The Times (September 30)
“Britain appears happier to offshore our pollution rather than risk it at home.” This facile approach ignores the cost. “The most direct cost is felt by workers with skills our economy needs. But their communities, the country and the environment also suffer a cost when we chase away unsightly industries.” Ultimately, “It is better for the world’s land, air and water if a country like Britain is invested in monitoring and containing pollution, treating the problems it creates and inventing new products to replace the most damaging ones.”
Tags: Air, Communities, Containing, Cost, Economy, Environment, Facile, Inventing, Land, Monitoring, Offshore, Pollution, Risk, Skills, UK, Unsightly industries, Water, Workers
CNN (June 17)
“Mexico is enduring its most expansive and severe drought since 2011, affecting nearly 90% of the country. Water has become an increasingly fraught topic, with fears cities — including Mexico City — could be barreling toward a ‘day zero,’ on which water runs dry.”
Tags: 2011, Cities, Day Zero, Drought, Dry, Enduring, Expansive, Fears, Mexico, Mexico City, Severe, Water
Scientific American (May 20)
“When California suffers a heat wave, it leans heavily on hydropower from the Pacific Northwest to keep the lights on. But that hydropower may not always be available when it’s most needed” due to climate change. “Higher temperatures means snowmelt occurs earlier in the year and leaves less water available for power generation during the depths of summer. The result is a heightened risk of blackouts during extreme heat waves as a result of less hydro availability.”
Tags: Availability, Blackouts, California, Climate change, Heat wave, Hydropower, Pacific Northwest, Power generation, Risk, Snowmelt, Summer, Temperatures, Water
BBC (August 17)
“Unprecedented levels of dam building and water extraction by nations on great rivers are leaving countries further downstream increasingly thirsty, increasing the risk of conflicts.” During the 20th Century, “global water use grew at more than twice the rate of population increase.” As a result, water crises have consistently ranked high in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks and look poised to become an increasing source of conflict.
Tags: Conflict, Conflicts, Crises, Dam building, Downstream, Extraction, Population, Risk, Rivers, Thirsty, Unprecedented, Water, Water use
New York Times (July 30)
“Mr. Biden has managed to do what Mr. Trump repeatedly promised but never could pull off: move forward on a big-spending, bipartisan deal to rebuild American roads, bridges, water pipes and more.”
Tags: Biden, Big-spending, Bipartisan, Bridges, Deal, Pipes, Promised, Pull off, Rebuilding, Roads, Trump, U.S., Water
The Times of India (March 26)
“On day one of lockdown, supply of fruits and vegetables took a hit, despite the government having marked it out as an ‘essential service.’ Wholesale suppliers…say there are multiple logistics issues.” The largest “is the closure of state entry points and tolls across India. Some 1.2 crore trucks are said to be stranded across India” with some drivers “getting no food or water as dhabas remain closed for miles along highways, even as essentials rot inside the trucks.”
Tags: Closure, Essential service, Food, Fruits, Government, Highways, Lockdown, Logistics, Stranded, Supply, Tolls, Trucks, Vegetables, Water, Wholesale
New York Times (July 15)
India’s water crisis offers a striking reminder of how climate change is rapidly morphing into a climate emergency. Piped water has run dry in Chennai…and 21 other Indian cities are also facing the specter of ‘Day Zero,’ when municipal water sources are unable to meet demand.” The Prime Minister “has promised piped water for all Indians by 2024,” but that goal will never be met unless the government also focuses on harnessing “powerful natural water systems that worked in the past…. Mr. Modi’s government’s focus on huge projects is flawed because moving water works only if there is water to move.”
Tags: 2024, Chennai, Climate change, Crisis, Day Zero, Demand, Dry, India, Modi, Natural water systems, New projects, Piped, Water
Bloomberg (January 24)
This April, Capetown may become the first “great world city” to run out of water. Experts now expect “the reservoirs that feed this most beautiful of coastal cities will drop below critical levels, and stand at 13.5 percent of capacity. Taps will run dry in homes and businesses, and residents may have to start lining up” to fill containers with no more than “25 liters per person, as the city government desperately tries to reduce water consumption.” This is what happens when you “ignore warnings, underinvest and pretend that the rain will fall.”
Tags: Capetown, Consumption, Dry, Rain, Reservoirs, Taps, Underinvestment, Warnings, Water
New York Times (November 23)
“Everything this president and this Congress are doing on economic policy seems designed, not just to widen the gap between the wealthy and everyone else, but to lock in plutocrats’ advantages, making it easier to ensure that their heirs remain on top and the rest stay down.” While the “terrible tax bills” may not make it through Congress, “environmental policy is largely set by administrative action, and this administration has been moving with stunning speed to get poisons back into our air and water.”
Tags: Air, Congress, Economic policy, Environment, Heirs, Plutocrats, Poisons, Trump, Water, Wealth gap
LA Times (February 14)
“California’s majestic Oroville Dam is currently in danger of spillway failure in a season of record snow and rainfall. That could spell catastrophe for thousands who live below it and for the state of California at large that depends on its stored water. The poor condition of the dam is almost too good a metaphor for the condition of the state as a whole; its possible failure is a reflection of California’s civic decline.”
Tags: California, Catastrophe, Danger, Decline, Failure, Oroville Dam, U.S., Water
