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<font size="+1"><i>July 8, 2018</i></font><br>
<br>
[California wildfires]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=39.002110299225144%2C-115.39764404296875&hl=en&z=8&source=embed&ie=UTF8&mid=1HacmM5E2ueL-FT2c6QMVzoAmE5M19GAf">California
map of active fires</a></b><br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=39.002110299225144%2C-115.39764404296875&hl=en&z=8&source=embed&ie=UTF8&mid=1HacmM5E2ueL-FT2c6QMVzoAmE5M19GAf">https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=39.002110299225144%2C-115.39764404296875&hl=en&z=8&source=embed&ie=UTF8&mid=1HacmM5E2ueL-FT2c6QMVzoAmE5M19GAf</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Washington Post posts and updates under same headline]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/03/hot-planet-all-time-heat-records-have-been-set-all-over-the-world-in-last-week/?utm_term=.963c4199138b">Red-hot
planet: All-time heat records have been set all over the world
during the past week</a></b><br>
<blockquote>(This article, originally published Tuesday, was updated
Wednesday to add all-time heat records at Mount Washington, N.H.,
and Tbilisi, Georgia set since Monday. On Thursday, the story was
updated to include information on heat-related deaths in Canada
and extraordinary heat in Siberia. On Friday, it was updated to
add the likely all-time heat record in Africa and Southern
California.)<br>
</blockquote>
From the normally mild summer climes of Ireland, Scotland and Canada
to the scorching Middle East to Southern California, numerous
locations in the Northern Hemisphere have witnessed their hottest
weather ever recorded over the past week.<br>
Large areas of heat pressure or heat domes scattered around the
hemisphere led to the sweltering temperatures. The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation reports the heat is to blame for at least
54 deaths in southern Quebec, mostly in and near Montreal, which
endured record high temperatures.<br>
In Northern Siberia, along the coast of the Arctic Ocean – where
weather observations are scarce – model analyses showed temperatures
soaring 40 degrees above normal on July 5, to over 90 degrees. “It
is absolutely incredible and really one of the most intense heat
events I’ve ever seen for so far north,” wrote meteorologist Nick
Humphrey, who offers more detail on this extraordinary high-latitude
hot spell on his blog.<br>
On Thursday, Africa likely witnessed its hottest temperature ever
reliably measured. Ouargla, Algeria soared to 124.3 degrees (51.3
Celsius). If verified, it would surpass Africa’s previous highest
reliable temperature measurement of 123.3 degrees (50.7 Celsius) set
July 13, 1961, in Morocco...<br>
<font size="-1">more at:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/03/hot-planet-all-time-heat-records-have-been-set-all-over-the-world-in-last-week/?utm_term=.963c4199138b">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/03/hot-planet-all-time-heat-records-have-been-set-all-over-the-world-in-last-week/?utm_term=.963c4199138b</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Yale Climate Communications]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCSx6ZRoazI">Heat Waves
and Climate Change: Mass Media Fails to Make the Connection</a></b><br>
TheRealNews - video 9 minutes<br>
Published on Jul 2, 2018<br>
The failure to link the increasing frequency and intensity of heat
waves means that the general population remains relatively unaware
of the urgency of climate change, says Jennifer Marlon of the Yale
Program on Climate Change Communication<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCSx6ZRoazI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCSx6ZRoazI</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
[Beckwith explains in 15 min YouTube video]<br>
<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rra0aBOwyUo">Massive
Deadly Heatwaves: A Consequence of Abrupt Climate Change</a></b><br>
Paul Beckwith - Published on Jul 6, 2018<br>
Many people around the planet have had to endure extensive, long
duration heatwaves in early July; some people have not been
successful. Most places are woefully unprepared for heatwaves, and
it takes significant spikes upward in death rates before politicians
actually start doing anything. In Canada, the province of Quebec
keeps better records for heatwave mortalities, and has reported many
deaths; in other provinces like Ontario it will take many weeks for
authorities to obtain and analyze data from morgues. <br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rra0aBOwyUo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rra0aBOwyUo</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[so far, we know it is worse than before]<br>
<b><a
href="https://www.wired.com/story/we-have-no-idea-how-bad-the-us-tick-problem-is/">WE
HAVE NO IDEA HOW BAD THE US TICK PROBLEM IS</a></b><br>
Megan Molteni - SCIENCE - 7.04.18<br>
WHEN RICK OSTFELD gets bitten by a tick, he knows right away. After
decades studying tick-borne diseases as an ecologist at the Cary
Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, Ostfeld has
been bitten more than 100 times, and his body now reacts to tick
saliva with an intense burning sensation. He's an exception. Most
