On AlterNet: water shortage

Stories, blog posts, and videos tagged as "water shortage"

An Inside Look at the Daily Struggle for Water in One of the World's Largest Cities

Priti Gulati Cox, Stan Cox, AlterNet. January 7, 2011.

In a city like Mumbai, where the water supply is barely sufficient to fill the needs of the population, ordinary people won't get their fair share without fighting for it.

Our Water Crisis Will Be More Challenging Than Our Energy Crisis: How Do We Adapt?

Sandra Postel, Post Carbon Institute. September 3, 2010.

Challenges posed by water in the coming decades will rival those posed by declining oil supplies.

How Much Longer Until We Run Out of Enough Drinkable Water?

Sandra Postel, YES! Magazine. June 25, 2010.

Just as the economic crash is forcing Americans to reassess what they value financially, the water crisis requires us to pay attention to how we value and use water.

To Prevent a Food Crisis, We Need to Increase Water Efficiency

Lester R. Brown, TreeHugger. June 24, 2010.

Since it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain, it is not surprising that 70 percent of world water use is devoted to irrigation -- a practice we can do better.

Drinkable Water Is Vanishing: A Few Simple Things We Can Do to Avert Catastrophe

Maria Armoudian, AlterNet. April 5, 2010.

How much water do we and all of our many products actually use? An expert breaks it down and tells us how to cut back.

Why Just About Everything You Hear About California's Water Crisis Is Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

Yasha Levine, AlterNet. January 8, 2010.

The media and the governor are warning of the "worst drought in history" in California We're being lied to.

UN: Water Shortages Cause 100,000 to Flee Homes in Iraq

AFPOctober 15, 2009.

Water stress and over-extraction of groundwater caused the collapse of an ancient water system.

Why Red-Colored Snow on the Rockies Is a Major Warning Sign That the West Is Drying Up

Chip Ward, TomDispatch.com. September 16, 2009.

The era of cheap and plentiful water in the West is over and that's bad news for our sprawling cities, agriculture and ecosystems.

Mexico's Water Shortage Is Turning Into a Food Crisis

Jaymi Heimbuch, TreeHugger. September 9, 2009.

After months of drought, spring crops are failing and food may need to be imported, causing costs to rise.

Peter Gleick: 'Drought Impacts on Unemployment Are Grossly Overstated'

Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute. August 27, 2009.

Exaggerating the role that water plays in unemployment will do little to improve farm jobs and much to hurt rational water policy in the region.

The U.S. Is Years Behind the Rest of the World on Water Issues

Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute. August 20, 2009.

While remarkable and innovative efforts at sustainable water management are still being pursued here, these efforts are no longer either unusual or groundbreaking.

Goodbye Pools, Lawns and a Whole Lot More: Why Life in the Southwest as We Know it Will Be History

Alex Steffen, Worldchanging. August 10, 2009.

Water in the very near future will be neither cheap nor plentiful, and much of the Southwest is destined for real trouble.

Whose Water Is It? Water Rights in the Age of Scarcity

Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute. August 6, 2009.

This question is perhaps the thorniest question in the world of water. Here's a look at some of the laws surrounding it.

Your Water Footprint: It's Not Just How Much Water You Use, But What Products You Buy

Josh Harkinson, MotherJones.com. August 4, 2009.

94 percent of the water we use comes from the products we buy -- from almonds and tomatoes to blue jeans and microchips.

Why California Can Have Healthy Farming Even as Water Supply Diminshes

Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute. July 27, 2009.

The Pacific Institute show how California's agricultural sector can flourish despite threats to water supply.

Three Myths Debunked: The Truth About California's Water Shortfall

Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute. July 10, 2009.

Certainly farms and farmers are suffering, so are fish and ecosystems. But so is the truth. Here are three oft-repeated falsehoods.

Wake Up California, Here's What a Real Water Crisis Looks Like

Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute. July 8, 2009.

Californians have very little clue about what a real water crisis looks like. It looks like what's happening in Australia.

Western Governors, We Need to Start Making Big Changes to Water Management

Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute. June 26, 2009.

We need big changes out west when it comes to water policy. These are the changes I've told governors we need to make.

New Solar Power Plants May Threaten Scarce Desert Water Resources

Robert Glennon, AlterNet. June 25, 2009.

The rush to embrace solar power is having some unintended consequences when it comes to water.

Do Exports of Water-Intensive Crops Hurt Drought-Prone Areas?

Melinda Burns, Miller-McCune.com. June 20, 2009.

As California and Australia are finding out, what makes economic sense to farmers may be becoming an environmental problem.

California's Water Woes Threaten the Entire Country's Food Supply

Scott Thill, AlterNet. June 6, 2009.

Nearly a third of the country's food supply comes from California, but drought there may be a catastrophe for farmers -- and the rest of us.

Report Warns of Armed Conflict in the Middle East Over Water

Agence France PresseJune 3, 2009.

Climate change threatens to reduce the availability of scarce water resources, increase food insecurity and hinder economic growth.

Why Does Two-Thirds of the World's Population Still Not Have Access to Safe Drinking Water?

Melinda Burns, Miller-McCune.com. May 29, 2009.

The funds needed for water resources are miniscule compared those given to reduce carbon emissions and deal with the global financial crisis.

Renewables May Gain Momentum in Response to Water Shortages

Meaghan Daly, Water Matters @ Columbia. May 11, 2009.

As water stresses increase, states are increasingly turning away from thirsty energy sources like coal and nuclear.

Are Policy Makers Exacerbating Drought Scares? That's What It Looks Like in California

Tara Lohan, AlterNet. May 8, 2009.

Like much of the West, the state has serious water issues, but Mother Nature is only partly to blame.