Lake Mead Drops 40% of Capacity Approaching First-Ever Official Water Shortage
Lake Mead provides water for 30 million residents of the arid desert regions of the west. The reservoir is only 12 feet below the level in which "allocations on the river would be cut by more than 100 billion gallons under the terms of a 2007 agreement struck by seven Western states and Mexico". The New York Times explains how Las Vegas is preparing:
Las Vegas, which draws about 90 percent of its water from Lake Mead, is particularly vulnerable to dropping lake levels. Were levels to fall to 1,050 feet, or 26 percent capacity, one of the city's two water intake pipes on the lake would cease functioning. In anticipation of such an event, water managers have developed a highly controversial plan to tap groundwater in northeast Nevada and transport it to the city via a multibillion-dollar pipeline.
Threatened Elkhorn Coral Colony Discovered for 1st Time in 100 Years
Scientists have not discovered a new colony of the endangered Pacific elkhorn coral in over 100 years! Considered one of the "world's rarest coral", the threatened species resembles antlers. The new colony was found near the Marshall Islands in the Arno Atoll. Live Science reports:
The Pacific elkhorn coral colony was a rare find, but it may not be an entirely new species. Corals fitting the description of the Pacific elkhorn were first described in 1898 near Fiji in the South Pacific, but scientists don't have enough genetic information from this earlier find to say if the corals are a match, Richards said.
The Atlantic relative, A. palmata is regarded by most marine researchers as the outstanding symbol of the plight of Caribbean corals. It is rated as critically endangered after vanishing from most of its Caribbean reef habitat in recent decades.
"When Zoe showed me pictures of the Pacific elkhorn, I was shocked," said coral geneticist David Miller of CoECRS and James Cook University, also in Queensland. "The colonies look just like the critically endangered Caribbean species A. palmata, one of the most distinctive of all corals. The fact that these colonies might represent a species that has not been seen for over a hundred years (A. rotumana) says something about how much we know about the remote reefs of the North Pacific," Miller said.
There has been debate as to whether the Pacific elkhorn should be listed as threatened or endangered. In 2006, it was listed as threatened.
U.S. Military is the World's Biggest Consumer of Fossil Fuels
In wake of the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans are examining their dependence on fossil fuels. It is good that individual citizens do what they can to conserve; however, the US military is the "world's single biggest consumer of fossil fuels, and the single entity most responsible for destabilizing the Earth's climate". Truthout reports:
Such "greenwashing" helps to mask the fact that the Pentagon devours about 330,000 barrels of oil per day (a barrel has 42 gallons), more than the vast majority of the world's countries. If the U.S. military were a nation-state, it would be ranked number 37 in terms of oil consumption - ahead of the likes of the Philippines, Portugal, and Nigeria - according to the CIA Factbook.
And although much of the military's technology has become far more fuel-efficient over the last few decades, the amount of oil consumed per soldier per day in wartime has increased by 175 percent since Vietnam, given the Pentagon's increasing use and number of motorized vehicles.
Stanford Poll: More People Doubt Global Warming is Real
Given that 2008 was a cool year, the number of global warming skeptics has actually increased, according to a Stanford University poll. Unlike Gallop polls that focus on people's reactions to media reports on global warming, the Stanford survey asked for independent opinions. SF Gate reports:
Although the vast majority of Americans believe the Earth is gradually warming because of greenhouse gases and want the government to regulate them, a small but growing number of people doubt that global warming is real, according to a new poll.
The Stanford University survey, released on Wednesday, found that 74 percent of those polled believe the world's temperature has been gradually rising over the past century, compared with 85 percent who believed it in 2006.
Jon Krosnick, a Stanford professor of political science, notes that the cooling trend in 2008 was just a "one-year drop in a 100-year warming trend".
Gulf Oil Spill Could "Wipe Out" Sperm Whales with Only 3 Deaths
Sperm whales are unique creatures whose "long-term survival" is at risk in the Gulf of Mexico, even before the catastrophic BP oil spill. Only three deaths could put the 1,400 and 1,660 sperms whales in dire straits. National Geographic reports:
All sperm whales are considered endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. But the Gulf of Mexico population is thought to be especially vulnerable due to its relatively small size.
The whales are now at risk from the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill, because they are likely to ingest or inhale toxic crude and noxious oil fumes. (See pictures of the oil seeping into Louisiana marshes.)
"We know there's going to be some [oil] exposure, and we know there's an endangered species. If you put those two thing together, there is reason for concern," said Celine Godard-Codding, an environmental toxicologist at Texas Tech University.
Seven US states district attorneys are investigating the evil Monsanto for abusing "its market power to lock out competitors and raise prices on seed". According to the Organic Consumers Association:
The states are probing whether Monsanto violated laws by offering rebates to seed distributors for excluding rival seeds, imposing limits on combining the product with other genetic modifications, or offering cash incentives to switch farmers to more expensive generation of seed varieties.
The state investigations add to pressure on Monsanto. The US Justice Department is investigating the company's marketing practices, and DuPont Company has accused Monsanto of anti-competitive practices in licensing litigation.
Maybe anti-trust laws will finally bring this agricultural giant down!
