TheHotSpring.net » Water Scarcity

Water Footprint May Be Next Big Environmental Value Question

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:48:15 +0000

Andrew Winston, in a blog for the Harvard Business Review has asked a stunning and vital question: Is water the next carbon? Of course, the tongue-in-cheek irony is the suggestion that these are trends like any other, when they are in fact issues that determine how we interact with the underlying value structure of the global environment. The carbon footprint concept allows for assessment of whether we are over-using energy; the water footprint concept may help to show whether we are depleting the most vital natural resource for life, other than air.

Massive Ice Island Calves from Greenland Ice Sheet

staff — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:41:34 +0000

The single largest body of ice to calve from a land-borne glacier or ice-sheet in the Arctic for more than half a century has broken off from the Greenland Ice Sheet. A 100 square-mile chunk of the Petermann Glacier, on the northwestern coast of Greenland, has broken off and fallen into the sea. The iceberg is very far north, just 620 miles from the North Pole, and could fuse with land-borne ice along the region's coasts as the Arctic winter sets in.

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge: Design to Serve Humanity

Joseph Robertson — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:55:58 +0000

Buckminster Fuller was one of the 20th century's most visionary architects, whose philosophy of socially responsible planning and design has influenced cutting-edge technology research and public policy the world over, through the UN's development programs and pioneering entrepreneurship aimed at lifting billions out of poverty. His vision was, in his own words, "To make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone."

Clean Water Scarce for 3 Billion People Worldwide

staff — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:36:37 +0000

Clean, safe drinking water is scarce for over 3 billion people across the world. At least 1 billion literally never have access to clean, safe drinking water, putting them at constant risk of severe thirst-related ill health effects, infectious diseases or toxic contamination. Over 100 countries face either sporadic or chronic crisis-level problems [...]

Sustainable Use of the Oceans: Overfishing + Pollution Dead Zones Depleting Ocean Life (discussion)

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:35:50 +0000

Overfishing has depleted fish-stocks the world over. Subsidies and lack of enforcement of sustainability measures drive the fishing industry to deplete the very stocks on which its existence depends, while climate interference and global contamination are leaving oceans so hypoxic (oxygen deprived) they cannot support marine life. At least 405 such 'dead zones' have been identified across the globe.

Water Resource Depletion Threatens Global Food Supply

Joseph Robertson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:32:31 +0000

Water resource depletion leads not only to chronic scarcity of clean, safe drinking water for increasing numbers of people, but means arable land is harder to cultivate and to maintain. Persistent drought and accelerated desertification (the expansion of deserts into the farmed and/or built environment) are results of water resource depletion.

But the most [...]

53 Million in ‘Emerging Markets’ Plunged into Poverty by Great Recession

Joseph Robertson — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:20:57 +0000

A World Bank study has projected that the global financial crisis and resulting recession will plunge some 53 million people across "emerging markets" —like China and India— into absolute poverty, in 2009 alone. In China, tens of millions of people have lost jobs related to the export-dependent manufacturing sector.

The Hot Spring Network opens discussion on whether it’s possible to achieve 100% organic products

staff — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:45:32 +0000

It's worth asking: how can we achieve products that are produced, packaged, distributed and brought to market, in such a way that they could achieve near 100% organic status? Are we counting the non-organic-quality industrial processes involved in burning fuel and creating plastics? Can we do without such processes? Would corn-based biodegradable plastics be a significant first step?

‘On Thin Ice’ Tracks Glacial Melt, Indian Food Security

Joseph Robertson — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:59:56 +0000

NOW, with David Brancaccio, travels to the Indian Himalaya, to examine the problem of persistent accelerating ice melt which is speeding the erosion of glaciers that feed the Ganges River, which in turn provides water for hundreds of millions of people and sustains a precarious but massive food economy.

Estrés hídrico: reto económico-ecológico global para el siglo XXI

Joseph Robertson — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:50:56 +0000

El agua es uno de los componentes básicos de la vida, como suele señalarse en la ciencia, en aulas de biología, en la medicina, en la teología, debate sobre la política ambiental, y hasta en la vosmología y en la exploración del espacio exterior. Pero también es un recurso cuyo valor económico depende cada vez más de una escasez crónica y de una distribución desigual.

