Home/Posts Tagged ‘water’
Posts Tagged ‘water’
Climate Change, Natural disasters, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 16th, 2012,
Dry weather in much of England is threatening to devastate farming and wildlife, and could extend past next Christmas. Parts of England have entered official drought status, with water rationing measures in place. Soils are so dried out that recent rains did little to help conditions. This may sound like strange weather in a country known for rain rather than droughts, especially in April, but the dangers are all too real. Helen Vale, national drought coordinator at the Environment Agency is quoted in the Guardian: The amount of water that we use at home and in our businesses has a…
Tags: drought, England, water, wildlife
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 6th, 2012,
In some coastal areas climate change means a rise in sea levels, leading to an increase in water salinity, which in turn means a high salt content in soil. Increasing salinity in fresh water and soil poses problems for agriculture and fish farming. This is a particularly tricky aspect of climate change adaptation, but coastal communities as well as scientists are finding ways to cope. Hardy varieties of rice, wheat and vegetables are one way, as is shifting from freshwater fish farming to raising saltwater species such as crabs. In Sri Lanka, rice farmers, together with the United Nations Development…
Tags: australia, Bangladesh, farming, fish, India, rice, salinity, salty soil, water, wheat
Conservation, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 22nd, 2012,
The purpose of World Water Day 2012 is to draw attention to the fact that some 783 million people live without access to clean drinking water. World Water Day – ‘celebrated’ today, March 22nd – also highlights water conservation, wastage and consumption. Water is an increasingly more valuable resource as the Earth’s population grows and water-intensive activities like beef farming stretch world water supplies. Greenpeace is marking World Water Day with a campaign to spread awareness of the pollution of waterways – especially in China – by the global textile industry. The textile industry is the third largest source…
Tags: China, fashion, Greenpeace, Pollution, textiles, water, World Water Day
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Feb 20th, 2012,
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express has created a remarkable three-dimensional picture of the region of Mars called Tiu Vallis, which was carved by flowing rivers millions of years ago. Scientists coloured the photographs they had to show the changes in the height of the surface of the planet. Water has carved recesses up to 2000 meters deep, say the geologists who are from the Freie Universität Berlin and who helped to draft these images. On the surface of many of the craters there is no sedimentary rock. These craters arose as a result of asteroid activity…
Tags: 3D, coloured, craters, European Space Agency, Mars, Mars Express, surface, water
Pollution, Dec 13th, 2011,
Natural gas firms that engage in hydraulic fracturing are hiding risks from landowners, according to a report by the Environmental Working Group. Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called ‘fracking’, is the practice of extracting natural gas from shale rock by drilling, planting explosives, and pumping in large amounts of water and chemicals to open up gas deposits. Fracking has been linked to the contamination of water supplies with toxic and cancer causing chemicals and even to earthquakes, making the practice controversial throughout the globe. These landowners who were left in the dark about drilling risks are likely just the tip of the…
Tags: chemicals, contamination, fracking, gas, hydraulic fracturing, water
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 5th, 2011,
A new kind of immigrant is being spotted in British seas. Species of whales, dolphins and seals, which are customarily at home in more tropical waters, are making their way to the UK, perhaps due to rising sea temperatures. If climate change continues to warm British waters, as predicted by scientists, more aquatic mammals will follow their food sources from the warmer climes of Africa and the Pacific all the way to the UK. The widespread use of digital cameras is making it easier for scientists to confirm such sightings and collect more accurate data. Animals from the tropics, including…
Tags: dolphin, sea, seals, temperatures, UK, water, whales
Climate Change, Politics, Nov 18th, 2011,
