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The Murray-Darling Basin Shows Why The ‘Social Cost of Water’ Concept Won’t Work
July 3rd, 2023
Via The Conversation, commentary on the ‘social cost’ of water: Access to safe, clean water is a basic human right. But water scarcity or barriers to access can cause conflict within and between countries. Fights over water can be expected to intensify as the world warms, evaporation increases and rainfall becomes less predictable. So we’ll need […]
Read more »Death On The Darling
April 7th, 2023
Via The Economist, a look at how climate change and poor management are imperilling Australia’s biggest river system: Yabbies, freshwater lobsters native to Australia, thrive in the outback for a reason. They can tolerate high temperatures and drought, and need hardly any oxygen in their water. Yet even for them the Darling river, which snakes […]
Read more »Australia: Must Embrace Water As A National Security Priority
February 26th, 2021
Courtesy of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, commentary on Australia’s need to embrace water as a national security priority: Hangovers result from a classic human failing: we stop and think only when a problem arises, not when it’s caused. When times are good, we’ve always got room for one more, but come the morning and […]
Read more »Bone-Dry Australia Faces Backlash Against Dam Projects
July 19th, 2020
Via The Wall Street Journal, at look at how – as Australian authorities seek to maximize water use – they are clashing with indigenous communities and environmentalists over dams: To indigenous Australians Isabel and George Coe, the hills near a 280-foot-tall dam here are part of a sacred landscape that is dotted with burials and […]
Read more »As Water Runs Low, Can Life In Australia’s Outback Go On?
December 9th, 2019
Courtesy of The New York Times, a look at how – in Australia’s vast interior – rivers and lakes are disappearing: Fleur Magick Dennis has stopped showering every day, allowed her vegetable patch to die and told her four sons to let the dishes pile up. Sometimes, all her family has is bottled water, and […]
Read more »In 2019, 10% of Australian Water Owned By Foreigners
December 8th, 2019
Via The Guardian, commentary on Australia’s water scarcity challenge: I’m starting to think that after living on a farm for 25 years, I might now learn the art of agriculture at the age of 54. I’m starting to think, in the hierarchy of needs, it might matter more to me than journalism. Because of, well, […]
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