According to CNN, a 66 year-old man was beaten to death on his front lawn by his 36 year-old neighbor for watering it yesterday in Sydney, Australia. Apparently, the pair started arguing over his water usage, and the victim sprayed his neighbor with water from the garden hose. Then the 36 year-old beat him severely, punching and knocking him to the ground where he kicked him repeatedly. And ultimately an off-duty police officer arrested the attacker, but the victim was pronounced dead at the hospital soon after.

Now amazingly, the victim had actually been following the guidelines on water restrictions for the Sydney area when this happened. Those state that you can, in fact, water your lawn before 10a.m. and after 4p.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays.

So was this the case of an overly zealous environmental advocate or simply the maniac next door?

I suggest it may be neither.

More likely it was the predictable results of what happens to people in general when resources become scarce. Just as problems get worse, the average citizen becomes more acutely aware of the shortage and how it is affecting their own personal lifestyle. Existing tensions become exacerbated by the problem, and conditions become ripe for tragedies such as this.

At least in my view, this is a perfect example of one of the potential "retail" effects of climate change as opposed to the "wholesale" effects of whole nations and states going to war with each other.

Let's hope we get our act together soon.

via:: CNN