Tanzanian villagers were promised much-needed infrastructure, water security, money, education and health benefits from UK Biofuel firm Sun Biofuels in return for their land. 1,000 inhabitants of Kisarawe villages in Tanzania gave up thousands of hectares of land in order that Sun Biofuels could grow jatropha, a biofuel plant. But Sun Biofuels did not follow through. The villagers have instead suffered health and safety violations, poor salaries, followed by redundancy and no improvements in infrastructure or water security. In fact, things have gotten much worse. From a press release by Greenstream TV: On top of all these unfulfilled pledges, the…
Tags: actionaid, biofuel, sun biofuels, Tanzania, UK, villagers, water
Climate Change, Green living, Nov 16th, 2011,
I recently posted about the drought in Texas and how that American state is suffering from a combination of effects due to climate change, urbanization (in a desert, no less) and groups who seek to profit from the current water crisis. The great state of California, Southern California to be more precise, is not currently facing drought conditions like Texas, but simply does not have the water to supply its nearly 22.5 million inhabitants Southern California currently pumps in much of its water from the Colorado River, over the border with Arizona, uphill – 242 miles (390 km) along the…
Tags: aqueduct, California, Colorado River, Southern, water
Climate Change, Oct 31st, 2011,
As droughts cause famines in poor parts of the world like Somalia, they also affect the developed world, albeit in less catastrophic ways. France and the UK have worryingly dry areas, but nowhere so much as the US state of Texas. Have the ‘water wars’ already come to the United States? Well, maybe not, but things look bleak and even downright apocalyptic in parts of the state. Never a wet place, climate change and population growth in arid areas do not make for good bedfellows. Severe drought conditions in Texas have dried out some towns, prompting local governments to make…
Tags: drought, Texas, water, water wars
Health, Pollution, Aug 15th, 2011,
Hydraulic fracturing is the controversial practice of extracting natural gas from shale rock by drilling, planting explosives and then pumping vast amounts of water and chemicals into the rock to open up gas deposits. Commonly referred to as ‘fracking’, domestic hydraulic fracturing is being touted by governments and fossil fuel corporations in several countries as being cheaper, safer and more climate-friendly than oil or coal extraction, as well as less dependent on the instability of international markets and political situations than other fossil fuels. But fracking is not without its environmental or human health concerns. From BBC News: Much of…
Tags: Canada, concerns, fracking, gas, hydraulic fracturing, New Brunswick, water
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 21st, 2011,
After reading a National Geographic article about the modern challenges of agricultural, I wanted to post something related to the global water crisis and water in general. Sure, there is a lot of it coming down in parts of Australia and Brazil at the moment – and not in a good way. But in places like Africa’s Sahel region, famine and drought are constant and increasing threats. From the NatGeo News piece Agriculture Becomes Our Top Environment Issue: Many existing agricultural methods have stripped soils of nutrients, sucked aquifers dry, and polluted water with pesticides and fertilizers. And now, working…
Tags: Africa, amata, global water crisis, Green Revolution, National Geographic, Sahel, water, water song
Health, Nov 10th, 2010,
This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on “green” books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner!…
Tags: book, eco-libris, green books, Ox-Tales, oxfam, review, water
Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Oct 3rd, 2010,
Human beings have severely impacted 80% of the world’s rivers to the point that 5 million people, along with thousands of aquatic species, are in danger. A new global study, published in the scientific journal Nature, identifies various types of human impact on the Earth’s waterways, such as pollution, irrigation and dams, and quantifies how they affect River Biodiversity and Human Water Security. From Rivers In Crisis: The Earth’s limited supplies of fresh water and irreplaceable biodiversity are vulnerable to human mismanagement of watersheds and waterways. Multiple environmental stressors, such as agricultural runoff, pollution and invasive species, threaten rivers that…
Tags: biodiversity, Europe, rivers, security, species, US, water, wildlife
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Sep 26th, 2010,
