BLOG
Squeezing Communities Dry: Water Grabbing By The Global Food Industry
September 23rd, 2023
Via GRAIN, a look at how pension fund managers, private equity firms and other financial players are moving aggressively to snatch up lands around the world with access to water for irrigation. Their strategy is to pump as much water as they can and as fast as they can into the production of crops, like […]
Read more »Chilean Town Withers in Free Market for Water
September 3rd, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on how water in Chile was redirected in order to maximize its highest economic use, to the detriment of local communities: During the past four decades here in Quillagua, a town in the record books as the driest place on earth, residents have sometimes seen glimpses of […]
Read more »Water, Not Lithium, Is The Resource Latin America Should Worry About
August 19th, 2023
Via Rest of World, commentary on how water, not lithium, is the resource Latin America should worry about: As fires, storms, and heat ravage large swathes of the planet, the world seems to have ramped up its efforts to address climate change. At the heart of this drive is the emergence of “climate tech” — a […]
Read more »This Machine Runs on Water: Lithium in Latin America
June 12th, 2023
Via Geopolitical Monitor, a look at the water usage and water pollution problem associated with South America’s lithium industry: Lithium is the next big mining boom given that the mineral can be utilized for lithium batteries which are currently, and for the foreseeable future, in high demand as the world craves green energy. South America […]
Read more »More Than a Decade of Megadrought Brought a Summer of Megafires to Chile
April 15th, 2023
Via Inside Climate News, a report on how Chile’s relentless drought has dried out subsistence farmers’ wells, vast eucalyptus and pine plantations: As the dark curtain descended, turning the blazing afternoon sun over the braided currents of the Bío Bío River into a burnt orange twilight, a firefighting helicopter with a gigantic bucket dangling below […]
Read more »Chile and Bolivia Agree On River Argument
December 3rd, 2022
Via Terra Daily, an article on Chile and Bolivia’s agreement over a disputed cross-border river: Chile and Bolivia have agreed on the status of a disputed cross-border river, the International Court of Justice said on Thursday, adding that judges were not required to rule on the climate-fuelled row. The fractious South American neighbours had been […]
Read more »