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Blue Planet, Thirsty World
November 22nd, 2015
Courtesy of Foreign Affairs, an interesting report on some innovative ways to help meet’s the world’s rising water demand: When seen from space, the earth is a blue gem, a water planet. But when it comes to the amount of its water that humans can actually drink—a mere one percent of the total—it is an increasingly […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Bottled Water Industry Eyes The Tibetan Plateau
November 18th, 2015
Via The Guardian, an article on how Tibet is encouraging companies to tap the Himalayan glaciers for premium drinking water, but the environmental stakes are high: Qomolangma Glacier Water bottles water from a national reserve located 80 km from Everest Base Camp In the last two decades China has become the world’s largest bottled water […]
Read more »ISIS Wages The World’s First Water War
November 17th, 2015
Via the Wall Street Daily, a look at water crises in the Middle East: “Water is the single most important determination of civilization.” Famed international and commodities investor Jim Rogers said that in an interview with marketing agency Sinclair & Co. And he’s right… History shows that no civilization can survive without water – no […]
Read more »Mennonite Farmers Prepare To Leave Mexico To Avoid Competition For Water
November 17th, 2015
Courtesy of the New York Times, an interesting report on Chihuahua is a study in the costs of overusing a resource and the tensions that flare as it becomes scarce: On the edge of a high plain fringed by craggy sandstone hills, Johan Friesen’s small farm is a testament to the rural providence of his Mennonite […]
Read more »Asia Running Dry
November 11th, 2015
Courtesy of China Water Risk, a detailed look at Asia’s vanishing glaciers & shares concerns over the region’s water future: Highlights The Hindu-Kush Himalayas covers 8 countries & is the source of 10 major rivers which feed 17 countries in Asia 1.35bn Asians rely on these river basins as do major cities; yet media focus […]
Read more »South African Opposition Capitalises On Water Shortages
November 11th, 2015
Via Future Directions International, an interesting report on water politics of a different sort where the drought has drawn attention to the parlous state of water infrastructure in South Africa, a development that the political opposition has utilised to attack the ruling African National Congress: Background The drought in South Africa has continued to spread […]
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