people don't even notice that they've been bitten until after the
pest has had time to suck up a blood meal and transfer any
infections it has circulating in its spit.<br>
Around the world, diseases spread by ticks are on the rise. Reported
cases of Lyme, the most common US tick-borne illness, have
quadrupled since the 1990s. Other life-threatening infections like
anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are
increasing in incidence even more quickly than Lyme. Meat allergies
caused by tick bites have skyrocketed from a few dozen a decade ago
to more than 5,000 in the US alone, according to experts. And new
tick-borne pathogens are emerging at a troubling clip; since 2004,
seven new viruses and bugs transmitted through tick bite have shown
up in humans in the US.<br>
- - - - -<br>
Public health departments are required to report back to the CDC on
Lyme and six other tick-borne infections. Those cases combined with
county-level surveys and some published academic studies make up the
bulk of what the agency knows about national tick distribution. But
this data, patchy and stuck in time, doesn't do a lot to help public
health officials on the ground. "We've got national maps, but we
don't have detailed local information about where the worst areas
for ticks are located," says Ben Beard, chief of the CDC's bacterial
diseases branch in the division of vector-borne diseases. "The
reason for that is there has never been public funding to support
systematic tick surveillance efforts."...<br>
- - - - -<br>
That's something Beard is trying to change. He says the CDC is
currently in the process of organizing a nationwide surveillance
program, which could launch within the year. It will pull data
collected by state health departments and the CDC's five regional
centers about tick prevalence and the pathogens they're carrying to
build a better picture of where outbreaks and hot spots are
developing, especially on the expanding edge of tick populations.<br>
The CDC is also a few years into a massive nationwide study it's
conducting with the Mayo Clinic, which will eventually enroll 30,000
people who've been bitten by ticks. Each one will be tested for
known tick diseases, and next-generation sequencing conducted at CDC
will screen for any other pathogens that might be present. Together
with patient data, it should provide a more detailed picture of
exactly what's out there...<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.wired.com/story/we-have-no-idea-how-bad-the-us-tick-problem-is/">https://www.wired.com/story/we-have-no-idea-how-bad-the-us-tick-problem-is/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Diabetes]<br>
<b><a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/07/a-frightening-new-reason-to-worry-about-air-pollution/564428/">A
Frightening New Reason to Worry About Air Pollution</a></b><br>
A massive study solidifies the link between particulates from cars
and diabetes.<br>
OLGA KHAZAN - JUL 5, 2018<br>
It's fairly well known that a bad diet, a lack of exercise, and
genetics can all contribute to type 2 diabetes. But a new global
study points to an additional, surprising culprit: the air pollution
emitted by cars and trucks.<br>
Though other research has shown a link between diabetes and air
pollution in the past, this study is one of the largest of its kind,
and it's unique because it both is longitudinal and includes several
types of controls. What's more, it also quantifies exactly how many
diabetes cases in the world are attributable to air pollution: 14
percent in 2016 alone. In the United States, it found, air pollution
is responsible for 150,000 cases of diabetes.<br>
The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, linked data
from 1.7 million American veterans who had been followed for a
median of 8.5 years with air data from the EPA and nasa. It also
aggregated past international research on diabetes and air pollution
to devise a model to estimate diabetes risk based on the level of
pollution, and it used the Global Burden of Disease study to
estimate how many years of healthy life were lost due to this
air-pollution-induced diabetes. Globally, 8.2 million years of
healthy life were lost in 2016 to pollution-linked diabetes, it
showed.<br>
The study authors controlled for things like obesity and BMI, so it
wasn't the case that heavier people simply lived in more polluted
neighborhoods and were also more likely to get diabetes.<br>
The particles examined in this study are known as PM2.5, or
particulate matter that's 2.5 micrometers big - 30 times smaller
than a human hair. They are emitted by various types of industry and
fuel burning, but in the United States, the biggest source of PM2.5
is cars, says Ziyad Al-Aly, the study's senior author and an
assistant professor of medicine at Washington University at St.
Louis. When there's lots of PM2.5 in the air, the air might look
smoggy or hazy. In lighter concentrations, the particles are
invisible.<br>
Scientists are just beginning to understand what exactly makes PM2.5
so harmful, but a major reason is that it's so small and contains
toxic metals. Its size allows it to penetrate the lungs and enter
the bloodstream. There, it can circulate to different organs and
cause inflammation. The inflammation increases insulin resistance.
