Hi - We're going to get passionate about the environment; so, grab a beverage, take your shoes off, sit down and get comfy. If global warming is an interest of yours - add your comments, subscribe to the feed and/or become a follower. Don't forget to check out the ads to the right side of the column. There is some very interesting material to be had there. Read, comment, enjoy!!!
Showing posts with label water shortages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water shortages. Show all posts
The statistics around water consumption are staggering. And while taking shorter showers or even skipping showers all together can save significant amounts of water, these personal conservation tips are nothing compared to the bigger, thornier question of how we tackle water use in agriculture, manufacturing and other industrial processes.
Wonderwater, a new pop up cafe which has already made appearances in Beijing and Helsinki, is looking to set the record straight and spark new conversations about the realities of water use:
- Water scarcity will be an increasingly critical issue as global populations rocket towards 9 billion in 2050, as reported by scientists at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm this week - Currently, the average UK citizen consumes 4,645 litres of water per day, with more than 60% of this water coming from overseas (www.waterfootprint.org) - The water we consume 'indirectly' through the production of major items such as food, clothing and paper is far greater than our domestic water use, which accounts for just 150 litres per day.
Visitors to the cafe, which will be setting up at Leila's Shop in Shoreditch as part of the London Design Festival from the 12th to the 23rd September, will be able to select items from the menu that have low, medium and high water footprints, while perusing backdrops with infographics and "surprising facts" about water consumption.
As Simran Sethi's recent TED talk explained, assailing people with facts is not always the best way to create change. It's in making the personal connections between the issues and how they impact our daily lives and the lives of our loved ones that we start to see people behaving differently.
It will be interesting to see whether Wonderwater can serve up that kind of consciousness shift on its menu.
By the year 2050, you may be forced to become a vegetarian. That is, if Sweden's water scientists are to be believed.
According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, "There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes towards diets common in western nations."
Humans now derive about 20% of their daily protein intake from animal-based products, reports London's Guardian. But a new report published by the institute says the world's population will have to cut that figure to 5% by 2050 to accommodate the planet's "considerable regional water deficits."
Why not just produce more food?
"Nine hundred million people already go hungry and 2 billion people are malnourished in spite of the fact that per capita food production continues to increase," the report said. "With 70% of all available water being in agriculture, growing more food to feed an additional 2 billion people by 2050 will place greater pressure on available water and land."
In this Aug. 3, 2012 photo, a stock tank is filled with water by Tony Frost, of Frost Farms, for his cattle in Tallula, Ill. After months of drought, the central Illinois creeks and ponds that the 300 cows and calves drink from on the farm are dry or close to it. Frost has to buy and haul water, about 4,000 gallons a day, split up in four trips to different pastures. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman) Photo courtesy: Seth Perlman/AP
So vegetarianism, the scientists say, is one option to combat the water shortage. As a vegetarian, I can state that I have never felt deprived in any way. There is so much else to eat I don't miss meat at all.
"A move towards vegetarian diets could help free up large portions of arable land to human food production," Orion Jones wrote on BigThink.com. "A third of current farmland is used to grow crops that feed animals. Additionally 'animal protein-rich food consumes five to 10 times more water than a vegetarian diet.'"
The report was released for the start of "Water Week" and the annual world water conference in Stockholm. And while the forecast may sound dire, the world's water situation is already grave.
And the United States is experiencing its worst drought in a generation, punishing farmers and burning up the nation's corn crop. On July 31, nearly 65% of the nation was experiencing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The drought's been so severe and water levels so low, Midwestern towns that were intentionally submerged decades ago are starting to surface.
A Chinese farmer on dry farmland on the outskirts of Rizhao, Shandong Province, in January. Photo courtesy: nytimes
The United Nations’ food agency issued an alert on Tuesday warning that a severe drought was threatening the wheat crop in China, the world’s largest wheat producer, and resulting in shortages of drinking water for people and livestock.
China has been essentially self-sufficient in grain for decades, for national security reasons. Any move by China to import large quantities of food in response to the drought could drive international prices even higher than the record levels recently reached.
“China’s grain situation is critical to the rest of the world — if they are forced to go out on the market to procure adequate supplies for their population, it could send huge shock waves through the world’s grain markets,” said Robert S. Zeigler, the director general of the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, in the Philippines.
