As Bad As It Gets
Steven Siebert stood in front of San Antonio's Municipal Utilities Committee in May 2025 with charts showing the Edwards Aquifer at its lowest level in 35 years. This is about as bad as a drought can get, he told them. Four days earlier, the aquifer authority had declared Stage 5 restrictions for the first time in history. All 1,233 permit holders—farmers, utilities, industries—had to cut their water use by 44%.
Customer restrictions for San Antonio's 1.8 million people? Staying at Stage 3. No changes. Infrastructure had absorbed the worst drought in modern history so completely that nobody watering their lawn would feel it. Somewhere, those permit holders were making cuts.
As Bad As It Gets
Steven Siebert stood in front of San Antonio's Municipal Utilities Committee in May 2025 with charts showing the Edwards Aquifer at its lowest level in 35 years. This is about as bad as a drought can get, he told them. Four days earlier, the aquifer authority had declared Stage 5 restrictions for the first time in history. All 1,233 permit holders—farmers, utilities, industries—had to cut their water use by 44%.
Customer restrictions for San Antonio's 1.8 million people? Staying at Stage 3. No changes. Infrastructure had absorbed the worst drought in modern history so completely that nobody watering their lawn would feel it. Somewhere, those permit holders were making cuts.
Choosing Different Futures
The $30,000 Question
Median household income in Richland Parish, Louisiana: $30,000. Cotton gins that closed since 1990: seven out of eight. When Meta showed up promising 500 jobs and calling their data center transformational, nobody asked hard questions about the fine print. The facility will consume power equivalent to twice New Orleans. Local residents are paying $2 billion for the infrastructure. The parish needed what Meta promised. Meta got what they wanted. In 2030 we'll find out what transformational actually means.
Twelve Months to Figure It Out
The auditorium in Starke County, Indiana packed with hundreds last December. Not one person spoke in favor of data centers during two hours of public comment. Not one. The Planning Commission voted unanimously for a moratorium. The County Commissioners voted unanimously for a moratorium. Twelve months to study what saying yes would actually cost before they're locked in. Chicago developers and Amazon had been shopping around seven counties looking for the place desperate enough to accept their terms. Starke County gave themselves a year to figure it out.
This Week Climate Reality
Rayna Paul calls tribal members in Bethel and Anchorage, asking them to vote on whether Kipnuk should exist anymore. Not in those words, but that's what the question means.
The Alaska Native village sits four miles inland from the Bering Sea. October's storm proved the distance meaningless. Homes destroyed, land contaminated, 700 residents evacuated. Four months later, most haven't returned. The tribe needs an answer within a week because construction season is short and disaster funding requires a direction.
Paul's team is reaching 900 eligible voters by phone. Kwigillingok already voted to relocate after the same storm. Kipnuk identified two sites near the historical settlement of Cheeching, but callers can propose alternatives. Nobody knows when results will come.