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We have heard about China’s air quality and pollution woes recently in the media , especially as the start of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games approaches. A new report released last week adds yet another dimension to China’s environmental concerns.
According to a report entitled Beijing’s Water Crisis: 1949—2008 Olympics, published by Probe International, China’s policy of transferring water from draught-ridden neighborhoods to the nation’s capital in order to meet water needs for the upcoming Olympics is harming China’s environment and local farming economies.
Moreover, the abuse of water supplies contradicts the games’ “green” theme and supposed commitment to sustainability.
Expo 2008, the international exposition on water and sustainable development, opened its doors to the world on Saturday in the Spanish city of Zaragoza.
Situated along Spain’s largest River, the Ebro, the 62-acre expo aims to inform people on global water issues and serve as a discussion forum for advocates and international policy makers. A goal of the expo is to produce a “Zaragoza Charter” which will detail recommendations to address such issues as access to clean water, water scarcity, water wars, and water conservation.
Note: this article is part of this week’s EcoWorldly cycling series: Cycling and its importance in countries around the world.
As a writer on global writer issues, I wasn’t quite sure what to do when my writing colleagues at EcoWorldly suggested that we all contribute to a series on bicycling.
Bikes and water: could the two really be related? To my pleasant surprise, they are indeed!
I learned about several organizations dedicated to providing people in developing nations with the means to get clean water through the use of bicycles.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought today, following two straight years of below-average rainfall, very low snowmelt runoff and the largest court-ordered water transfer restrictions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in state history.
The governor also issued an Executive Order meant to address related problems caused by the water shortages, such as extreme fire danger due to dry conditions, economic harm to urban and rural communities, loss of crops and the potential to degrade water [...]
Water is essential for life, but humans are placing a growing burden on this natural resource … risking our own future well-being. More and more news comes out every day about the dangerous game we’re playing with our water supplies, and a growing number of people are warning water could become just as volatile an issue as oil in years to come.
Consider some of these water facts, and the implications they have for humanity:
Just this week, Sandia National Laboratories warned more than half the countries in the world could face “freshwater stress or shortages” by 2025. By 2050, that percentage could rise to 75 percent.
How do we meet the world’s future energy demands? Not an easy question, but it gets even more complicated when you factor in another critical need: water.
While water hasn’t always been factored into energy discussions — or vice versa — the two are “inextricably linked,” according to Sandia National Laboratories. That’s why researchers there are working [...]