The state-run news media in China warned Monday that the country’s major agricultural regions were facing their worst drought in 60 years. On Tuesday the state news agency Xinhua said that Shandong Province, a cornerstone of Chinese grain production, was bracing for its worst drought in 200 years unless substantial precipitation came by the end of this month.
The World's Largest Crops. Photo courtesy: nytimes
World wheat prices are already surging, and they have been widely cited as one reason for protests in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. A separate United Nations report last week said global food export prices had reached record levels in January. The impact of China’s drought on global food prices and supplies could create serious problems for less affluent countries that rely on imported food.
With $2.85 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, nearly three times that of Japan, the country with the second-largest reserves, China has ample buying power to prevent any serious food shortages.
“They can buy whatever they need to buy, and they can outbid anyone,” Mr. Zeigler said. China’s self-sufficiency in grain prevented world food prices from moving even higher when they spiked three years ago, he said.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Tuesday that 12.75 million acres of China’s 35 million acres of wheat fields had been affected by the drought. It said that 2.57 million people and 2.79 million head of livestock faced shortages of drinking water.
Chinese state news media are describing the drought in increasingly dire terms. “Minimal rainfall or snow this winter has crippled China’s major agricultural regions, leaving many of them parched,” Xinhua reported. “Crop production has fallen sharply, as the worst drought in six decades shows no sign of letting up.”
Xinhua said that Shandong Province, in the heart of the Chinese wheat belt, had received only 1.2 centimeters, or about half an inch, of rain since September. The report did not provide a comparison for normal rainfall for the period.
The Food and Agriculture Organization, in its “special alert” on Tuesday, said the drought’s effects had been somewhat tempered by relatively few days of subzero temperatures and government irrigation projects. The agency went on to caution that extreme cold, with temperatures of minus 18 degrees Celsius (just below zero Fahrenheit), could have “devastating” effects.
Kisan Gunjal, the F.A.O. food emergency officer in Rome who handles Asia alerts, said by telephone that if rain came soon and temperatures warmed up, then the wheat crop could still be saved and a bumper crop might even be possible.
On Tuesday, Chinese meteorological agencies were warning of frost for the next nine nights in the heart of Shandong Province, with temperatures falling as low as 21 degrees Fahrenheit. They forecast little chance of precipitation in the next 10 days except for the possibility of a light rain or a dusting of snow on Wednesday or Thursday.
Mr. Gunjal said the special alert on China was the first that the F.A.O. had issued anywhere in the world this year. There was only one last year, expressing “grave concern” about food supplies in the Sahel region of Africa, notably Niger.
President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, China’s top two officials, made separate visits to drought-stricken areas last week, and each called for “all-out efforts” to cope with the water shortage.
Typically, world food reports barely mention China, partly because many details of the country’s agriculture production and reserves are state secrets. But China, in fact, is enormously important to the world’s food supply, especially if something goes wrong.
Farmers drew water to irrigate their arid wheat fields in China’s Shandong province on Tuesday. Photo courtesy: nytimes
The heat wave in Russia last summer, combined with floods in Australia in recent months, has drawn worldwide attention to the international wheat market, because Russia and Australia have historically been big exporters. But China’s wheat industry has existed in almost total isolation from the rest of the world, with virtually no exports or imports, until last year, when modest imports began. Yet it is enormous, accounting for one-sixth of global wheat output. The statistical database of the United Nations’ food agency shows that in 2009, the last year available, China produced almost twice as much wheat as the United States or Russia and more than five times as much as Australia.
Currently, the ground in the country is so dry from Beijing south through the provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shandong to Jiangsu Province, just north of Shanghai, that trees and houses are coated with topsoil that has blown off parched fields.
China’s national obsession with self-sufficiency in food includes corn, another crop that is grown and consumed entirely in China with minimal imports or exports. Little known outside of China, the country’s corn industry actually grows one-fifth of the world’s corn, according to F.A.O. statistics. China’s corn crop is mostly in the country’s northern provinces, where the drought is worst now.
Mr. Gunjal said the success or failure of the corn crop, as well as the rice crop, would depend mostly on rainfall this spring and summer, not the shortage of rain this winter.
