Water

"Water, water everywhere, and nary a drop to drink."
We overlook one of the most important and basic resources - water. It makes up the majority of our bodies and encompasses the globe, and yet, we're awfully casual about how we use it - until it comes down to a fight over access.
That might become more common than you think. It's always been present in the west (California), and it will become more pronounced in the southwest. The midwest is now experiencing the worst drought in 50 years - Missouri was declared a primary disaster area. It will affect corn and soybean prices (food) and it's having an effect on energy supplies as well.
That's why depleting aquifers and reservoirs is a big deal, and why people are concerned about gas extraction techniques like fracking, which use a lot of water and have questionable effects on groundwater sources. According to climate models, the southwest will beome more dry, and while we'll still get lots of rainfall around here during inpportune times, we'll have longer periods of drought as well. This is what climate change looks like.
It's more than watering our lawns - growing food is pretty important. And the weather this year might damage the majority of the crop. Think about all of the industry that uses water. I found alarm in this article about a nuclear plant, which draws cooling water from a lake. The long string of hot days has kept the lake from cooling at night, pushing temperatures above what is acceptable.
Asked whether he viewed Braidwood’s difficulties as a byproduct of global warming, Mr. Nesbit said: “I’m not a climatologist. But clearly the calculations when the plant was first operated in 1986 are not what is sufficient today, not all the time.”
Need I remind you that we battled flooding this time last year. Back to back extremes.
If you're still saying that climate change is bunk - I just can't take you seriously.

lessons from history

I know, the title is an oxymoron. Sadly, we need to be reminded of those lessons delivered in the annals of history. As we contemplate record heat and drought - St. Louis setting records for days over 90 and 100 degrees, corn crops drying-out in the sun, landslides on glaciers so large that they register as earthquakes - here's a lesson from the Mayans regarding water supplies and drought:  Most agree that a period of drought is what eventually broke the empire. Food and water.
Irony? 2012, and the message we're getting from the Mayans is 'beware the climate.'
More irony? That we have to stretch to remember the simple technology - so advanced for that culture - and yet not so complex, it can't be maintained. Sustained.
(Unfortunately, not all sustainability methods are truly sustainable, but that's not an excuse to avoid taking any action. The first step in emergency management is mitigation, and conservation fills that.)
Many are starting to recognize that this is what climate change looks like. We can surely adapt, but with such wild swings that it adds complexity.
And that's the rub. Solutions to all of our major problems - fossil fuel depletion, climate change and the economy - require great complexity and cost to maintain. So we'll likely solve none of them until we shift the paradigm to a new way of living - one in accord with nature. One that fits into the natural cycles of life, whatever they may be.
Because someone always asks - what do we do? Start building something better.