We are a carbon-based planet as far as life is considered, but carbon or not, it can't happen without water. Vast deserts are seen in our southwest, with occasional artificial aberrations that can be sustained only in small areas, and sometimes for only a limited time.
For several miles I-84 parallels the Snake river, and the river provides irrigation water to a strip of land on either side. The normal desert is transfigured into an agricultural paradise in these areas. We saw many thousands of acres under irrigation as we traveled through this area. It seemed that there was unlimited water, and it was being used freely on virtually every farm in sight; mostly with articulated sprinkling systems.
This is the same phenomena one sees in the Imperial Valley when driving across I-8 across California towards San Diego. Both areas are incredibly productive, though a lot of the water is used inefficiently insofar as it irrigates alfalfa and other animal feeds, rather than the more efficient use of crops destined for direct human consumption.
I don't know if global warming is caused by our cars and coal plants or not, but our weather is certainly changing (and probably always has been). I think our ability to adapt, which has allowed humans to proliferate in recent milinea, is going to be severly challenged in the relatively near future.
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