Are People Or Mussles More Important?

Apparently, part of the severe water shortage in the Atlanta area has to do with the weather; less than 50 percent of normal rainfall.

Another part has to with a species of mussel downstream that is being protected under the endangered species act. In order to protect the lives and habitat of these mussels (I'm not sure what a mussel is really...I know they're not talking about those big bulging things on my arms), the Army Corp of Engineers needs to let a certain amount of water out of the reservoir that supplies Atlanta's drinking water so that there is enough water downstream for the mussels, among other things. So residents of Atlanta may run out of drinking water because it would be a violation of the law for the engineers to keep the water in the reservoir and let the mussels die! So are the mussels really more important than people? Maybe we should become an endangered species too...after all we're dying left and right from natural disasters, wars, genocides, disease, etc. The obvious answer is that both are important, but in a case like this I would think that people must take precedence.

I've heard it said that water will be the next oil. Right now we are fighting wars over the dwindling oil supply. As the population of the world continues to increase and resources vanish, we will be fighting wars over water, among other things.

So Sayeth The Shack