‘Plan C’ Promotes Community as Tool for Abating Ecological Threats

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:51:08 +0000

The book Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change addresses the problem of resource depletion and the degradation of our environmental base by illustrating how community erosion due to a culture of excess leaves human society without adequate means of planning for a world in which exponential growth is not the norm. Resource depletion already means the endless expansion of resource consumption is not possible, so author Pat Murphy proposes a localized community-oriented approach to overhauling the prevailing economic paradigm.

Consumer Paradigm in Flux: Spending Must Be Cut Back Across the Board

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:28:06 +0000

The US economy has faced serious challenges on a number of fronts, over the last few years, contributing to a complex downturn with little easy salvation in sight. In order to transition to this new era of recovery and slower growth, the US consumer will have to cut back drastically on luxury spending, and the market will have to rely less on the easy flow of consumer credit.

Global Climate Destabilization is Major Security & Economic Threat

Joseph Robertson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:12:00 +0000

The new administration in Washington, DC, has taken notice: climate change is not about a mild 1º increase in temperature on any given day; it is about a sweeping destabilization of global climate patterns, which could undermine the entire layout of civilization across the world. Building the infrastructure necessary for implementing and sustaining a green energy economy is a security priority in this new environment.

Obama Tasks Interior Dept. with Conservation, Energy Security, Science-based Policy

staff — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:41:23 +0000

Pres. Barack Obama today visited the Interior Dept., noting it was once called in jest "the Department of Everything Else", a government agency with responsibility for nearly 1/5 of the entire land area of the United States. He professed his intention to task the Interior Dept. with taking major steps to help build green infrastructure for an energy economy based on solar-voltaic and wind-turbine-generated energy.

India Impacted by Rise in Food Insecurity Worldwide, Deteriorating Economic Conditions

Joseph Robertson — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:27:05 +0000

There are over 230 million people suffering from hunger or undernourishment in India. No other nation has so many people suffering chronic malnutrition, and the undernourished in India represent 27% of the worldwide hunger-stricken population. While India's economy develops and the potential for an expanded middle class takes root, the total number of Indians going hungry has risen, despite the overall percentage of undernourished, as part of the whole population, having been reduced in recent years.

Cholera Epidemic Spreads in Zimbabwe, as Health Services Collapse (video)

staff — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:12:17 +0000

The spread of cholera due to Zimbabwe’s foundering hygienic infrastructure is reaching crisis proportions. UNICEF is calling for an emergency fund of $17.5 million to fight the spread of cholera in Zimbabwe, calling the outbreak “a cholera crisis of unprecedented levels”. With 13,960 cases already declared and an estimated 589 dead to date, the UN warns upwards of 60,000 people could become infected if drastic and immediate action is not taken to contain the epidemic.

Sustainable Development Update: Resilience Thinking

staff — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:10:27 +0000

Earlier this year UNEP, UNDP and the World Bank teamed up with World Resources Institute to publish a report focusing on the concept of resilience “for cushioning the impacts of climate change and delivering continuing benefits to the poor”. Recently, the Volvo Environment Prize was given to the “father of resilience theory”, C.S. Holling. But what is this resilience-thing really all about? We thought it was about time to try to sort this concept out once and for all.

Challenge on Food Front: Business-as-Usual Not a Viable Option

jr3o — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:24:22 +0000

A fast-unfolding food shortage is engulfing the entire world, driving food prices to record highs. Over the past half-century grain prices have spiked from time to time because of weather-related events, such as the 1972 Soviet crop failure that led to a doubling of world wheat, rice, and corn prices. The situation today is entirely different, however. The current doubling of grain prices is trend-driven, the cumulative effect of some trends that are accelerating growth in demand and other trends that are slowing the growth in supply.

Food Riots Spread Across the World as Soaring Prices Impact Poor Areas

admin — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:33:47 +0000

Food riots from Haiti to west Africa, Egypt and the Philippines, in recent weeks, have sparked concern among policy-makers, diplomats and economists, that the current state of the global food supply is so precarious that such violence will spread and political and economic instability could follow. Concerns about the American economy, home to most productive grain-producing region in the world, and a shift to biofuels there, could mean added difficulty in bringing food prices down.

Ecosystem Services-Based Farming in Ethiopia Increases Crop Yields & Empowers Women

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:46:45 +0000

The Tigray Project in northern Ethiopia sounds too good to be true. It is said to demonstrate how sustainable agriculture can lead to increased crop yields, raised water tables, improved soil fertility, increased incomes and empowering of women. The government has now adopted the project’s approach for combating land degradation and poverty in the whole country. SDU went there to check out if the project is as good as rumour has it.