New Charges Over Flint’s Water Crisis Offer Only a Trickle of Justice
02 February
Insights + Opinion
People gather in front of a church before participating in a national mile-long march to highlight the push for clean water in Flint on Feb. 19, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. The march was organized in part by Rev. Jesse Jackson. Bill Pugliano / Getty Images
By Derrick Z. Jackson
No punishment has yet fit the crime of the Flint water crisis, complete with its child poisoning and lethal outbreak of Legionnaire's disease. After a prior investigation fell apart in 2019, Michigan state prosecutors unveiled a slew of fresh charges against nine figures involved in the fateful penny-pinching move to switch Flint's water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014. The river's waters, made corrosive from decades of industrial pollution, ate at Flint's old water pipes, releasing lead into drinking water and into the brains of thousands of children.
<p>Lead is a neurotoxin with irreversible effects and is not safe to ingest at any level. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/politics/flint-michigan-schools.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/in-flint-schools-overwhelmed-by-special-ed-needs-in-aftermath-of-lead-crisis/2019/08" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Education Week</a> reported in 2019 that the percentage of Flint's school children who qualified for individualized special education services more than doubled from 13 percent before the crisis to 28 percent after. Add to those victims, the one dozen people who did not survive their bouts with Legionnaire's disease, a type of pneumonia that scientists linked to the water supply switch. The PBS program <em>Frontline</em> determined in 2019 that a total of 115 Flint residents had died of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/interactive/how-we-found-dozens-of-uncounted-deaths-during-flint-water-crisis/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pneumonia</a> during the outbreak, suggesting deaths attributed to Legionnaire's had been undercounted, potentially by up to a factor of nearly 10.</p>
<p>Seven of the nine defendants — which include former state health and communications officials, former state-appointed emergency managers, and an ex-Flint public works manager — are staring down 5 to 15 years in prison for crimes including involuntary manslaughter and perjury. Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, however, only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/us/rick-snyder-flint-water-charges.html" target="_blank">faces</a> two relatively <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/ag/GJ_Indictment_-_Snyder_R_712955_7.pdf" target="_blank">minor counts</a> of willfully neglecting to intervene in his underlings' incompetence and failing to adequately protect the public against disaster.</p><p><span></span>In theory, Snyder could end up in prison for a year, and prosecutors say it is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rick-snyder-more-indictments-possible-flint-water-case-hammoud-says-2021-1" target="_blank">possible</a> he could face more charges. Without them, he would be getting off easy for being asleep at the wheel during one of the greatest instances of environmental injustice in recent American memory.</p><p>Or was he truly "asleep"? Snyder's excuse during the crisis and ever since is that he never knew enough to stop the falling dominoes of decisions and cover-ups happening underneath him. Yet plenty of circumstantial documentation begs the contrary.</p><p>The City of Flint switched its water supply to the Flint River in April 2014. Snyder <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-114hhrg25714/pdf/CHRG-114hhrg25714.pdf" target="_blank">testified</a> to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March of 2016, saying it was not until October 2015 that he learned that Flint's drinking water had dangerous levels of lead and not until early 2016 that he became aware of the Legionnaire's disease epidemic. "As soon as I became aware of it," Snyder said, "we held a press conference the next day."</p><p>However, Tim Walberg, a congressman from Michigan and member of the House Oversight Committee confronted his fellow Republican with documents indicating that senior state environmental and communications officials were emailing about concerns regarding a Legionnaire's outbreak in Flint back in March 2015.</p><p>The Detroit Free Press, <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/04/apnewsbreak-officials-warned-of-water-legionnaires-link/79828466/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reporting on documents obtained by Progress Michigan, </a>a watchdog group, cited a March 10, 2015, email from the environmental health supervisor of Genesee County, where Flint is the most populous city, saying that the dozens of Legionnaire's cases diagnosed at the time "closely corresponds with the timeframe of the switch to Flint River water." (The bacteria that causes Legionnaires is naturally occurring in many water systems across the country, and one water expert believes the switch over likely <a href="https://www.abc12.com/2021/01/13/water-expert-mclaren-flints-legionnaires-disease-problem-made-worse-by-flint-water-crisis/#:~:text=A%20total%20of%2090%20Legionnaires,by%20the%20water%20source%20switch." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">exacerbated an existing bacterial issue</a> with the supply.) The supervisor characterized the epidemic as a "significant and urgent public health issue" and said the information was "explicitly explained" to Snyder's environmental quality officials.</p><p>This month, the online investigative news site The Intercept <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/01/13/flint-michigan-rick-snyder-legionnaires/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">detailed a series of back-and-forth phone calls</a> dating back even earlier, to October 2014, between Snyder and his chief of staff Dennis Muchmore. Those calls occurred at the same time Muchmore was in dialogue with top state health officials, which included a phone call with someone at the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. A special prosecutor characterized that call as "presumably about the outbreak." That call took place more than a year before Snyder told Congress he had found out about the deadly bacteria.</p><p>That same month that General Motors realized that the switch away from the Huron River was corroding new engine parts at its Flint plant. How much logic — or humanity — should it have taken to proactively wonder what the water was doing to residents, especially children, given what it was doing to car parts?</p>
<p>The Detroit Free Press <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/26/flint-water-crisis-snyder-detroit/80926138/" target="_blank">reported</a> that Valerie Brader, senior policy adviser and deputy legal counsel to Snyder, wrote other top aides in an October 14, 2014, email that Flint's water was "an urgent matter to fix," and that the supply should switch back to Lake Huron water delivered via Detroit's regional system. Michael Gadola, then Snyder's chief legal counsel, <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2021/01/12/flint-water-rick-snyder-criminal-charges/6645359002/" target="_blank">responded</a>: "My Mom is a City resident. Nice to know she's drinking water with elevated chlorine levels and fecal coliform." Gadola, who today is a Michigan state appeals court judge, agreed Flint "should try to get back on the Detroit system as a stopgap ASAP before this thing gets too far out of control."</p><p>Yet somehow Snyder allegedly knew little or nothing of these discussions swirling about him. Two major reports have concluded the buck stopped with him. A Flint Water Task Force <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/snyder/FWATF_FINAL_REPORT_21March2016_517805_7.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>, which Snyder himself commissioned, said in 2016 that while the state's environmental agency bore "primary responsibility" for causing the Flint water crisis, Snyder bore "ultimate accountability" for decisions coming out of his office.</p><p>Then a 2018 <a href="https://www.debeaumont.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/FlintReport.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> by the University of Michigan's School of Public Health concluded Snyder bore "significant legal responsibility" for failing to heed citizen complaints at the outset of the crisis, issue a timely emergency declaration, and wrest control from negligent state environmental and health officials. "Flint residents' complaints were not hidden from the governor," the report's authors wrote. "He had a responsibility to listen and respond."</p><p>Snyder, however, has been so unscathed by what happened in Flint that Harvard's Kennedy School of Government <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/01/politics/rick-snyder-harvard-fellowship/index.html" target="_blank">awarded</a> him a prestigious research fellowship in 2019. But <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/01/backlash-ex-gov-rick-snyder-headed-harvard-fellowship/1617549001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">howls</a> from Flint, and an online protest <a href="https://www.change.org/p/people-who-care-about-human-rights-rescind-governor-snyder-s-harvard-kennedy-school-fellowship?signed=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">petition</a> started by a Kennedy School alum and signed by <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/03/snyder-turns-down-harvard-offer-amid-flint-backlash/1640119001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nearly 7,000</a> people forced Snyder <a href="https://apnews.com/article/b53327a6064c4266a7ee5ef8f5a2215e" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to withdraw from the fellowship</a> two days after it began.