Fresh water trucked in, crops destroyed as floodwaters swamp US midwest

Des Moines, Iowa: As some communities along the Missouri River start to shift their focus to flood recovery after a late-winter storm, residents in two Iowa cities are stuck in crisis mode after their treatment plants shut down and left them in need of fresh water.

People on a boat float down floodwaters that cover
Washington Street in Hamburg, Iowa, on Wednesday. 

Tanker trucks from the Iowa National Guard and a private company are hauling water into Hamburg and Glenwood, said Lucinda Parker, a spokeswoman with Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Many evacuated from flooded areas in the southwestern part of the state are staying in shelters or with family and friends in the wake of the flooding and water struggles it has caused.

Read the story from The Age by Margery Beck - “Fresh water trucked in, crops destroyed as floodwaters swamp US midwest."

We Will Soon Be Using More Than The Earth Can Provide

Four days after President Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the Global Footprint Network (GFN) reported that Earth Overshoot Day 2017 will fall on August 2. Most Americans likely have no idea what that means.

From January 1 to August 2, the world’s 7.5 billion people
will have used as much of Earth’s biological resources—or
biocapacity—as the planet can regenerate in a year.

The basic point is quite simple: From January 1 to August 2, the world’s 7.5 billion people will have used as much of Earth’s biological resources—or biocapacity—as the planet can regenerate in a year. During the remaining five months of 2017, our human consumption will be drawing down Earth’s reserves of fresh water, fertile soils, forests, and fisheries, and depleting its ability to regenerate these resources as well as sequester excess carbon released into the atmosphere.

Read the Yes! magazine story by David Korten  - “We Will Soon Be Using More Than The Earth Can Provide.”

The grand challenge of feeding 9 billion people.

Sustainable agriculture expert Prof Tim Reeves discusses the profound changes required in agricultural practice, public policy and consumer behavior if we are to feed the Earth’s ever-growing human population - projected to exceed 9 billion in 2050. Business-as-usual won’t pass muster anymore. 

Business as usual will not feed our
burgeoning population.

“A study just being completed by CSIRO scientists, led by Zvi Hochman...showed that since 1990 wheat yield potential in Australia has gone down by 26 per cent as a result of climate change.

“Agriculture already uses 70 per cent of total fresh water withdrawals and that’s an extremely huge challenge for us as we go to produce more food.”

Listen to The University of Melbourne’s Pursuit podcast by Professor Tim Reeves, hosted by Dr Andi Horvath -  “The grand challenge of feeding 9 billion people.”

Climate change and water intricately intertwined

Today is World Water Day and as climate change and water are intricately intertwined, it seems appropriate to discuss it here.

And so while the world has no more or less fresh water, climate change is severely impacting on its distribution.

Our warmer atmosphere is absorbing more moisture and as Earth’s weather patterns are shifting, the subsequent rain is falling in unusual places and frequently with alarming intensity.

Those huge dumps of rain don’t soak into the soil, rather they simply drain quickly off the landscape taking a massive amount of topsoil with them and mostly leave affected areas devoid of nutrients upon which many crops, grasses and other plants so depend. The outcome is frequently desertification.

World Water Day is an international observance and an opportunity to learn more about water-related issues, be inspired to tell others and take action to make a difference.

World Water Day dates back to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development where an international observance for water was recommended.

The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. It has been held annually since then. Each year, UN-Water — the entity that coordinates the UN’s work on water and sanitation — sets a theme for World Water Day corresponding to a current or future challenge.

Learn about “World Water Day.”

Climate change warming world's lakes surprisingly fast

Lakes around the world are warming surprisingly quickly due to climate change, threatening the global water supply. And lakes in Canada are some of the fastest-warming in the world, a new study shows.

The warming waters can lead to problems like toxic algae blooms that make water undrinkable, declines in fish populations that people rely on for food and other serious problems, warns the international team of researchers that released the study this week.

"If air temperatures continue to increase and this influences water supply and water quality, that has a huge implication for humans as we need fresh water to survive," said Sapna Sharma, a researcher at Toronto's York University who was one of the lead authors of the report.

Read the CBC News story - “World's lakes are warming surprisingly quickly due to climate change.”