it actually begins with a "religious" reference. Clicking the link just provided should get you there. Here's how her column opens:
Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid.
Micah 4:4
As you might guess from that quotation from the Bible, Wischemann's recent column speaks to the issue of homelessness, and denounces the activities of ICE, which has been "capturing people in Mendota, [and] stripping them from whatever place they’ve found or made in that small town." Wischemann's column also speaks to another issue, "water mining."
I am betting that many of those who might read this blog posting will not, at least immediately, understand the term "water mining," and understand what "water mining" is all about. Wischemann's column and the image below should help make it all clear. It's almost unbelievable to find out that past pumping of groundwater in the Central Valley caused the kind of land subsidence that this picture demonstrates has occurred:
In case the picture isn't completely self-explanatory, let me indicate that the level of the ground, in 1925, was at the place indicated on that very tall power pole. In 1977, the man standing at the base of the pole shows its then-current level. That much subsidence, from 1925 to 1977, was caused by removing groundwater. It's still happening.
Now, however, and this is the point made by Wischemann, the water being pumped out of the ground may well, as in the example she cites, not be used to grow crops on land from under which the water comes. Instead, wealthy landowners are selling water to those not located in the places from which the water is being pumped. Instead, the water is being "exported" and "sold" to those located elsewhere. Water is being treated as a "commodity," and is being exported to those who can pay more than those who would otherwise be able to use the water to grow crops and to support their families.
Wischemann doesn't spend a lot of time elaborating on the philosophical or "theological" implications of what is happening, so let me make an observation that tries to raise such issues.
We, human beings, depend on the "World of Nature," the "World That God Created." When we act as if we can do anything we want, with respect to the natural environment, we undermine the continued existence of our human civilization, and of the "Political World" in which we most immediately live. I have written out an extensive discussion of this fundamental reality in a recent blog posting titled, "Letter To A (Potential) Law Student." My blog posting was published on October 20th. Wischemann's column was published a day later, on October 21st.
We are both on to something! Something important!!
If we want to be "environmentalists" (and don't we all?), we had better start being more effective political actors, or our homes will dry up and blow away, as the power of money, and human greed, displace Central Valley residents, and all of us, and undermine the wonderful world that provides us with plenty.
Make no mistake, our fate is sealed if we are so greedy and blind as to think that we don't have to live within the natural limits of that "World That God Created."
Image Credits:
(1) - https://thesungazette.com/article/opinion/2026/10/21/without-shelter/
)2) - https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/location-maximum-land-subsidence-us-levels-1925-and-1977
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