A purpose of our US tour is to visit and revisit some potential relocation places. The first week we revisited Santa Barbara, Ventura, and our much-loved, idyllic Ojai. Ojai was the backdrop for Frank Capra’s film Lost Horizon, the scenes of the villagers of Shangri-La. Historically known as a place of Art, Spirituality, and Health it was the place that Krishnamurti, the famous philosopher, made home and created a retreat center and children’s school, both of which still continue and thrive. It is a small town with 8,500ish residents and as I heard one Rasta man in town state, “Everyday here is just another day in paradise.” We love it and would consider it a new home for our family minus one thing.
So what is the issue? An issue that you, me, and the rest of the US should be concerned with – Fresh water. The drought conditions are Exceptional, 2-steps worse than Severe and 1-step worse than Extreme. In the US drought monitoring system Exceptional is the lowest category so, it may get worse but categorically it has already hit rock bottom. Maybe some think let Hollywood dry up (maybe it already has), who cares? There are much more important exports from the Golden State then movies and TV. Named the land of fruits and nuts, for more than one reason, Cali produces over 50% percent of the fruit, veggies, and nuts for the US. I am a strong proponent for local, organic food but at present the infrastructure is not in place in all areas to feed the masses by these methods and like NJ, some states have cold winters! Americans NEED rain in Cali.
We next enjoyed our time in California as we explored the southern coast – Lugina Beach, San Clemente, and one of our favorites Ja Jolla. In the past we have been in Costa Rica in the dry season just before the rainy season and there is a tension for the locals as they await the rainy season but, after all, as of yet it always comes. Conversely here people all seemed happily going about their business. It was however ever present on our minds. We could not help but ask people we encountered their take on the water issues. Shockingly most everyday folks seemed to be very causal about it mentioning that there are NOW restrictions on watering lawns and such. Maybe like most global warming issues it is just to big for people to wrap their heads around so instead they just … wait for the rainy season.
Living Wherever We Are 
I spent a few weeks in California this summer, from Palm Springs to Laguna Beach, making my way up to Napa. Drought messages were everywhere, yet there were few places that actually seemed to be taking it seriously. Most lawns were lush and green, flowers bloomed everywhere. It IS a serious concern for the whole country. You can’t drive a mile in most areas without seeing a source of produce.
I’d live in southern California in a minute if it weren’t for the drought and the traffic. Hopefully one of those will resolve!
a few interesting facts — 85% of the water use in CA is for agriculture. If you cut the remaining household use in half that is only 7%. (By the way 50% of household use is for landscaping). But no one has the will power to cut back. The only way to get people to change their behavior is to start charging homes a lot for water. Good luck doing that with CA politics. In fact many homes in the state dont even have water meters. In the central valley water prices for farmers have gone up by a factor of 10 in the last year but the amount of farmed land is still growing. Prices will go up more. Right now CA has 38 mm people and it grew by about 1% per year in the last census. That would be 50 mm people by 2040. I vote for Colorado.