David Garcia: Water crisis a community problem

The current California water crisis has not been caused by environmental extremists from the Bay Area, certain elected officials or particular political parties as current election propaganda would have us believe. No, we as a community, as a society, have brought it upon ourselves by overpopulating, overdeveloping and over-farming.

In an attempt to somehow validate ourselves, we have brought too many children into this world. We have farmed the land, from the barren deserts to the rocky foothills, “just add water.” Our unbridled greed and never-ending selfishness has brought on this “crisis.” The current proposition to add storage and drill even more wells (hello: the ground is collapsing) will do little to solve the crisis without addressing its core causes. We want to live in the new house in the new subdivision in the new community near the new shopping center, paving over farmland.

Perhaps the time has come to alter our way of thinking and living in California, the status quo is not sustainable. Obvious to some, others are oblivious.

This story was originally published October 30, 2014 at 5:22 PM with the headline "David Garcia: Water crisis a community problem."