This video was made possible by Shopify. Set up your online business with the service
the HAI merch store uses with a 90 day free trial by going to the link in the description. Here’s a question for you: has anyone really
been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like? Ah, damn, you don’t know? Well then here’s another one: who owns the
rain? I think I heard you say, “nobody,” but
that’s wrong, and you should feel bad, but I sort of get where you’re coming from. I mean, after all, rain seems like it would
be one of the things that just isn’t owned, like clouds or rainbows or tigers, but it
turns out that, actually, somebody does own the rain. Or, more accurately, lots of people own the
rain. Or, even more accurately, lots of different
people and also sometimes companies and at other times governments and, actually, at
other times nobody owns the rain. Now, my first step in trying to figure out
who owns rain was to watch the movie Rainman, but it turned out that didn’t help. So my next step was to do some research, country
by country, and it turns out that, much like rules about what color to make school buses
or whether humans deserve rights, who owns the rain depends a lot on where you are. Now in most countries, rainwater is owned
by whoever’s property it falls on—and, in fact, many countries, like the UK, France,
and Australia, actually offer some sort of tax credit for homeowners who take it upon
themselves to collect their rainwater and put it to a useful purpose, which makes a
lot of sense. After all, reusing rainwater is environmentally
friendly, and according to scientists the world may soon have a water shortage—but
what do scientists know… aside from how magnets work… please tell me. But not everywhere likes to do things in a
way that makes sense. Others like to do things in a way that makes
dollars, and nowhere is that more true than with Britain’s chalk-eating child, the US
of A. The US doesn’t just have one policy on who
owns rains; they have several. That’s because the United States is made
up of all these things called States, and while they’re united on some things, like
being confused by Florida, they’re divided on a lot of other things, including who owns
rain, and so, rain ownership depends on the state, but things start to get especially
interesting as you start moving West, into states that were built on top of deserts or
are prone to water shortages because that sounds like a great idea. Colorado, in particular, has had a rather
fraught history with who owns their rain. In fact, until 2007, collecting rainwater
was completely illegal for homeowners, even if that rain was falling on their property. The reason comes down to Colorado’s complex
water rights, which is called “prior appropriation” and is intended to deal mainly with streams
and rivers, but which ended up having a big effect on rain ownership. It’s complicated, but basically, different
people get priority over certain amounts of water in given waterways depending on seniority. To illustrate, let’s say there are three
people, and let’s name them Sub, Scri, and Be, and let’s say they each have some claim
of a certain amount of water from this river. Let’s say 20 years ago, Sub laid claim to
200 gallons, 10 years ago, Scri laid a claim to 100 gallons, and 5 years ago, Be also laid
claim to 100 gallons. But now let’s say that because this is a
very, very small and bad river, it’s only pumping out 350 gallons this year. Because Sub claimed the water earliest, he
has “senior water rights,” and he is allowed to get his 200 gallons before anyone else
can get anything. Then, the next-senior member, Scri, can get
his 100 gallons, and finally, Be can come in and try to get his 100 gallons, but it
looks like he’ll only end up with 50. The point is, in Colorado, basically every
waterway has a whole queue of people who have rights to some of that water, and who might
not get those rights fulfilled if there isn’t enough. That’s why rain collection was illegal—it
was the state’s position that by collecting rainwater, homeowners were stopping rain from
becoming groundwater that would flow into rivers that people had rights to. In other words, homeowners were stealing rain
from the people who had rights over the rivers that the rain would end up in. In short, the rain collecting homeowners,
were no-good rain-glers. Get it, like cattle wrangler, but like with…
rain. The only problem was, that’s not actually
how rain works. A 2007 study showed that 97% of Colorado rainwater
evaporates or goes to plants—not rivers. So, in a bizarre feat of politicians listening
to science, the study prompted Colorado to change the law, giving rain rights to certain
well owners, and allowing homeowners to collect two barrels worth of rain at a time each. Now, a bunch of other non-Colorado states
also have different laws about rain: the main distinction is between potable and non-potable
water—potable water is water you can use to drink, and non-potable water is water you
can’t drink. At least that’s what the government says,
but personally, I drink my water with the pulp just to show the feds that they don’t
own me. Now, many states, like Arkansas, only allow
homeowners to collect rainwater for non-potable purposes, though some, like Ohio and Texas,
allow both, and a few states, including Texas, Rhode Island, and Virginia offer tax credits
for rainwater harvesting equipment, plus—actually, you know what, I could keep going, but at
this point, I’m just tired of pretending reality is anything more than a simulation
side-project in Elon Musk’s third house’s garage. Now, if you have a side-project, you probably
dream of turning that into your main-project—aka, your job. Whatever your passion is, you could almost
certainly turn that into a business that you could start with Shopify. Shopify has all the tools you need to set
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Interesting merch store. So, turn what you’re in to into a business
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at it.
Boris
Nestle
good question