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Archive for March, 2011
Report: Water shortages to damage growth and stoke international tensions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 22nd, 2011
Business Green: Water scarcity could undermine the rapidly growing industrial sectors of China and India, while Europe remains far from immune to water shortage threats, according to new research published to support World Water Day.
A quarter of the world's largest companies are thought to be at risk from water shortages already, but whole economies are at risk of disruption as a result of increasingly scarce water supplies, says a report published today by risk analysts Maplecroft.
In particular, the report...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Report: Water shortages to damage growth and stoke international tensionsAfrican cities need ‘greener’ water infrastructure: UN
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 22nd, 2011
Agence France-Presse: African cities need to move toward greener water and sanitation projects, such as rainwater collection, to keep pace with booming urban populations, a new United Nations report said Monday. "We need to turn to new and innovative engineering solutions and those that in particular address more green infrastructure," Tim Kasten of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) told journalists on the sidelines of a summit for World Water Day 2011. Traditional engineering solutions were not able to...
USDA funds research on crops and climate change
Posted by Bloomberg: Steve Karnowski on March 22nd, 2011
Bloomberg: The federal government is investing $60 million in three major studies on the effects of climate change on crops and forests. The goal is to help farmers and foresters continue producing food and timber while trying to limit the impact of a changing environment. The three studies are bringing together researchers from a wide variety of fields and encouraging them to find solutions appropriate to specific geographic areas. One study will focus on corn in the Midwest corn, another on wheat in the...
United Kingdom: Experiences of extreme weather events increase climate change concern
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 22nd, 2011
Asian News International: A new study has found that direct experience of extreme weather events increases concern about climate change and willingness to engage in energy-saving behaviour.
The research by Cardiff and Nottingham Universities found that members of the public are more prepared to take personal action and reduce their energy use when they perceive their local area has a greater vulnerability to flooding.
Although no single flooding event can be attributed to climate change, Britain has experienced a series...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Experiences of extreme weather events increase climate change concernWater Rushing Through Cities, The Gentle Version
Posted by National Public Radio: Robert Krulwich on March 22nd, 2011
National Public Radio: Alexey Titarenko/Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York Untitled, (Crowd 1), 1992 Henry David Thoreau was looking into a pond one day "” it was his local pond in Walden, Massachusetts and as he looked, a fish, a pickerel, slid into view. That fish was so comfortable, so at ease in the water, Thoreau wrote in his diary that its muscles, its fins its scales were almost water in a different form, "animalized water," he called it. And 150 years later, the great science writer Loren Eiseley said the same...
World Water Day: A global inundation of funds is not enough
Posted by Guardian: Sophie Trémolet on March 22nd, 2011
Guardian: Tuesday is World Water Day, an occasion to celebrate water and its crucial contribution to human life in all its forms. To mark the occasion, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a report that gathers available evidence on the benefits of investing in water and sanitation services.
The emphasis of the report is on presenting the facts and figures in a way that can grab the attention of policy-makers and investors.
So let's start with the facts: almost...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on World Water Day: A global inundation of funds is not enoughUnited Kingdom: Throwing food away sends world’s scarce water gushing down the plughole
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on March 22nd, 2011
Guardian: As consumers throw millions of tonnes of uneaten food into the bin each year, few give a thought to the hidden cost of such waste – the water that it took to grow the food.
But new research shows that we throw away, on average, twice as much water per year in the form of uneaten food as we use for washing and drinking.
What is worse, increasing amounts of our food comes from countries where water is scarce, meaning the food we discard has a huge hidden impact on the depletion of valuable water...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Throwing food away sends world’s scarce water gushing down the plugholeWorld learns from Dutch to keep head above water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 22nd, 2011
Independent: Dubai's Palm Island, New Orleans' upgraded dykes and Australia's water recycling plants all have one thing in common: they benefited from Dutch know-how gained in the country's age-old quest for dry feet.
"The Netherlands has always battled against this natural enemy - water," said Hanneke Heeres of the Union of District Water Boards (UvW), which after 900 years existence is the Netherlands' oldest government body.
"And with global warming and rising sea levels the world is more and more interested...
Medical profession ‘oblivious’ to role of chemicals in diabetes and obesity
Posted by Ecologist: William McLennan on March 22nd, 2011
Ecologist: US officials are beginning to take a greater interest in the reported links between the exposure to environmental chemicals, like Bisphenol A, with the development of diabetes and obesity
The medical profession remains largely 'oblivious' to the reported links between exposure to chemicals in our daily lives and the development of diabetes and obesity, leading health specialists have told the Ecologist.
Obesity and diabetes rates in children and adults are increasing in many countries across...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Medical profession ‘oblivious’ to role of chemicals in diabetes and obesityJapan Crisis Sparks Nuclear Waste Questions In U.S
Posted by National Public Radio: Jeff Brady on March 22nd, 2011
National Public Radio: The nuclear crisis in Japan is prompting scrutiny of nuclear power plants in the U.S., leading to a decades-old question: What to do with all the spent nuclear fuel produced here?
The law says the federal government is supposed to take nuclear waste off the hands of plant operators. The Department of Energy had planned to store it underground in Nevada at Yucca Mountain. But President Obama "” fulfilling a campaign promise "” put a stop to that controversial program, leaving the long-term storage...