</p><p>The renewed spotlight on Snyder's role in the water crisis comes at a critical time for those who work for environmental justice. Newly inaugurated President Biden has, on paper, given it unprecedented prominence in his federal agenda. Many nominees for his Cabinet have <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/derrick-jackson/the-environmental-justice-movement-moves-front-and-center-in-the-biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">scored</a> significant victories for communities dealing with pollution, including his nominee for attorney general, Merrick Garland, who would oversee the creation of the first environmental and climate justice unit within the Department of Justice.</p><p>Snyder's blithe attitude about Flint symbolizes the urgency with which a Biden administration must make it clear to politicians and corporations that it is no longer business-as-usual to dump on poor people and communities made up predominately of people of color. At the federal level, Biden <a href="https://joebiden.com/environmental-justice-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">promises</a> a Justice Department that will "hold corporate executives personally accountable — including jail time where merited." That is a heavy lift in a nation where corporate executives largely continue to live large no matter how many faulty planes drop out of the sky, how many defective cars kill people, how many predatory banking practices cause people to lose their homes and life savings, and how many particles of pollution causes cancer and brain damage. CEOs might get fired, they might get fined, but they rarely face bars.</p><p>A <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3149&context=faculty_scholarship" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">paper</a> last year by legal scholars from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California noted "the near disappearance of individual liability, especially for top executives," in corporate crimes over the last decade. It concluded that "an enforcement regime that is limited in its ability to levy fines at an optimal level must rely on other forms of punishment — such as the imposition of liability on guilty individuals and the top executives who facilitate their crimes — to increase deterrence. Only then will corporate criminal punishment be seen as more than a cost of doing business."</p><p>Similarly, Cary Coglianese and Sierra Blazer of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, co-wrote <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/441216-putting-ceos-on-the-hook-can-boost-airplane-safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a 2019 op-ed in The Hill</a> during the height of the scandals surrounding Boeing, after two of its 737 Max planes crashed, killing 346 passengers and crew members. Donald Trump's Department of Justice had prosecuted lower-level technical pilots for fraud related to the federal approval process of the Max. "Prosecutions of lower-level employees would do nothing to assure the public that incentives at the very top of the organization align with passenger safety," the pair wrote.</p><p>This month, Trump's Justice Department <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/boeing-agrees-to-pay-25-billion-to-resolve-federal-criminal-charge-over-737-max-conspiracy/2021/01/07/4a090fdc-512d-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> a $2.5 billion settlement with Boeing over the fraud charges. No executive went to jail. Nadia Milleron, who lost her daughter, Samya Stumo, summed up the outcome for the Washington Post: "This is just a blip for Boeing."</p><p>To-date, the Flint water crisis has been a blip for Snyder. Environmental injustice nationally will also remain a blip, if governors and CEOs can keep throwing underlings under the bus while riding off in their limousines. As it now stands, the prosecution of lower-level employees will not assure Flint residents who live with the effects of being poisoned that the law is aligned with their safety.</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from the author and <a href="https://grist.org/justice/michigan-rick-snyder-flint-water-crisis/" target="_blank">Grist</a>.</em></p>
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Some 269 million people around the world indulged in drugs in 2018, according to the United Nations. PxHere / CC0
By Tim Schauenberg
Whether they smoked a joint on the couch or sniffed a line in a club, some 269 million people around the world indulged in drugs in 2018, according to the United Nations.
<p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/cocaine-opium-production-hits-record-highs-un/a-44408807" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cocaine production is at record levels</a>, opium has been on an upward trend for the past decade, the market for synthetic drugs is growing in the Netherlands and some countries are legalizing cannabis. In short, business is booming.</p><p>It is no secret that drug trafficking and cartel wars cost human lives but so far there has been little focus on how this global trade impacts the environment.</p>
Cannabis Vs. Potatoes: Which Has a Bigger Carbon Footprint?