Animal Factory is a thoroughly-researched piece of investigative journalism, in which Kirby sets out to approach factory farms differently from 'Fast Food Nation' or 'Eating Animals'. As his powerful and provocative books shows, the supermarket price of milk, pork, steak and chicken do not reflect the actual costs of mass-producing meat and dairy, which are passed on the to surrounding communities, including:
Airborne feces sprayed by farms, covering neighboring homes, fields, and towns
Recalls of dangerous meats, fruits, and vegetables caused by farm pathogens
Increasing public health crises, including asthma and MRSA infection, and possibly swine flu and leukemia and other cancers in communities adjacent to these farms
High levels of feces and nitrates in public water supplies near these farms. The New York Times recently reported that "19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from drinking water contaminated with parasites, bacteria or viruses." (9/15/09)
Massive fish kills in local waters from pig and cow manure lagoon spills
Immense costs to clean up hazardous farms, absorbed by taxpayers or individual farmers, rather than by the corporations that profit from such practices
Dead zones spreading miles out to sea, where marine life is suffocated by algae growth stimulated in part by factory farm pollution
In Animal Factory, Kirby follows three American families in different regions of the US, whose lives have been utterly changed by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. Weaving complex science, politics, business, and the lives of everyday people, Kirby documents a crisis that has reached a critical juncture in the history of human health and our larger global environment.
I like how Kirby tracks factory farms affect on families, as it gives a human touch to a story that is truly overwhelming to contemplate.
As a vegetarian, my life is still affected by factory animal farms. No one is immune. We must support local, traditional farms as consumers to really bring about change, as well as make sure our politicians are aware of the consequences of factory farming. Anyone that has visited or driven by a large factory farm, like Harris Ranch on I-5 in California, knows, the situation is not good for animals or humans.
Disclosure: I was sent free samples of these products to review. No
prior assurances were given as to whether the review be positive or
negative.
Electronic waste (e-waste) is on the rise, as consumers discard older technology for the latest models. Much of this e-waste ends up in Third World countries. No matter where it ends up, the United Nations (UN) predicts e-waste to increase by 500% in the next decade and "poses a serious threat to health and the environment." The Guardian reports:
Despite a number of conventions aimed at preventing the indiscriminate dumping of e-waste, the problem is snowballing, with billions of people now regularly using advanced electronics.
The problem is particularly acute in parts of west Africa, where ship-loads of e-waste are dumped on a daily basis and scavenged by children who break down the electronics to recover valuable metals that they can sell.
Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelves Retreating Due to Climate Change
New USGS data has discovered the southern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula is "retreating". Science Daily reports:
Research by the U.S. Geological Survey is the first to document that every ice front in the southern part of the Antarctic Peninsula has been retreating overall from 1947 to 2009, with the most dramatic changes occurring since 1990. The USGS previously documented that the majority of ice fronts on the entire Peninsula have also retreated during the late 20th century and into the early 21st century.
This area is "rapidly changing". It is farthest from the South Pole; however, the southern portion has the coolest temperatures and "may be a forecast of changes in other parts of Antarctica and the world if warming continues".
Published in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, the first study of its kind "to include the impact of desertification" on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has found that "38% of the land surface of the world" is in danger of desertification. EurekaAlert! explains:
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a scientific methodology that objectively analyses the environmental impacts of an activity or process, taking in the full cycle, from extraction of raw materials right through to management of the waste generated at the end of this material's useful life...
By simultaneously using the LCA and a Geographic Information System (GIS), the researchers have shown that eight of these 15 areas can be classified as at risk of desertification, representing 38% of the land surface of the world.
The eight natural areas at risk are coastal areas, the Prairies, the Mediterranean region, the savannah, the temperate Steppes, the temperate deserts, tropical and subtropical Steppes, and the tropical and subtropical deserts.
"The greatest risk of desertification (7.6 out of 10 on a scale produced using various desertification indicators) is in the subtropical desert regions - North Africa, the countries of the Middle East, Australia, South West China and the western edge of South America", the scientist explains.
Researchers hope the new information will make it possible to accurately evaluate "particular" human activities impact on desertification in different regions.
Vertical Farming Sustainably Optimizes Growing Space
We have a problem: the world's population is growing rapidly putting pressure on agriculture to feed all those people. One solution is vertical farming, which has just won the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Valcent, developers of Verticrop, explains the benefits of vertical farming:
Vertical growing is a new idea currently emerging in the sustainability discourse which offers great promise for increasing urban production. Vertical growing systems have been proposed as possible solutions for increasing urban food supplies while decreasing the ecological impact of farming. The primary advantage of vertical growing is the high density production it allows using a much reduced physical footprint and fewer resources relative to conventional agriculture. Vertical growing, hydroponics and greenhouse production have now been combined into an integrated commercial production system, a system that has major potential for the realization of environmentally sustainable urban food and fuel production.
Treehugger further addresses some of the criticisms of vertical farming:
Of course criticisms of vertical and urban farming still shave some merit--namely that urban real estate is generally expensive, and best used for high-density residential and commercial use, with the surrounding farmland being used to feed the city. But such criticisms ignore the fact that formerly industrial sites in cities like Detroit are now lying derelict and are being eyed-up by potential urban farming operations.
I don't see that vertical farming has to be limited to urban locations, as it could also be used by farmers in order to maximize their crop land for food products that require more space.
Lake Mead Drops 40% of Capacity Approaching First-Ever Official Water Shortage
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