Via the Christian Science Monitor – I’m guessing a strict adherence to California’s water laws is probably low on these folks’ priority list: Large marijuana plots hidden deep in California’s public lands have illegally diverted hundreds of millions of gallons of water, compounding shortages caused by the state’s ongoing drought. At least the water’s being …
I’ve been skeptical of reports that the recession is bottoming out, because until recently my data did not support it. For some time, the Inkstain Cheap Shit From China Index (CSFCI) has been stuck at zero. But on Tuesday, I noted on my morning bike ride the first shipping container out behind the Uber Walmart …
The failure of the Colorado River to reach the sea, Jonathan Foley argues, is evidence of dramatic challenges facing humanity that go beyond climate change. From an essay at Environment 360: Across the globe, we already use a staggering 4,000 cubic kilometers of water per year, withdrawn from our streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers. Of …
A look at the science and financing behind the “CO2 is Green” ads running in New Mexico (ad/sub req): It is hard to square Leighton Steward’s cheery message with the vast swaths of dead trees across the mountains of northern New Mexico. “Fall of ’02 is when they started to die,” biologist Craig Allen told …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: A Look at CO2 is Green’ »
Richard Seager’s new paper on Georgia drought has been well-covered by Cornelia Dean in the New York Times, and I’ll let her make its central point: that Atlanta’s problems “resulted from population growth more than rainfall patterns.” Seager and his colleagues point out something that I banged away on a bit a couple of years …
Borrowing a page from Emily Green’s book, I’m trying (again) a sporadic roundup of some of the interesting water things I’ve been reading: Henry Brean on the potential effect of the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s pumping plans on Great Basin National Park: “I’d like them to know that we’re extremely concerned — very concerned — …
I love Jon Stewart’s television program, but it’s rare that he does a subject of direct relevance to my little blogoworld. But last week, he did water. Specifically, a look at a Fox News discussion of the complex public policy questions surrounding California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs …
Unbeknownst to me, Thursday was the centennial of the first electricity flowing from the generators at Roosevelt Dam, arguably the first great dam of the modern era in the West. Located 60 miles up the Salt River from Phoenix, it was the highest dam in the world when it was built, according to Donald Worster’s …
Michael Tobis believes the prevalence of bunk on the issue of climate change is “one of the principal characteristics of our time,” and that the media’s failure to effectively counter said bunk is a fundamental failing that stands in the way of action on climate change. As I said in a previous discussion of this …
Water wonks: I’m spending a few days in and around Phoenix later this month. Any suggestions for water infrastructure tourism?