<p>With 192 million users in 2018, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/global-marijuana-use-rose-by-60-percent-over-the-past-decade/a-49358921" target="_blank">cannabis is by far the most popular drug worldwide</a> — excluding alcohol and tobacco.</p><p>Efforts to legalize marijuana are continuing to gather pace in the United States, where the drug has already become a billion-dollar market. But cultivating the plants in greenhouses, with optimum light, ventilation and temperature, guzzles an enormous amount of resources.</p><p>According to estimates, cannabis production in the U.S. already accounts for around <a href="https://www.swansea.ac.uk/media/Environmental-Impacts-of-the-Legalization-of-Cannabis-in-California.pdf" target="_blank">1% of the country's total energy consumption</a>.</p><p>"Within a single year, approximately 16.5 tons of carbon dioxide are emitted in the United States as the result of indoor cannabis production, equivalent to the annual emissions of 3 million cars," according to a <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4w64g29s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report by the University of California, Davis.</a></p><p>That means that a single joint has a similar carbon footprint to about 6.6 pounds of potatoes.</p>Cannabis Plants Add to Water Stress
<p>Cannabis is also an extremely thirsty plant, needing twice as much water as tomatoes or grapes.</p><p>About 70% of the cannabis consumed across the country is grown in California. Such large-scale cultivation of a crop that requires up to 6 gallons of water per day per plant has only intensified the region's water shortages during dry seasons.</p><p>Scientists from the Californian Department of Fisheries and Wildlife estimate that illegal outdoor cultivation has lowered the water level in some flowing streams by up to a quarter.</p>Clearing Forests to Plant Coca
<p>The ecological footprint of the world's <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/2020-may-set-eu-record-for-cocaine-seizures/a-54585695" target="_blank">19 million cocaine users</a> is particularly apparent in Latin America. According to the United Nations, <a href="https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf" target="_blank">Colombia had the potential to produce 1,120 tons of pure cocaine in 2018</a> — a record crop for the South American country.</p><p>Since 2001, about 741,000,000 acres of forest have been cleared for the cultivation of coca — the plant that produces cocaine. </p><p>Following a temporary decline, "we can see actually the same peak of coca that we were watching 20 years ago," Paulo Sandoval, a geographer at the University of Oregon, told DW.</p><p>Sandoval's latest satellite data shows that around 123,000 acres of coca are currently being cultivated in Colombia's Amazon region alone — about half of it in nature reserves that are home to a rich diversity of species.</p><p>But the plantations he surveyed account for only 20% of the total cultivated area.</p>Colombia's Approach 'Harms' the Environment
<p>Until now, the Colombian government has relied on a strategy of eradication in its fight against coca cultivation. As part of its campaign, aircraft sprayed plantations with the highly concentrated herbicide glyphosate. This method effectively destroyed many coca plantations, but it also damaged neighboring forests and farmland.</p><p>Elizabeth Tellman, a geographer at Columbia University's Earth Institute in New York, says this approach harms rather than helps the environment. And once the fields are destroyed, the cartels simply clear more forests elsewhere and plant new coca crops.</p><p>"We do know that it [the destruction of cultivated areas] has not only had no effect (...) it's been really counterproductive," she told DW in an interview. </p><p>Coca leaves aren't just grown in the jungle; they're also processed into cocaine in secret laboratories there. This process requires highly toxic chemicals such as ammonia, acetone and hydrochloric acid. Scientists estimate that several million liters of these substances end up in soils and rivers each year. There are now few aquatic plants or animals living in those contaminated waters, according to a 2015 EU report.</p>MDMA, Ecstasy and Co.
