THE WATER WE DRINK…

Advocacy group’s extreme weather map brings climate change home
by Dean Kuipers
8 Dec 2011 at 10:36pm
A new map published today by the Natural Resources Defense Council makes it plain that extreme weather attributable to climate change isn?t something that only happens in other parts of the world. Chances are, you?ve had your own Hurricane Irene, or drought, or something like it, in your own back yard.

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New Cook Islands Shark Sanctuary proposed
by Dean Kuipers
8 Dec 2011 at 4:00pm
Activists in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific are proposing a huge new shark sanctuary in the face of fishing pressures and the continued massive drop in shark numbers over the last decade worldwide. The Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative, or PICI, is working with local fisheries authorities to craft the Cook Islands Shark Sanctuary to extend over the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone, which covers almost 2 million square kilometers of ocean.

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San Diego water deal upheld, Salton Sea fight continues
by Geoff Mohan
8 Dec 2011 at 1:16am
A three-judge panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal overturned a 2010 ruling by a Sacramento Superior Court judge that the deal was improper because the Legislature had essentially signed blank-check to repair damage done to the Salton Sea.

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Sen. Barbara Boxer seeks climate-change action from summit
by Dean Kuipers
7 Dec 2011 at 9:44pm
Senator Barbara Boxer stepped up today to deliver an appeal for action at the mostly lackluster UN Climate Change Conference, which wraps up this week in Durban, South Africa. Her speech was delivered to an almost-empty Senate TV/Radio gallery, which is indicative of the low priority given ongoing greenhouse gas treaty negotiations by the federal government and the press.

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Inupiat whaling, drilling at stake in recent Alaskan mayor?s race
by Dean Kuipers
6 Dec 2011 at 11:09pm
Independent photojournalists Will Rose and Kajsa Sjölander were on Alaska?s North Slope in November to document traditional whaling by the native Inupiat people, and found themselves at the height of a highly charged mayoral election season, with whaling and a gargantuan new Shell oil drilling project at stake.

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Retired federal judge withdraws from Westlands Water District case
by Bettina Boxall
6 Dec 2011 at 10:43pm
Retired federal judge Oliver Wanger withdraws from Westlands Water District case.

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Occupy Landfills! Trash from Occupy L.A. not recycled
by Dean Kuipers
2 Dec 2011 at 8:48pm
Remember the 25 tons of material left behind by Occupy L.A. campers after they were evicted from the park in front of City Hall early Wednesday morning? It went to the dump.

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Illinois sequestration project is first in U.S. for man-made CO2
by Dean Kuipers
1 Dec 2011 at 2:59am
A demonstration project in Illinois is the first in the U.S. to begin pumping over a million metric tons of man-made liquid CO2 into permanent underground storage. The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium announced this week that its project in Decatur, Illinois had begun injecting carbon dioxide into sandstone formations 7,000 feet below ground.

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NPR reports Kyoto Protocol in trouble in Durban
by Dean Kuipers
30 Nov 2011 at 9:42pm
News coverage of the UN climate talks in Durban has been minimal, at best, and that?s clearly because ? just like in Copenhagen last year ? there has been almost no mention of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which was put in place to set reduction targets for important greenhouse gases. Without a big juicy target, the conference lacks the drama to merit mention on even the eco-blogs.

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Retired federal judge to represent Westlands Water District
by Bettina Boxall
30 Nov 2011 at 5:47am
Former U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger has agreed to represent an influential irrigation district that frequented his courtroom.

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Visions of Solar Energy?s Future Compete in Colorado?s San Luis Valley
by Brett Walton
27 Jan 2012 at 3:05pm
The U.S. government is in the process of designating more than 6,000 hectacres of federal land for solar energy development. As companies line up to submit projects, some valley residents are questioning the centralized model of energy generation and are, instead, trying to shape an independent energy future.

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The Stream, January 27: Water Pollution Strikes Chinese River
by Codi Yeager
27 Jan 2012 at 1:00pm
Levels of cadmium, a carcinogen, measured 20 percent higher than the official limit in China’s Longjiang River, Xinhua reported. The pollution, which may have been caused by mining, spurred a rush to buy bottled water amid fears of drinking water contamination. Weather Extremes Floods killed 6 people in Fiji and displaced 3,500 following heavy rains, [...]

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The Stream, January 26: The Shale Boom and the Economy
by Nadya Ivanova
26 Jan 2012 at 12:30pm
The International Energy Agency will make shale gas recommendations in its upcoming global energy report this fall, Financial Post reported. U.S. Shale Boom U.S. President Barack Obama pushed support for shale gas drilling and clean energy technology in his State of the Union address. Bloomberg gives the highlights. Meanwhile, North Dakota’s shale oil boom has [...]

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State of the Union: New Economics of Energy Production Tilts Obama?s ?All-of-…
by Keith Schneider
26 Jan 2012 at 1:50am
In the era of deficit and disinvestment, water-intensive fossil fuel production is overwhelming the water-sipping clean energy sector.

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Peter Gleick: Mining California Groundwater ? The Cadiz Project
by Dr. Peter Gleick
25 Jan 2012 at 6:37pm
A private company, Cadiz Inc. (Cadiz), has revived plans to mine groundwater underlying land in the delicate Eastern Mojave Desert. This project revives fundamental questions about how we manage our precious water resources, and in particular, whether in the 21st century it is appropriate, or even necessary, to use renewable water resources in a nonrenewable and unsustainable way, for short-term profit.

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The Stream, January 25: Milk, Arsenic and Mexico?s Water
by Codi Yeager
25 Jan 2012 at 1:00pm
Arsenic Arsenic is tainting freshwater supplies in Mexico’s Laguna region, the country’s biggest milk producer, as dairy operations, upstream dams and climate change deplete aquifers, AlertNet reported. In Chile, people exposed to high levels of arsenic in their drinking water during the 1950s have a higher risk of cancer despite subsequent contamination control, according to [...]

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The Stream, January 24: Boosting Food Production
by Nadya Ivanova
24 Jan 2012 at 12:35pm
How can the world feed 9.5 billion people, the projected global population in 2050? The Guardian looks at a mix of new, somewhat radical scientific solutions: commercial algae farms, insects, desert greening and meat grown in a lab. Modernising agricultural technology is the key to boosting China’s food output, according to China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, [...]

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Federal Water Tap, January 24, Part 2: Energy and Climate
by Brett Walton
24 Jan 2012 at 11:00am
Solar Review The deadline for submitting public comments on the Bureau of Land Management?s broad environmental review of solar energy development in six western U.S. states is Friday. The review will result in changes to the agency?s resource management plans, allowing it to concentrate solar energy projects on the most suitable parcels of land. Comments [...]

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Ned Breslin: Lessons From Polio
by Ned Breslin
23 Jan 2012 at 2:00pm
One of my best friends fell victim to polio as a child, as he describes in this Frontline story from PBS.

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The Stream, January 23: Chevron Appeals $18 Billion Amazon Pollution Fine
by Nadya Ivanova
23 Jan 2012 at 12:25pm
Chevron has filed an appeal with Ecuador’s Supreme Court to review a judgment that ordered the U.S. oil company to pay $18 billion in damages for polluting the Amazon, Reuters reported. Water Pollution The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will test the water at about 60 homes in a small town in northern Pennsylvania where residents [...]

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