Global Water Wire
Slideshow: A Desperate Clinch — Coal Production Across America
A look at the places and faces affected by coal production in the United States.
Coal production and combustion is responsible for more than half of the nation's electricity and nearly half of all water withdrawn from rivers, lakes, and aquifers. From the mine to the power plant, the American coal ...
Jim Thebaut Guest Post: START, Nuclear Weapons, and Water
Friend and colleague Jim Thebaut - journalist, planner, philanthropist, filmmaker - just sent me this piece on the need for a new START (STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty). The relationship between nuclear weapons and water is elucidated.
Time for a New STARTJim Thebaut
ONE NUCLEAR BOMB WILL RUIN YOUR WHOLE DAY! BY THE END OF THE COLD WAR, A SINGLE MISSILE WOULD BE TEN TO FIFTY TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN THE BOMBS DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI.The world is much less stable than during the Cold War era. Regions of the world are experiencing destabilizing levels of war, terrorism and...
Scene of Midwest’s Worst Oil Spill – Sleepless Nights and Black Goo
A first-hand report from communities affected by Enbridge pipeline rupture on Kalamazoo River.
Images courtesy Environmental Protection AgencyOiled vegetation floats upstream of the Ceresco Dam. Click image to launch slideshow.
By Sam and Michael LaSusa
Special to Circle of Blue
Michigan's LaSusa brothers Sam, 17, and Michael, 20, traveled to communities affected by ...
Infographic: Tripling Tar Sands Oil Imports to U.S.
The industry is spending billions of dollars to develop more pipelines to supply the U.S. with oil.
Stoked by profits from $70 to $80 a barrel oil, the titans of the fossil fuel industry are investing towering sums to develop, transport and refine tar sands oil from Canada. The industry is ...
Is genetically altered fish OK? U.S. to decide
Reuters: U.S. health officials are set to rule on whether a faster-growing, genetically engineered fish is safe to eat in a decision that could deliver the first altered animal food to consumers' dinner plates. The fish, made by Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc, is manipulated to grow twice as fast as traditional Atlantic salmon, something the company says could boost the nation's fish sector and reduce pressure on the environment. But consumer advocates and food safety experts are worried ...
Climate change: The facts of life
Guardian: Climate change now reveals itself on a weekly basis. Scientists this month identified a colony of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries both yellow fever and the dengue virus, in the Netherlands. This African insect had not been seen in Europe for more than 50 years. A few days later US researchers reported that on the evidence of satellite data, global plant productivity – which had increased by 6% in two decades, in response to the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – has begun to ...
Disgusting algae's spread perplexes scientists in California
Sacramento Bee: On a sunny stretch of the Bear River near Colfax, the cool water carries a nasty surprise for swimmers and fishermen. Look closely at the water flowing by. It carries clots of a feathery substance that looks like shredded toilet paper. Step into the gravelly shallows. Your feet will scream at you to get out of the sewage spill. But this isn't sewage. About 10 miles of the Bear River below Rollins Reservoir is infested with a strange algae called "didymo," short for its ...
Fears for wildlife in UK waters
BBC: The Firth of Clyde in Scotland was once known for its stocks of cod, halibut and herring, but scientists have warned that it faces ecological meltdown. The decline is echoed in many other seas around the UK that have suffered as a result of over-fishing. Richard Bilton has been investigating what is happening to the wildlife in our waters.
Pakistan floods: Thousands return to historic city as levees keep water at bay
AP: Thousands of people returned to the historic southern city of Thatta in Pakistan today after levees built from clay and stone held back the floodwaters that have ravaged large areas of the country. Thousands who fled as the floods inundated nearby towns complained about a shortage of food and water as they camped in a graveyard on a hill near the city. People ran after vehicles distributing food and water near the graveyard – a chaotic distribution system that left many flood ...
Oil sands polluting Alberta river system: study
Reuters: Oil sands operations are polluting the Athabasca River system, researchers said on Monday, contradicting the Alberta government's assertions that toxins in the watershed are naturally occurring. In a study likely to add more fuel to the environmental battle over oil sands development, researchers said mercury, arsenic, lead and cadmium are among the toxins being released into the Athabasca, which flows north through the region's major oil sands operations. The findings of the ...