<p>So-called party drugs — from pills to a line of powder in a nightclub bathroom — have grown in popularity in recent years.</p><p>The Netherlands and Belgium are <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/dutch-police-find-netherlands-largest-cocaine-lab/a-54529270" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hotspots for synthetic drugs</a>. The production of a kilo of pure MDMA, the main substance in ecstasy, results in 10 kilos (22 pounds) of toxic waste — or 30 kilos (66 pounds) in the case of amphetamines. This might include sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acids and acetone, substances that would normally have to be disposed of as hazardous waste using protective suits.</p><p>The Dutch Water Research Institute (KWR) estimates that in 2017, around 7,000 tons of these substances were either dumped somewhere in drums or leaked into the ground and rivers. "That's unbelievable," says Eric Emke, a scientist at the KWR.</p><p><a href="https://nos.nl/artikel/2264440-politie-ontmantelt-drugslab-in-rijen-dit-was-heel-erg-gevaarlijk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A report aired by Dutch public broadcaster NOS</a> showed just how abrasive these liquids can be. In it, a scientist immerses a chicken leg in a yellow sodium hydroxide solution. After two days, the meat has completely dissolved, leaving just the bone behind.</p><p>Emke says the waste is sometimes dumped into containers used to collect cattle excrement, becoming mixed with the dung that is spread on corn crops.</p><p>"And so five years ago, they discovered amphetamine and ecstasy residues in corn lice."</p><p>Jeremy Douglas, the regional representative of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime for Southeast Asia, says Thailand, Laos and Myanmar have also become a hub for "industrial scale" global synthetic drug production in recent years.</p><p><span></span>"The spillover damage to groundwater and habitats is severe, and frankly it is nothing short of an ecological and public health disaster," he said.</p>Groundwater Sinking in Afghanistan
<p>Around 337,000 football fields, or 23 times the size of Paris — that's the amount of land that was used to cultivate opium worldwide in 2019, according to the UN. The main producers are Myanmar, Mexico and Afghanistan — which accounts for 84% of global cultivation.</p><p>Poppy fields spread mainly across the country's southwest in areas where, until the 1990s, there was nothing but arid desert. Today, some 1.4 million people live there, making a living from cultivating opium and agriculture. That's all possible thanks to more than 50,000 solar-powered water pumps that have greened the desert. But that is not as green as it sounds.</p><p><a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/2006E-When-the-Water-Runs-Out.pdf" target="_blank">A report by socio-economist David Mansfield</a> found that the region's groundwater is sinking by 9.8 feet per year. Wells as deep as 426 feet are now being drilled to find water.</p><p>"Each year, more people are arriving in the desert and installing solar deep wells. There are local fears that there will fast become a time when agricultural production will no longer be viable."</p><p>The poppy farmers also use chemical fertilizers and strong pesticides to control weeds. Groundwater tests have shown that nitrate levels are significantly higher than what is deemed safe. This can increase the risk of blue-baby syndrome, which leads to heart defects and death in newborns.</p><p>Mansfield warns that if water in the region does eventually run out, it will likely force large numbers of people from their homes, sparking a rural exodus.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Residential solar energy companies are helping more and more homeowners upgrade their properties to clean energy sources. Solar energy companies can equip you with the technology you need to harness the amazing power of the sun and reduce your need for fossil fuels. In this article, we'll review some of the most trustworthy providers and installers of solar power.
Our picks for the best solar companies
The first step in the process is researching some of the top companies in the solar industry. Here are the ones that stood out in our research.
Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
How we chose the best solar energy companies
How did we determine which solar power companies to recommend?
To begin with, we took a deep dive into each company's offerings, assessing them for the following criteria:
- Range of services offered
- Pricing/affordability and financing options
- Extent of service area
- Solar panel efficiency
- Warranty
- Temperature coefficient (e.g., how much high temperatures affect efficiency)
Additionally, we weighed membership and certification by professional associations like the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Affiliation with these groups is a good indicator that a solar energy company is reputable, and that their work is up to the highest standards within the industry.
The best solar energy companies
With these criteria in mind, consider our picks for the best solar panel providers and installers in the industry.
SunPower
If you're looking for a company that can walk you through the process of upgrading to solar power for an easy and convenient experience, look no further than to SunPower. The company offers:
- A "design studio" app, allowing you to safely and seamlessly design your own solar power system so that you can see a visual of what the finished product will look like once installed.
- Online calculators that make it easy for you to determine about how much electricity you will save once you upgrade to solar panels.
- Virtual consultations, allowing you to chat one-on-one with a solar power expert and to ask any questions you might have.
SunPower offers leading solar panels and energy storage technology to homeowners across dozens of states. And, they are also the preferred solar partner of many major businesses, including Walmart, FedEx, and Lowes.
Why buy: SunPower is a reliable solar energy company with an impressive tech portfolio and an extremely easy, intuitive process.
