Rain

One of the most talked about subjects here in the drought-stricken mountains of North Carolina these days is rain. Or more specifically, water. Development is growing here as people flee Atlanta, Charlotte, and the big cities of the north. Western North Carolina, or WNC as the newspapers call it, isn't all that different from other areas in its manner of providing for our water consumption; we get our water from lake reservoirs and rivers. The main difference here from, say Atlanta, is that the water here is exceptionally pure. We don't allow recreational use of most of our lake reservoirs, and so far our rivers are far cleaner than Atlanta's Chattahoochee River. Water resources are obviously linked to rainfall, and that's another difference between WNC and other localities. The mountains here generate micro-climates. Sometimes it can be five degrees cooler where I live than twenty miles south at the regional airport. This also means rain might fall regularly here while a town a few miles away may be experiencing an exceptional drought. Meanwhile, Duke University is gathering rainfall data on the mountain ridges in an attempt to more accurately predict rain in these micro-climates. If Duke makes a breakthrough here, we can expect more location-specific weather reports. Despite Duke's efforts, though, rainfall patterns will surely remain as whimsically unpredictable as ever over the long haul. Which means we'll never know which area will be replete with water at a given time and which won't. Economic development in such remote areas as WNC may be the challenge of the future. Not only because we're slowly abandoning the big cities for idyllic spots like Asheville, where I live, but because such modern migrations and the economic structure it takes to accommodate these restless movements likely won't take the time to consider our long-term need for water. Clearly, we don't live at the beck and call of nature anymore - we've chosen to live independently of nature. We have heating and air conditioning to take away summer heat and the frosty winds of winter. We're able to obtain foods from distant locales, foods we couldn't possibly grow here. Yet we still suffer when rain deserts us. So what will we do, as world population approaches ten billion, to reconcile our constant need for water, which ultimately means predictable rain? I don't have the answer to that, other than to pose a few questions: Are we willing anymore to accommodate nature and its constantly changing patterns? If so, to what degree will we "tolerate" nature? Perhaps we aren't willing anymore to adapt to changes in the natural world. If that's so, will we be compelled to take our technology into space, build cities on astral rocks, and create our own climates? Whether the answer is a simple, pragmatic one or ridiculously cosmic, it'll require that humans become more aware in general. Despite our growing freedom from natural extremes -thank you technology-we'll still have to adapt to some degree as nature pressures our technologically based world. And that means, ultimately, staying awake to rainfall - where it is, and how we use it.