Eventually, this insulin resistance can become so severe the
pancreas becomes unable to pump out enough insulin to compensate,
and diabetes can set in.<br>
Previous research has found that Latino children living in areas
with more air pollution had a greater risk of developing type 2
diabetes. But other studies on the association between the two have
generated mixed results.<br>
This new study makes an even stronger case, suggesting that the
current limits on air pollution in the United States might be too
high. The EPA's pollution threshold on particulate matter is 12
ug/m3, or micrograms per cubic meter of air, but this study says the
risk of diabetes starts at about 2.4 ug/m3. Among people exposed to
between five and 10 ug/m3 of particulate matter, about 21 percent
developed diabetes. At the threshold of current "safe" levels, 24
percent do. For each 10 ug/m3 increase in particulate matter, the
risk of developing diabetes goes up by 15 percent. This risk is
present regardless of whether the individual becomes obese or not.<br>
But this study and others might not lead to a tightening of the
PM2.5 standards because, under a rule proposed by the Trump
administration in April, all studies used by the EPA to make air and
water regulations must make their underlying data publicly
available. As my colleague Robinson Meyer reported, studies like
this and others, which show the detrimental health impacts of
pollution, are based on health data that is confidential and cannot
be de-anonymized.<br>
That will greatly undermine regulations that have made for cleaner
air, says Sanjay Rajagopalan, a cardiologist at University Hospitals
Cleveland Medical Center, about the proposed rule. "Documents that
have gone into EPA regulations go through rigorous peer review," he
says. "We have some of the cleanest air in the world, and there's
scientific data that this has protected millions of lives and
contributed to the longevity of American citizens."<br>
The consequences of PM2.5 are more severe for developing countries
that do not have strict limits on air pollution. For example, the
study says countries like Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea face a
higher risk of lots of air-pollution-related cases of diabetes,
while the United States has a moderate risk.<br>
Still, experts told me the connection between PM2.5 and various
health risks is now so clear that people should try to avoid large
amounts of particulates, if they can. "Live away from the major
sources of emission. Don't live right near the 405," Al-Aly told me,
referring to a notoriously congested freeway in Los Angeles. "Short
of that, anywhere that's high in pollution, like some cities in
China or India, many people wear masks."<br>
Tanya Alderete, who studies the connection between air pollution and
disease at the University of Colorado at Boulder, says people might
rethink biking in heavy traffic, for example. "We shouldn't be
engaging in strenuous physical activity during rush hour or near
major roadways," she says.<br>
But everyone I spoke with said the real answer lies with public
policy - stricter limits on fossil-fuel emissions and a move to
cleaner energy sources. After all, globally, pollution of all kinds
kills three times more people than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria
combined.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/07/a-frightening-new-reason-to-worry-about-air-pollution/564428/">https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/07/a-frightening-new-reason-to-worry-about-air-pollution/564428/</a><br>
- - - - -<br>
[send this to your doctor and to your city council]<br>
<b><a
href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpla/article/PIIS2542-5196%2818%2930140-2/fulltext">The
2016 global and national burden of diabetes mellitus
attributable to PM2·5 air pollution</a></b><br>
Background<br>
PM2·5 air pollution is associated with increased risk of diabetes;
however, a knowledge gap exists to further define and quantify the
burden of diabetes attributable to PM2·5 air pollution. Therefore,
we aimed to define the relationship between PM2·5 and diabetes. We
also aimed to characterise an integrated exposure response function
and to provide a quantitative estimate of the global and national
burden of diabetes attributable to PM2·5.<br>
<b>Findings</b><br>
<blockquote>We examined the relationship of PM2·5 and the risk of
incident diabetes in a longitudinal cohort of 1 729 108
participants followed up for a median of 8·5 years (IQR 8·1–8·8).
In adjusted models, a 10 ug/m3 increase in PM2·5 was associated
with increased risk of diabetes (HR 1·15, 95% CI 1·08–1·22). PM2·5
was associated with increased risk of death as the positive
outcome control (HR 1·08, 95% CI 1·03–1·13), but not with lower
limb fracture as the negative outcome control (1·00, 0·91–1·09).
An IQR increase (0·045 ug/m3) in ambient air sodium concentration
as the negative exposure control exhibited no significant
association with the risk of diabetes (HR 1·00, 95% CI 0·99–1·00).
An integrated exposure response function showed that the risk of
diabetes increased substantially above 2·4 ug/m3, and then
exhibited a more moderate increase at concentrations above 10
ug/m3. Globally, ambient PM2·5 contributed to about 3·2 million
(95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2·2–3·8) incident cases of
diabetes, about 8·2 million (95% UI 5·8–11·0) DALYs caused by
diabetes, and 206 105 (95% UI 153 408–259 119) deaths from
diabetes attributable to PM2·5 exposure. The burden varied
substantially among geographies and was more heavily skewed
towards low-income and lower-to-middle-income countries.<br>
</blockquote>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpla/article/PIIS2542-5196%2818%2930140-2/fulltext">https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpla/article/PIIS2542-5196(18)30140-2/fulltext</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Nuclear Energy is 20% ]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/environment/sd-me-nuclear-collapse-20180702-story.html">Fearing
climate change, experts in San Diego warn U.S. nuclear industry
faces collapse</a></b><br>
The United States is on the verge of losing more than half of its
low-carbon energy as the fight against climate change reaches a
critical point - a reality the country hasn't fully grappled with.<br>
That's according to findings recently published by researchers at UC
San Diego, Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University in the
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<br>
The paper - "U.S. nuclear power: The vanishing low-carbon wedge"
- paints a picture of an industry on the verge of collapse. Facing
economic competition from cheap natural gas, the country's aging
fleet of nuclear power plants, the authors warn, could see a
significant number of retirements in coming years.<br>
-+- Video interview <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/visuals/99680340-132.html">http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/visuals/99680340-132.html</a><br>
"We're asleep at the wheel on a very dangerous highway," said Ahmed
Abdulla, co-author and fellow at the UC San Diego School of Global
Policy and Strategy. "We really need to open our eyes and study the
situation."<br>
The country now has a choice to abandon nuclear power altogether or
embrace the next generation of smaller, more cost-effective
reactors, according to the report.<br>
However, the researchers argue, the second option is very unlikely
as it would require accelerating the regulatory review process and a
sizable infusion of public cash.<br>
"It's really surprising that one of our best weapons in our fight
against climate change is at risk of utter collapse because of the
economic and political challenges and not the technical ones,"
Abdulla said.<br>
While it might be a longshot, the promise of nuclear power has
captured the imagination of many younger academics in recent years.<br>
More students are pursuing nuclear engineering degrees than at any
time since the early 1980s, with graduation rates in the field
tripling between 2001 and 2015, according to survey data from the
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.<br>
"Where else are you going to get a job where you can tell your
grandkids that you saved the world?" said Per Peterson, a professor
in UC Berkeley's department of nuclear engineering. "They don't
think they're going to get rich."<br>
Still, environmental organizations have remained largely skeptical
about the value of nuclear energy, given ongoing anxieties about
safety as well as cost. While advocacy groups have expressed
concerns about replacing phased-out nuclear plants with fossil
fuels, many would rather focus on supporting renewable sources.<br>
"The danger is that the amount of subsidy that nuclear would require
would suck all the energy out of supporting the other renewables,"
said Edwin Lyman, a physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.<br>
"There's almost nothing that can be done to make nuclear a
significant contributor in the next few decades, even if you throw
billions of dollars at it," he said. "The people who promote nuclear
power have tunnel vision."<br>
Dan Jacobson, state director for Environment California, echoed
those general concerns.<br>
"Nuclear power in its current form has been an incredibility
expensive way to boil water," he said. "If you're really trying to
decarbonize our grid, we would rather spend those billions on
efficiency, conservation and renewables."<br>
Nuclear energy constitutes roughly 20 percent of nation's energy
supply, compared to about 17 percent for all renewables combined,
according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Wind and
solar, for example, make up about 7.6 percent of the country's power
portfolio.<br>
While aggressive efforts continue to develop batteries for storing
intermittent sources of electricity from solar and wind, utilities
in recent years have embraced natural gas for consistent, baseload
energy. The fossil fuel now represents nearly 32 percent of all the
energy produced in the U.S.<br>
Given recent trends, nuclear industry scientists question whether
renewables will be able to offset the losses from retiring nuclear
plants in time to stave off the worst consequences of climate
change.<br>
"The reality is you cannot actually replace 20 percent of the need
with wind and solar, unless you want to wallpaper every square inch
of many states," said Christian Back, vice president of nuclear
technologies and materials at General Atomics. "It's not efficient
enough."<br>
Back said that given the right support from the federal government,
the current fleet of nuclear reactors can, in many cases, be
retrofitted to improve safety and lifespan, while smaller, more
cost-effective plants can be rolled out within the next decade to
provide baseload energy.<br>
"This is a situation like NASA when you're putting someone on the
moon where the government needs to recognize the long-term benefit
and investment that's required and help support that," she said.
"This is where political will matters."<br>
The paper also suggested that many in the public don't take nuclear
energy seriously because they don't realize the urgency of the
situation. Specifically, the research points to the need to
aggressively decarbonize the energy sector by mid-century because
carbon dioxide emitted today will remain in the atmosphere for
hundreds of years, baking in the effects of global warming for
generations to come.<br>
If the country is going to embrace nuclear energy, it should do so
as quickly as possible to help stave off the impacts of climate
change, said George Tynan, associate dean of the UC San Diego Jacobs
School of Engineering.<br>
"You realize that we're almost out of time because of the
development timescales," he said. "If new nuclear technologies are
going to have a material impact on carbon emission in the midcentury
then they have to be demonstrated in the marketplace in the next
decade or so."<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/environment/sd-me-nuclear-collapse-20180702-story.html">http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/environment/sd-me-nuclear-collapse-20180702-story.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Water as resource]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/deep-water-water-economy-threatened-climate-change">In
deep water: Water economy is threatened by climate change</a></b><br>
Danielle Nierenberg - Saturday, July 7, 2018<br>
Water is so precious because it is limited by nature. The science of
water economy studies the way in which water resources are limited
and how they must be managed to satisfy farming needs without
creating social inequalities and unsustainable environmental
impacts.<br>
Overall, the planet possesses some 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of
water. However, it is estimated that less than 45,000 cubic
kilometers (0.003 percent of the total) is theoretically usable and
that only 9,000 to 14,000 cubic kilometers (about 0.001 percent of
the total) is suitable for human use, which means it is of adequate
quality and is accessible at an acceptable cost.<br>
Freshwater resources are distributed unequally across the globe.
According to The World's Water (PDF), a report updated every two
years by the Pacific Institute, nearly 65 percent of the world's
drinking water is in just 13 countries: Brazil (14.9 percent),
Russia (8.2 percent), Canada (6 percent), the United States (5.6
percent), Indonesia (5.2 per- cent), China (5.1 percent), Colombia
(3.9 percent), India (3.5 percent), Peru (3.5 percent), Congo (2.3
percent), Venezuela (2.2 percent), Bangladesh (2.2 percent) and
Burma (1.9 percent). On the other hand, a growing number of
countries are facing grave water shortages, and some are even
looking at annual per capita availability of less than 1,000 cubic
meters.<br>
<br>
On a global average, the World Health Organization estimated,
842,000 diarrheal deaths occur each year; 361,000 of those deaths
are of children younger than 5 who died because of unsafe drinking
water. According to UNICEF, 768 million people worldwide lacked
access to safe drinking water in 2015; one in six people do not
reach the minimum standard set out by the United Nations of 20 to 50
liters of freshwater per person per day.<br>
With statistics like these in mind, in 2010 the United Nations
recognized the "right to water" as a fundamental and essential human
right. This right establishes that everyone, without discrimination,
has the right of access - physically and economically - to a
sufficient amount of water that is safe to drink.<br>
This recognition of water as a basic human right was proclaimed in
the U.N. General Assembly's Resolution 64/292. In response to the
resolution, the U.N. Human Rights Council directed member states to
"develop appropriate tools and mechanisms, which may encompass
legislation, comprehensive plans and strategies for the sector,
including financial ones, to achieve progressively the full
realization of human rights obligations related to access to safe
drinking water and sanitation, including in currently unserved and
underserved areas."<br>
<br>
Managing our supply: the 'virtual water' trade and water
privatization<br>
Water scarcity can be a source of conflict between those with a
sparse supply and those with plenty, so the fair and careful
monitoring of supply management and distribution is of global
importance. In addition to the water used for drinking and
agriculture, virtual water - water used during the process of
worldwide trade - is an important resource that must be quantified
and analyzed.<br>
<br>
The concept of virtual water was introduced by Tony Allan, one of
the world's leading experts on water. Allan defines virtual water
(PDF) as a means to "reveal the hidden factors of our real global
water consumption." He also described the urgent need to promote
this concept. "Already, our overconsumption and mismanagement of
water have had a very serious impact on our water environments and
the essential services they provide. ... Most of us don't have the
slightest idea about the sheer volumes of water involved in our
daily lives. To make a cup of coffee, it takes 140 liters. That's
the true amount of water used in growing, producing, packaging and
shipping the beans you use to make your morning coffee." Allan
thinks the use of virtual water was less of a concern in the past
because "the ratio of water to people was so massive that it was as
if our water supply was infinite." Now, he said, "it is not. And
now, with a global population pushing 7 billion, water scarcity is
not just a possibility. It is already a reality for many."<br>
<br>
Virtual water is traded in huge volumes as crops that need large
amounts of water to cultivate are shipped far and wide, not always
with sensible results. For example (PDF), three of the world's top
10 wheat-exporting countries are seriously short of water, and three
of the top 10 wheat importers are blessed with an abundance of it.
