The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Oops! We Killed the Earth - America's Megadrought

Episode Date: October 17, 2021

A historic drought plagues the American Southwest, threatening energy supplies and farms, and causing cities to take drastic water conservation measures. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, A Second Look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to Comedy Central.

Drought. Thanks in parts of climate change, some parts of America are now drier than a two-day old Popeyes biscuit. And that could have huge consequences for everyone, whether you live in those areas or not. And you're about to find out why, in another installment of, oops, we killed the earth. Water. It's the one snack you can share with a houseplant.

Water can come from a number of sources, like rainfall, melting snow, or ringing out Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly. But for years now, parts of the American Southwest haven't been getting enough water. And lately, things have gotten even worse. The American West, vast stretches of land, mountains, fields, the ground baking and cracking. Nearly half the country in the grips of a mega drought.

The worst drought since at least medieval times. This is one of the worst, if not the worst, sort of 22-year period of lean years we've seen. A mega drought on steroids, fueled by warming and drying from human-caused climate change. For the first time ever, the federal government has declared a water shortage on the Colorado River. Now that's triggered mandatory water consumption cuts for states across the southwest. Utah's Great Salt Lake is drying up at historic rates, as more than 90 percent of the state is crippled by extreme drought. Utah Governor Spencer Cox has declared a state of emergency

and called on people in Utah to reduce their water use and pray for rain. We need some divine intervention. Okay I know he's desperate but it's not very reassuring when the people in charge are like, whooo this is a tough one I'm gonna kick this up to God. But if a politician has to ask for divine intervention at at least a mega drought is a good reason. You know I don't want to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear to hear the to hear to hear the to to to the to to the to the their to to their to their to to their to to to their to their their their their to reduce. to use to use to use to use to use to use to use to use to use their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their their. their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the up to God. But if a politician has to ask for divine intervention, at least a mega drought is a good reason. I don't want to hear Joe Biden going, Heavenly Father, we pray for your divine hand to raise thy death ceiling and to rid the land of all malarkey.

And you know, come on, man, just do it, man. But you heard what they said. This drought has been going on for 22 years and counting. And at some point, it's not even fair to call that a drought anymore. Your ass just lives in the desert now. And you may want to start praying for rain when you hear about all the effects that a drought can have. Like, we've all seen the wildfires all over the news over the past few months.

At this point, living in California is like trying to beat that fire level in Mario. But the effects of drought go far beyond wildfires. Because even if your home doesn't get burned down, the drought might make sure that it's not powered up. These droughts aren't only affecting water supply, but also the renewable energy infrastructure that depends on it. California's historic drought, the water level on one reservoir dropping so low. They've had to shut down its hydroelectric plant. Lake Powell is now at the lowest level it's been at since the 60s and the dam is getting dangerously close to not being able

to produce electricity which would impact more than five million people across the west. Back at Hoover Dam, Lake Mead has dropped so much that it's cut the dam's hydropower output by nearly 25%. At some point, the dam could stop producing electricity altogether. The Hoover Dam provides enough power each year to serve 1.3 million people across Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona, and help keeps the lights on in Vegas. Wow, can you imagine Las Vegas without the lights? That would look really sad, instead of just feeling sad and smelling

sad and being sad. But yeah, the fact is that we need water to make electricity. So if we run out of water, not only will we die of thirst, but we won't even have the battery power to go online to bitch about it. And I know some of you are thinking, oh I don't live out west, Travis, so this doesn't affect me. So I don't care anymore because because'm a bad person. Well, you're not just a bad person, you're also a wrong person. Because when California doesn't have enough water, the whole country will feel the pain. The historic drought across the west is already impacting the agricultural industry. And cattle ranchers across the US are selling off herds because they cannot afford

to feed at all. If you don't the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. thoe, to to to to to to to to to toe, toe, to toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, their....... I too. I too, too. I'm too... I'm too.. I'm too... I'm too. I'm toe. I'm toeconomic, toeconomic, toe. I'm toeconomic, to feed them if they can find feed at all. If you don't have rain, you don't have cows. If you don't have feed, you can't have cows. And so it all boils down to the rain and the water. Perhaps nowhere is the pain currently more pointed than on the farm. California has been going through droughts now for a number of years and they're not going to go away. This is a fallout field, thiiiiii. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thr- thr- thr- thr- thr- thr- thrown thrown tho, and tho, and so tho, and so tho, and so tho, and so tho, and so tho, and so tho, and so tho, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and so th, and th, and thi, and thi, thi, thr-up, the, the thrown, the the the the the thean, thean, the the th fallow field where there's not enough water to plant. No water, so that's the rice dying. This would not just affect the state, but the whole country, since over a third of our vegetables and two-thirds of our fruits and nuts are grown in California. As California's drought gets more severe, farmers are now being paid to not grow crops

to save water in agricultural areas. Whoa, farmers are getting paid to not grow crops? I've never grown crops and nobody's paid me shit. But that's right. A lot of America's food comes from California. Almons, olives, grapes, avocado. Basically, if it's in a white person salad, it was grown in California. And that's the lesson here. America is interconnected. The whole country depends on California

to provide its food. The same way it depends on Wall Street to provide its recessions. Like, imagine a world where we can't get any produce from California. Then even for me, how am I going to enjoy my morning bowl of fruit loops? Huh? What do you mean there's no fruits and fruit loops? It's in the name. Yeah, what do you think they're just lying?

You're an idiot, man? Why would they call it fruit? There's the red fruit and there's the green... So, what can be done to avoid living in a world where the produce is empty, and we're all forced to talk to our loved ones because there's no electricity? Well, obviously tackling climate change would help, but in the meantime, drought-stricken areas will have to be more efficient with the water they do have. And that means taking some drastic measures.

The mega drought has forced Los Angeles to think outside the the what to do if the city's share of imported water dries up. One potential source, the city's wastewater. What comes from our showers and toilets? LA engineers and scientists are working on an ambitious plan to tap to by 2035 turn L.A. the L.A.S. waste water into LA's drinking water. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti couldn't be more confident in his city's plan to go from toilet to tap. Just want to be super clear that by 2035, the 4 million residents of the city, hopefully we'll be drinking this stuff. It started hours ago in our homes and showers and toilets. Absolutely.

Guys, this is just sad. People are going to be drinking each other's bath water. My condolences to to the people the people the people the people the people the people the people th. People are th. People are th. People are th. People are th. People are th. People are th. People are th. People are th. People are th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the, thiiole. thiole. thiolk. to to thiolk. thiolk. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. to th. th. to th. to th. th. to to th. to to th. to to thi. thi. to to toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toe. toeences to the people of Los Angeles, and my congrats to the perverts of Los Angeles. And it's not just bathwater. They even have a plan to make toilet water safe to drink, or as it's known internally, Project Dasani. So that's the situation. Without action, this drought could affect the way we eat, the way we drink, and the way we even power our homes. So either we've got to come together and dramatically change our lives to protect our future,

or we have to take a cue from the governor of Utah and hope we can pray it all away. And I know which one I'm doing. Please God do something about the drought. Please, please, please, Lord, please, I don't want to drink toilet water again. Please, Lord, please. I'm begging you. I'm begging you. I only want to drink it on special occasions. Please, Lord, please. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it.

This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts.