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The Hydraulic Hypothesis And The End Of Civilization
January 1st, 2016
Via Science, an interesting look at the idea that – if agriculture is the basis for a society, and it is carried out in a semi-arid region – then the management of water through various forms of irrigation and the centralized control of the agricultural cycle lends itself to centralized despotic leadership: OK, I admit […]
Read more »Global Implications Of New Groundwater Research
December 15th, 2015
Via Future Directions International, a report on the world’s groundwater supplies: Key Points New estimates suggest there are 22.6 million km3 of groundwater within the top two kilometres of the earth’s surface. No more than six per cent of the global groundwater supply has been renewed within the last 50 years. A better understanding of groundwater […]
Read more »Quenching The Water Demands Of Today’s Megacities
December 8th, 2015
Via Terra Daily, an interesting look at the vexing challenges of providing water to the world’s growing number of megacities: Municipal water problems of yesteryear: The well’s going dry. Dig deeper. Municipal water problems of today: Megacities with millions of thirsty residents and water guzzling infrastructures exhaust nearby sources and start pulling water from aquifers, […]
Read more »Humans Using Far More Water Than Previously Thought
December 8th, 2015
Via The Washington Post, a report on alarming research that finds humans are using up far more of Earth’s water than previously thought: Freshwater is one of the planet’s most precious resources — and as the global population grows and our demand for water rises, so does the need to carefully monitor its use and availability. […]
Read more »Water Scarcity: A Global Economic And Security Threat
November 30th, 2015
Via the Globe and Mail, an article on the world’s global water crisis: Conflict over scarce water resources is as old as human history, but in the 21st century, rapidly rising demand for water and threats to supply pose nightmarish risks for people around the globe. The U.S. Defence Department, United Nations’ agencies and the […]
Read more »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 […]
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