The level of interdependence between countries in the virtual
exchange of water resources is critical, however, and it is destined
to grow in the future, given the ongoing, often controversial
deregulation of international trade.<br>
<br>
Water trade expert Dennis Wichelns, a professor of economics and
executive director of the Rivers Institute at Hanover College,
analyzed the trade patterns between Jordan and other countries,
including the United States. Because Jordan has little water, it
trades with other countries for commodities that use a lot of water
to produce. Wichelns explained, "[Jordan] imports 5 billion to 7
billion cubic meters of water in virtual form per year, which is in
sharp contrast with the 1 billion [cubic meters] of water withdrawn
annually from domestic water sources." Therefore, he stated, "People
in Jordan survive owing to the fact that their 'water footprint' has
largely been externalized to other parts of the world, for example,
the U.S."<br>
<br>
If demand grows and resources dwindle - in part because of
pollution and climate change - then clearly the economic value of
water will grow, and the gap between those who have plenty of water
and those who do not will provoke new conflicts. Water privatization
(PDF) - when private sectors purchase the right to participate in
the sanitation and distribution of water resources - has been
cited as a possible, albeit divisive solution to this problem.<br>
Opponents of water privatization point out how risky it is to
entrust the management of water resources to private entities. The
greatest of those risks, they said, is being sure that water
managers respect their obligation to develop the water supply in
poorer areas, where consumption is lower.<br>
This risk is playing out in South Asia, in the tensions between
India and Bangladesh over use of the water in the Ganges–Brahmaputra
Delta. Bangladesh, located farther downstream from the delta and the
more economically and politically disadvantaged country, contends
that water allocation and privatization favor India, despite the
water-sharing treaties the countries have signed. This conflict
raises ethical concerns, because any time one country is "cheated"
out of its full water share, the less water it has to distribute to
its citizens, which obviously worsens water insecurities.<br>
Supporters of water privatization point to how much more efficient
the private sector is at managing water than the public sector.
Outsourcing water management to private entities, they say, could
improve distribution and make it possible to divide maintenance
costs between different companies, resulting in lower costs to
consumers.<br>
Private companies, such as the American States Water Company and its
utility subsidiary, Golden State Water, work together to divide
costs for roughly 260,000 consumers in California. Dividing the
costs of utility and electric services may help save consumers from
having to pay those costs themselves, were the company publicly
owned.<br>
Private companies may also focus on developing effective
distribution monitoring systems. One company, Environmental Health
and Safety Support, does so through its supervision of groundwater
well designs and its evaluations of aquifer recharge.<br>
Above all, the most effective monitoring systems are those that
manage water with citizens' interests in mind. Knowledgeable,
experienced farmers, whom Allan refers to as the de facto managers
of the world's water, are a vital component of realizing a fair
system. The importance of farmers' roles further underscores the
symbiotic relationship between agriculture, food and the
environment.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/deep-water-water-economy-threatened-climate-change">https://www.greenbiz.com/article/deep-water-water-economy-threatened-climate-change</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.johnmajor.co.uk/page2093.html">This Day in
Climate History - July 8, 1991</a> - from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
July 8, 1991: Speaking at the Sunday Times Environmental Conference
in London, British Prime Minister John Major states:<br>
<blockquote>"Personally, I have always thought it wrong to call it
the greenhouse effect. I dislike the term, I dislike it because
the image is too cosy, too domestic and far too complacent.
Begonias and petunias it most certainly is not. The threat of
global warming is real: the spread of deserts, changed weather
patterns with potentially more storms and hurricanes, perhaps more
flooding of low lying areas and possibly even the disappearance of
some island states."<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.johnmajor.co.uk/page2093.html">http://www.johnmajor.co.uk/page2093.html</a><br>
<br>
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