After four days of Greenpeace activists hanging in a survival pod attached to an oil drilling ship in the North Sea, a court in Edinburgh, Scotland issued an injunction yesterday ordering the campaigners to leave on grounds of safety. According to an article in the Observer, oil giant Chevron claimed the need to move their ship due to rough seas, though Greenpeace countered that Chevron simply intends to venture into another site for exploratory deep-sea drilling. Greenpeace announced that it would comply, nonetheless. Yet just one day later, Greenpeace has renewed its efforts to stop deep-sea oil drilling in the…
Tags: activists, Chevron, deep, deep sea, drilling, Greenpeace, North Sea, oil, ship, Stena Carron, swimmer, water
Climate Change, Sep 24th, 2010,
Water shortages from increasingly drier and hotter weather have resulted in desperate conditions on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Cyprus is the first EU nation to face ‘peak water’ – the situation in which demand is higher than supply. Aquifers have dried up and filled with seawater, making natural water resources undrinkable. Forests are dying, leading to desertification. The Cyprus Institute forecasts that by 2050 the temperature for more than four months of the year will be above 35° Celsius (95° Fahrenheit) — that’s 50 percent more hot days per year. –CNN In the Greek part of Cyprus, desalinization plants…
Tags: Cyprus, EU, Mediterranean, peak, water
Green living, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 23rd, 2010,
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my travels on the continent it’s this: Europeans love bubbly water. I’m not sure why, as it tickles the nose and tastes weird. Plus you can’t chug it if you’re really hot and thirsty or you might commit the unforgivable faux pas of belching loudly in a Parisian park. It just so happens that in an attempt to discourage bottled water consumption, the Jardin de Reuilly in Paris has installed a fountain dispensing free chilled carbonated water. In case you didn’t know, the bottled water industry in many developed countries is basically a…
Tags: bottled, bubbly, fountain, France, Jardin de Reuilly, Paris, park, plastic, sparkling, water
Green living, Sep 22nd, 2010,
A: Being the owner of a garden is a pleasure, but also means many duties: watering, weeding, replanting, mowing. If your bills are significantly higher during the summer months, it means that you use water and energy uneconomically. Don’t forget about a few green rules and not only will you enjoy a beautiful garden, but also lower bills. Maintaining a lawn is the most water- and power-consuming cultivation in the garden. To water a square metre of grass you need several cubic metres of water per year. It also has to be mowed regularly, and using an electric lawn-mower can…
Tags: compost, eco-friendly, energy, garden, lawn care, mulch, mulching, water
Nature, Pollution, Sep 14th, 2010,
The Tietê River flows through a densely populated region of Brazil of over 33 million inhabitants, including the city of Sao Paulo. While treated drinking water was widely available by the late 1980′s, only 63% of these people had access to sewage collection. This meant that four million people discharged their waste into septic tanks, whose contents overflowed city storm sewers and contaminated the water supply. Since the city is so close to the Tietê’s headwaters, this sewage concentrated, mixing with the existing pollution and causing floating foams and strong odours in many parts of the river. Public outcry over the…
Tags: Pollution, river, sewage, Tietê, water
Climate Change, Health, Politics, Sep 12th, 2010,
Last week Stockholm, Sweden hosted World Water Week, an annual gathering to discuss ‘the planet’s most urgent water-related issues’. Each year the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) hosts the meeting of experts, professionals and policy makers. While traditional water shortage issues have focused on the plight of those who live in dry rural areas, this year the problem of clean water access in urban areas was also brought into focus. According to the UN, the world population grew by 635 million people between 2000 and 2008, with 80% of those people living in urban areas. The proportion of the Earth’s…
Tags: population, sanitation, Stockholm, Sweden, urban, water, week, World
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Sep 8th, 2010,
Geo-engineering doesn’t prevent at all the rise of the tides. Engineering on a global scale is not a solution, even in an emergency, to the climate damage caused by human activities. This is the conclusion reached by a team of British, Chinese and Danish researchers after a new study on the future of the Earth’s oceans. In their opinion there is no escape: sea levels will rise at least 30-70 cm by the end of 2100, even using the latest weather manipulation techniques. Substituting geo-engineering for the control of emissions would create an enormous risk for future generations, according to…
Tags: Climate change, global warming, sea, sea level, water