Winters tend to be dry in southern China, the world’s largest rice-producing region. But this winter is drier than most.
China had about 55 million tons of wheat in stockpiles as of last summer, Mr. Gunjal said. That was equal to about half the annual harvest.
China is already the world’s largest importer of soybeans, which are oilseeds, not a grain. China buys soybeans mainly for use as animal feed, because the Chinese diet is shifting toward more meat.
What an absolutely breathtaking city! The capital city of Sana’a in Yemen is an extremely ancient city filled with history, home to architecture that shouts of times gone by; and, quite probably will be the first capital city to die of thirst.
The nation of Yemen has been under siege from an on-going drought for many years now. A short time ago, I wrote about the water riots in Yemen and the drought in Kenya. Now it would appear that the capital city, Sana’a, could become a ghost town in a mere 20 years.
A recent Reuters' investigation into the water crisis in Sana’a profiled a Yemeni water trader that complains that even though his well is 1,300 ft. deep, he’s hardly pumping out any water at all. His well is not unique in Yemen’s mountain-top capital of Sana’a. Even wells that are 2,000 ft. or 3,000 ft. deep are having trouble producing enough water to supply the demands made upon them.
Families all across Yemen have reported being unable to access water for days or even weeks. On days the tankers are due to arrive with water, women are lined up with plastic jerry cans hours before the scheduled time. As the tankers get closer, the women begin to jostle and shove. Some of them have been without water for days; and, they are determined to get water this time. Sometimes all-out fights erupt and three people have been reported to have lost their lives during “water fights” to date.
Sana’a has the infrastructure to support approximately 80,000 people; but, the population has grown to 2 million. Add to this that Sana’a is a mountainous city with a low water table; and, you have the recipe for a ghost town.
Yemen has 21 aquifers. Wikipedia explains: “An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The beach provides a model to help visualize an aquifer. If a hole is dug into the sand, very wet or saturated sand will be located at a shallow depth. This hole is a crude well, the wet sand represents an aquifer, and the level to which the water rises in this hole represents the water table.”
The problem in Yemen and surrounding areas is that demand is far outstripping supply and the water table is being lowered year after year. Eventually, the water table will be so low that the tiny amount of water remaining will be inaccessible.
Global warming has already created the first “environmental refugees”, now with the water crisis in Yemen; the world may have to deal with the first “water refugees”. As water becomes more and more inaccessible in Sana’a and other highland cities, millions of inhabitants will be forced to move into neighbouring Gulf States or Europe.
At the heart of this crisis is what many refer to as Yemen’s “national drug habit”.
The cultivation of qat (khat) is considered to be root of the water crisis. Qat production siphons off a massive 37% of the 90% of all water used in Yemen for cultivation. Let’s think about these statistics.
If 90% of all water used in Yemen goes toward agriculture; that, leaves only 10% of the water for human consumption, cleaning, cooking, hygiene and everything else. So, the cultivation of qat (a narcotic) is allocated nearly 4 times more water than Yemen’s human population. That does not say much for priorities.
Qat is immensely popular in Yemen and is chewed by Yemeni men throughout most of the day regardless of where they are or what they are doing. Despite the fact that qat contains the alkaloid called cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant which causes excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria, it is not only legal in Yemen; it is socially acceptable. It is chewed everywhere – at home, at work, on the street, at social gatherings, anywhere at all. In some cultures, the chewing of qat predates the drinking of coffee.
There are several obstacles to reducing or eliminating the qat crops. First and foremost, the government subsidizes and encourages qat cultivation. It is hard for the people to believe a crisis is real when the government is encouraging the growth of what is supposed to be the main cause of the problem.
Combine this with the fact that many Yemeni make a living from growing qat; and, the problem becomes even greater. How do you ask a man to give up the job that feeds his family?
The final difficulty is the feelings surrounding qat and the lackadaisical attitude many Yemeni have towards water and water conservation. As one qat merchant told Reuters, "It's true that qat uses much of our water; but, Yemen cannot live without qat." Another said, "We depend on qat. Without it, Yemen is impossible. God will help us find new water."
