Sprinkler follies and Yanny vs. Laurel lessons
Wasting water when it rains and questioning whether people hear the same thing when President Trump speaks are topics from The Buzz that had South Florida talking this week.
It’s raining; stop sprinkling
No matter how soggy it gets in South Florida, somebody somewhere is running their sprinklers.
Even after days of steady rain, and with forecasters expecting more to come through the weekend, the sprinklers keep firing across South Florida.
It’s a colossal waste of a natural resource that we can’t live without.
Drive through most any neighborhood while you have your windshield wipers on and you are likely to find more than one house running the sprinklers even as the rain falls.
And it’s not just homeowners who are to blame. Businesses and government facilities alike are among those who keep the sprinklers running even when they aren’t needed.
We continue to treat freshwater like it’s so plentiful that we can just keep spraying it on our lawns even when it’s already falling from the sky. Wasting water doesn’t seem like that big a deal now, as Florida’s summer rainy season starts a parade of afternoon showers.
But it won’t be that long until the next drought, which in Florida can seemingly appear overnight.
And while droughts come and go, Florida’s population is expected to keep booming. All those new residents will want water to drink and to dump on their lawns as well.
In addition to a flood of people, climate change worsens Florida’s growing strain on the drinking water supply. Rising seas push more saltwater into our aquifers, fouling Florida’s freshwater sources.
Getting better at water conservation is one way to help Florida avoid a water supply crisis.
About half of South Florida’s public water supply already gets dumped on lawns, flowerbeds and other ever-thirsty landscaping.
We could reduce that by just watering our lawns as needed, instead of firing off the sprinklers rain or shine. Even if your sprinklers are fed by a private well, a nearby canal or a retention pond, it doesn’t make sense to waste water.
Another way to cut water use would be to actually follow South Florida’s year-round landscape watering limits — up to two times a week for most of Broward and MiamiDade counties and three times a week for most of Palm Beach County.
And how do you know if you can skip a round of watering? Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you had to open an umbrella, turn on your windshield wipers or step over a puddle, that’s a good day to turn off your sprinkler system.
Don’t blame a timer or a faulty rain gauge for your sprinklers soaking an already saturated lawn. Pay attention to the forecast — or even just that wet stuff hitting you in the face — and turn off your sprinklers.
Yanny, Laurel or Trump?
The “Yanny” or “Laurel” debate offers the most hopeful explanation yet for the Trump presidency.
The viral audio clip that became a worldwide, online hearing test showed that sometimes people just hear things differently.
Maybe Donald Trump’s voice works the same way.
Maybe it’s not that so many people agree with Trump’s divisive message, but instead they just don’t hear the same words.
When he talks about building a wall, some people hear a billionaire scapegoating immigrants for the nation’s problems, while others hear border security and masonry jobs.
When Trump talks about torpedoing Obamacare or taking money from a children’s health care program, some hear him threatening to make it harder for people in need to go to the doctor. Others hear there will be a shorter wait at their next checkup.
After violent demonstrations in Charlottesville, many heard racial insensitivity in Trump’s comments sticking up for white supremacists and praising Confederate statues. Others heard an appreciation for sweet tea and their Great-Great-GreatGranddaddy Beauregard.
What about the recording that leaked out during the campaign of Trump in 2005 bragging about a genital-grabbing approach to greeting beautiful women?
Some heard it and couldn’t wait to vote for Hillary. Others heard the recording and wondered if Trump would consider them hot enough to grab.
Many people heard hypocrisy when candidate Trump mocked Sen. John McCain for getting captured during a war Trump avoided. Others heard someone who overcame bone-spurs-induced PTSD speaking out against a career politician.
President Trump praising dictators, encouraging chants of “Lock her up!”, labeling all criticism “Fake News!” … there’s a long list of potential Trump auditory mix-ups.
During the “Yanny” or “Laurel” debate, Trump joked that he heard “Covfefe” — the nonsensical word the president tweeted last year.
What if it wasn’t a joke? What if, like Trump, there are millions of red-hat-wearing Americans who just hear things differently than everybody else when they show up at his rallies? That’s a more comforting prospect than so many Americans still agreeing with what the president has to say.
It’s also less disappointing than all those Trump backers who may not like what they hear from the president, but will plug their ears and vote for him again anyway.