> Jakarta's problems are largely man-made – the area's large population has extracted so much groundwater that it has impacted the ground levels, and many surface water resources are polluted.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/09/10/6455253...
The work won the 2010 Nebula Award[3], the Campbell Memorial Award[4], and the 2010 Hugo Award (tied with The City & the City by China Miéville for the Hugo Award), both for best novel.[5] This book also won the 2010 Compton Crook Award and the 2010 Locus Award for best first novel.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/18/californ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer
"
Since the 1940s, pumping from the Ogallala has drawn the aquifer down more than 300 feet (90 m) in some areas. Producers have taken steps to reduce their reliance on irrigated water. Streamlined operations allow them to produce significantly greater yield using roughly the same amount of water needed four decades ago. Still, losses to the aquifer between 2001 and 2011 equated to a third of its cumulative depletion during the entire 20th century. The Ogallala is recharged primarily by rainwater, but only about one inch of precipitation actually reaches the aquifer annually. Rainfall in most of the Texas High Plains is minimal, evaporation is high, and infiltration rates are slow.[24] "
Also, in evil mind frame here, if USA loses out on cheap food, perhaps it will deal a blow to the obesity epidemic.
The other issue that seems to be related to obesity is the weird chemicals we're imbibing - both knowingly through food consumption[2] and unknowingly by their entrance into the food chain[3]. The USA really needs to get it's act together about finding out wtf is poisoning all of the people there and fix that. I'd love it if they could get their stuff together about fighting obesity - there is something fundamentally wrong with the western diet that is more prevalent in cheap foods and making some greedy people a quick buck while setting society up for a really heavy cost in the near future. A recent decrease in activity certainly contributes, but it's more than just a lack of exercise.
[1] Corn usage... leaning on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_...
[2] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325034.php
[3] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3mzve/human-wast...
Subsidence is a global problem and, in the United States, more than 17,000 square miles in 45 States, an area roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined, have been directly affected by subsidence.
https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/subsidence.html
I can't readily find anything stating outright that there is subsidence associated with the Ogallala Aquifer, but my recollection is I have seen such in the past.
What are the chances that Indonesia’s incompetence won’t be incompetent at managing the environmental impact of their next capital city?
https://driftingclouds.net/2019/03/28/jakarta-by-rail-mrt-op...
https://driftingclouds.net/2019/04/01/jakarta-by-rail-airpor...
Much of the credit goes to recently re-elected president Jokowi, who's the least incompetent leader Indonesia has had in a while (possibly ever/since independence?) and who's also the prime mover behind the new capital idea. That said, I'm not entirely sold on the idea myself, the track record of other SE Asian countries trying this -- Putrajaya in Malaysia and particularly Pyongyang-in-the-tropics aka Naypyidaw in Myanmar -- are not encouraging.
http://www.thebohemianblog.com/2017/07/naypyidaw-myanmar-gho...