Many Western governments fear that the instability that would arise from an exacerbated water crisis would not only be devastating to the population in Yemen; but, make it a ripe target for terrorist recruitment.
The population of Yemen stands at 23 million people; and, the population is expected to double within the next 20 years. If no sustainable way to manage their remaining water supply is found, there will be massive repercussions. The area will become unstable with violent conflicts over what little water remains. The Northern provinces have already experienced conflicts over the dwindling water supplies.
If the residents of Sana’a and other hilltop cities have to migrate into the Gulf States and Europe in order to gain access to water, these countries could become overburdened with the huge influx of people in such a short amount of time.
If not properly managed, this could be one of the world’s most challenging crises to date.
Excellent, excellent video explaining the water shortage in Yemen, the misuse of the water that is available; and, the problems of supplying the people with clean, drinkable water. Definitely worth watching.
The following video is fairly long; but, the information is vital to the well-being of every living thing on the face of the planet that cannot survive without water. Please watch.
There are nine videos and I will post all nine - 3 at a time.
Istanbul is home to the World Water Forum 2009 to address the ever-increasing water crisis. In just 21 short years (2030) one-half of the world’s population (approx. 4 billion people) will be living in areas of “acute water shortage”. In response to this finding issued in a report by the UN last week, 120 countries have convened in Istanbul in an attempt to ensure an adequate water supply worldwide and prevent wars breaking out over water resources.
Already there are growing tensions and small skirmishes between many countries fighting over rivers, lakes and glaciers. If these issues are not addressed now; we will stand no chance of addressing them later. We must make provisions now to ensure that the water-deprived areas will be provided for during future crises.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the meeting, said that water scarcity is a "potent fuel for wars and conflict," according to Reuters. Today there are 1 billion people living without access to safe drinking water and sanitation and the situation will only get bleaker. Wars and conflict don’t seem so fantastic when you ask yourself the question, “How far would I go to ensure my child(ren) had sufficient safe water to drink?"
A particularly striking example of just how far people are willing to go is the Sudan, where water shortages are one of the underlying causes of the Darfur crisis. The issue is very complex; but, the combination of decades of drought, desertification, and overpopulation are among the causes of the conflict.
Water is also a major issue between Israel and its Arab neighbors; and, the states of Central Asia. Here it is a case of one of the world's driest places, trying to grow thirsty crops (cotton and grain) as their main source of livelihood.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan has asked the World Water Forum to intercede in its dispute with Kyrgyzstan.
These cases – being played out on the world stage - will set the tone for years to come on how effective dialogue and moderation will be considered by the “dry” nations; and, consequently how willing they will be to participate in them. The dry nations, of course, have the most to lose.
By 2050, our population will have increased by 2.5 billion souls for a total of 9.1 billion of us swarming over the planet. Unfortunately, most of these births will be in countries that have problems with water shortages/scarcity already. Adding more demands to a system that cannot handle the present demands is just adding fuel to the fire. As these dryland populations increase alleviating poverty and hunger will become exponentially more difficult.
News of what specific action will be taken by the council remains vague — Reuters offers only this report:
"The heads of state, environment and development ministers, scientists and development organizations hope to draw up a list of recommendations to help safeguard water resources and to share experiences where projects have been successful."
This is a massive first step towards addressing this goliath of an issue – recognizing the coming water shortage and engaging 120 countries (and counting, hopefully) in dialogue regarding the handling of the situation.
Let’s hope it is not too little, too late. The talks take place March 16-22, 2009. Also on the agenda will be discussions on how to avert catastrophic floods and droughts as climate patterns change; and, how the global financial crisis threatens to hit large-scale water infrastructure projects with the next several years.
I'm fortunate to have several passions in my life. I am absolutely an eco-nut. I am always trying to find new ways to reduce, reuse, recycle. We, as a species, have done more harm to this planet in the short time we have been here, than any other catastrophe or happening ever has. It's up to us to fix it.
I care about the environment whether it is as small as a single cell or as large as the universe.
I adore creativity and think we can all do more with much less. This earth has enough resources for us all to live comfortably if we all learn to share. Wasn't that a lesson we were supposed to learn in kindergarten?
I also love the bizarre, unusual, the weird and the strange. Be prepared for the odd "different" blog.
Posts
