Water – Mar 12
• Splash and grab: The global scramble for water •Peak water worries energy experts •Water Wars between Texas and New Mexico Are Nothing New—But the Times Are Changing
Water Supplies
Will We have Enough Water? Adapting to a Warming, Water-Stressed World
Post Carbon Fellow Sandra Postel recently gave a talk on ‘Will We have Enough Water? Adapting to a Warming, Water-Stressed World’ for the Moos Family Speaker Series on Water Resources.
Drought Fuels Water War Between Texas and New Mexico
As climate change alters rainfall patterns and river flows, tensions are bound to rise between states and countries that share rivers that cross their borders. In the Rio Grande Basin of the American Southwest, that future inevitability has arrived.
Fracking – 16 Jan
Radiation Fears Over Fracking? •’Frackademia’: how Big Gas bought research on hydraulic fracturing •EPA Changed Course After Oil Company Protested •Poll: Europeans overwhelmingly favour renewables over shale gas •Shale playground in W. Texas
Q&A: Lester Brown, Author – Full Planet, Empty Plates
In his newest book, Full Planet, Empty Plates, Lester Brown writes…"The U.S. Great Drought of 2012 has raised corn prices to the highest level in history. The world price of food, which has already doubled over the last decade, is slated to climb higher, ushering in a new wave of food unrest…."
Shale gas – Dec 12
•Drilling spills reaching Colorado groundwater; state mulls test rules •Shale Shocked: Studies Tie Rise Of Significant Earthquakes In U.S. Midcontinent To Wastewater Injection •Ignore the doom merchants, Britain should get fracking •Shale gas is not a game changer •The fracking dream which is putting Britain’s future at risk
Heroic Endeavor: NRDC Community Fracking Defense Project
Abandoned by the state of Pennsylvania and drilling company Rex Energy after the state’s testing found no evidence of groundwater contamination, distressed residents (whose well water is discolored and reeks, and whose families have suffered rashes and other ailments) had nowhere else to turn for clean water but their community. That’s when a group of area churches, including the Presbyterian church where my dad is a pastor, joined together to supply jugs and bottles of clean drinking water to affected families.
The energy-water nexus
The principal challenge of this century, in my view, will be adapting to a life without abundant, cheap fossil fuels. It has been the lifeblood of our society, and turns out to have some really fantastic qualities. The jury is still out as to whether we will develop suitable/affordable replacements. But additional challenges loom in parallel. Water is very likely to be one of them, which is especially pertinent in my region.
My dirty secret
To get back to this season’s water crisis, it’s the rich opportunities for reuse and recycling – not the scarcity – that should focus municipal debate about water. Actually, conserving or cutting back on water use is only a drop in the bucket of the water cycle-based strategy that’s needed.
Land and resources – Sept 25
-Land grabbing and food sovereignty in West and Central Africa
-Africa: Land, Water and Resource-Grabbing and Its Impact on Food Security
-Antonio Trejo, Honduras rights lawyer, killed at wedding
-Chinese villagers protest at slow progress over land dispute
-The global need of non-violent struggle around land rights: a path for change?
Beyond big dams: Turning to grass roots solutions on water
Mega-dams and massive government-run irrigation projects are not the key to meeting world’s water needs, a growing number of experts now say. For developing nations, the answer may lie in small-scale measures such as inexpensive water pumps and other readily available equipment.
Energy – Sept 12
-Wind could meet many times world’s total power demand by 2030, Stanford researchers say
-EU proposal would limit use of crop-based biofuels
-Indian blackout held no fear for small hamlet where the power stayed on
-Asia Risks Water Scarcity Amid Coal-Fired Power Embrace