Opinion: In today’s pages: Tightening up on just about everything
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Yes, it’s raining, but the time has never been more perfect for tighter restrictions on water use, the editorial board suggests. Even stricter limits are coming, so we’re better off working out the kinks on this now.
The sooner we get into the habit of using less water, the easier that cutback will be. The DWP estimates that outdoor irrigation -- running sprinklers -- makes up 30% of residential water use in Los Angeles. Limiting sprinkler use to Mondays and Thursdays would be a simple-to-remember (and simple-to-enforce) way to reduce waste. Ideally, we’d like to see Angelenos change their habits in longer-lasting ways, such as landscaping with drought-tolerant plants. But as a means of cutting use and promoting mindfulness, these restrictions make sense.
The board mourns waste in the federal economic stimulus package, saying several of the allocations offer little hope that they will jolt the economy or even provide jobs. And though the board isn’t much happier with the state budget deal, it recognizes that the choice right now isn’t between this and a better budget, but between this and the state’s financial meltdown.
On the other side of the fold, Australian journalist Gerard Wright ponders the lessons to be learned from the disastrous wildfires in his country that killed close to 200 people.
They will examine how a decade of prosperity encouraged suburban families to build dream houses in more rural areas, and how many of those families never learned the self-sufficiency and community spirit that is part of the Australian rural ethos.
And, Facebook or not, columnist Joel Stein doesn’t want to know 25 things about you, and he’s willing to bet that you don’t want to know 25 things about him, even though he’s quite willing to tell you all about them, anyway.
Illustration by Lisa Benson/Washington Post Writers Group