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How water woes will mess with food businesses
Posted by Grist: None Given on May 13th, 2015
Grist: Many food companies are vulnerable to the risks of water scarcity and water pollution, according to a new report from Ceres, a green business advocacy group.
Growing and processing food requires a lot of water - more than any other industry. The Ceres report makes the case that climate change and population growth are jeopardizing water supplies in some places, and many of the companies that depend on a steady flow of water haven`t assessed how these risks could affect their bottom lines or properly...
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California moving to stage 2 of drought grief: Anger
Posted by Grist: None Given on May 6th, 2015
Grist: Californians are supposed to cut their water use by 25 percent. So far those of us in the Golden State have only cut back 8.6 percent. The utilities that supply water are still in denial, officials say.
But that`s OK! Denial is a necessary step in the journey to recovery. As the Los Angeles Times notes:
Most of the state`s water suppliers issued 20 or fewer notices of water waste in March even though they have received thousands of complaints.
“It`s a collective issue we all need to rise...
California has a real water market — but it’s not exactly liquid
Posted by Grist: None Given on May 4th, 2015
Grist: When I started reporting on California’s drought I heard a lot of people complaining that farmers were growing crops that would simply be prohibitively expensive if they had to buy and sell their water at a fair market price.
That seemed like a big problem. I wrote:
The best fix would be a comprehensive overhaul of the laws to make the price of water clear and responsive to scarcity. If the price of water moved according to the laws of supply and demand, ecological limits would provoke change....
California wildfire conditions are a “recipe for disaster”
Posted by Grist: None Given on April 30th, 2015
Grist: On Monday, 200 firefighters evacuated an upscale residential neighborhood in Los Angeles as they responded to a wildfire that had just broken out in the nearby hills. Ninety minutes later, the fire was out, with no damage done. But if that battle was a relatively easy win, it belied a much more difficult war ahead for a state devastated by drought.
California is in the midst of one of its worst droughts on record, so bad that earlier this month Gov. Jerry Brown took the unprecedented step of ordering...
What one farmer learned from surviving the ’80s farm crisis
Posted by Grist: None Given on April 21st, 2015
Grist: Some basic economic forces are driving mid-sized farms out of existence. First, food prices keep falling. "Ever since World War II, agricultural commodities have trended steadily down," agricultural economist Otto Doering told me. We are on a technology treadmill: Farmers get a new tech (like hybrid seeds), increase productivity, and make money. But then all the farmers get it, they all produce more, and prices drop, Doering said. Those new technologies cost money, so farm costs go up while food...
Should California produce farming move to Arkansas?
Posted by Grist: None Given on April 20th, 2015
Grist: California is by far the dominant U.S. produce-growing state -- source of 81 percent of U.S.-grown carrots, 95 percent of broccoli, 86 percent of cauliflower, 74 percent of raspberries, 91 percent of strawberries, etc.
But all three of its main veggie growing regions -- the Imperial Valley, the Central Valley, and the Salinas Valley -- face serious short- and long-term water challenges. As I recently argued in a New York Times debate, it`s time to "de-Californify" the nation`s supply of fruits...
Canada: Beneath the tar sands is even dirtier oil, industry is salivating
Posted by Grist: None Given on April 12th, 2015
Grist: The price of crude oil has slumped to its lowest point in six years, and that has sent some major oil companies scrambling to get out of expensive tar-sands projects in Alberta, Canada. Shell has pulled out of one of its largest lease applications, and Petrochina is attempting to get rid of its tar-sands assets. Environmentalists have watched the slowdown with great hope.
Yet at the same time, some of those very same companies are positioning themselves to tap into an even more dirty and expensive...
California snowpack is at a record low
Posted by Grist: None Given on April 3rd, 2015
Grist: The previous record for low snowpack was the 25 percent of normal recorded this time last year, as well as in another period of record drought, from 1976-1977. California has been in the throes of a drought that is now in its fourth year, and that has been linked to climate change.
“So we’re not only setting a new low, we’re completely obliterating the previous record,” David Rizzardo, the chief of snow surveys for California’s Department of Water Resources, said during a teleconference held by...
Antarctica is basically liquefying
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 27th, 2015
Grist: Antarctica`s icy edges are melting 70 percent faster in some places than they were a decade ago, according to a new study in the journal Science.
These massive ice shelves serve as a buffer between the continent’s ice-sheet system and the ocean. As they disintegrate, more and more ice will slip into the sea, raising sea levels by potentially huge amounts.
This study is just the latest bit of horrible news from the bottom of the world. Last year, we found out that the West Antarctic ice sheet...
Overpumping groundwater contributes to rising sea levels
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 18th, 2015
Grist: Pump too much groundwater and wells go dry — that’s obvious.
But there is another consequence that gets little attention as a hotter, drier planet turns increasingly to groundwater for life support: So much water is being pumped out of the ground worldwide that it is contributing to global sea-level rise, a phenomenon tied largely to warming temperatures and climate change.
It happens when water is hoisted out of the earth to irrigate crops and supply towns and cities, then finds its way via...