SunRun
Upgrading to solar power can seem a little intimidating, but SunRun is out to bring simplicity. Their approach makes it extremely straightforward to select a custom solar energy plan for your household. Here's what to know about SunRun:
- They offer virtual consultations with solar energy experts, making it simple to explore your options and determine which solar set-up is right for your home energy needs.
- Each system they design is completely customized to address the customer's needs. SunRun doesn't do "one size fits all" solar equipment options.
- Their guarantee, the best in the industry, offers extraordinary peace of mind that your solar system will prove durable and reliable.
- SunRun also leads in terms of flexible financing options, making solar power accessible and affordable.
Why buy: With SunRun, the name of the game is customization. This is one of the best solar installation companies to turn to for solar power solutions that are truly made with you in mind.
Tesla
You probably associate Tesla with their electric vehicles, but did you know that the company also produces high-efficiency solar panels? Depending on your needs and your budget, Tesla can hook you up with an array of solar panels or even a solar roof, making it easy to cut electricity costs and power your home via the sun's vital energy.
Some fast facts about choosing solar power from Tesla:
- They offer a price match guarantee and affordable financing options.
- Their advanced solar panel technology offers a low profile, a sleek style, and long-term durability.
- Home battery backups allow you to save solar power and then access it on demand, whenever you need it.
Why buy: Tesla offers sophisticated solar products for what the company claims is the lowest price of any national provider, which they back with a price-match guarantee. Plus, all of their solar panels come with a solid 25-year performance guarantee.
LG
LG is another well-known tech company that is also a leader in solar energy. Some of their solar panels use a bifacial solar module that captures energy from two directions to increase their efficiency. While they are a solar panel manufacturer, they can also help you with the installation process by finding an LG Pro installer in your area.
- They offer an online "solar concierge" service that allows you to evaluate your home energy needs and to compare different options for going solar.
- LG offers a 25-year warranty, not only on their technology but also on the work their of their solar installers.
- They offer a range of solar panels and supporting products, and they supply you with plenty of information to make a fully informed choice.
Why buy: LG is a company that knows technological innovation. Their award-winning solar energy products are reliably efficient, well-priced, and designed for maximum efficiency.
Panasonic
Panasonic has one of the most impressive tech portfolios in the solar energy industry. Their products boast some of the highest conversion efficiency rates, along with the lowest degradation rates. And they back everything with a generous warranty.
Some additional reasons to choose Panasonic:
- They offer a range of solar panels to choose from. With Panasonic, you'll find that you have plenty of options.
- They also provide a lot of great online support and consumer education, ensuring you'll get the most out of your solar technology.
Why buy: Panasonic is a solar panel company with products that are tough to beat. Both their pricing and warranties are very appealing, and their HIT high-performance solar panels offer some of the best power conversion rates of any product.
Vivint
Vivint is a company that offers a full spectrum of services, including solar power consultation, design, and installation. A few reasons why homeowners trust their solar power needs to the Vivint team:
- Everything Vivint does is customized. They tailor everything to fit your roof and to help you achieve your home energy goals.
- They make the entire process simple, handling all of the little details for you. This includes securing permits, filing the right paperwork, etc.
- They emphasize safety, using only the highest caliber of solar panels and backing everything with a world-class warranty.
Why buy: Vivint is noteworthy for their focus on customization, their commitment to safety, and their one-stop-shop solar power solutions. In addition to solar panel installation, they also offer other specialized technology, including solar-powered electric vehicle chargers.
Enphase
Enphase is another company that stands out, both for their robust technology as well as for their commitment to customization. Their microinverter technology makes their solar system safer by reducing the likelihood of arc fault fires.
- They design their solar technology with safety in mind, including fire safeguards that other companies can't match.
- Their solar panels are built for durability and can hold up even through the most extreme kinds of weather.
- Enphase uses smart technology to update itself; all you need to do is connect it to your home Internet.
- They also have one of the best apps in the solar industry, making it simple to monitor your home energy use.
Why buy: Enphase is a company of innovators, and their solar portfolio has a lot to offer. Their system is also modular, meaning you can easily add more panels to your system as you need them.
Canadian Solar
This solar power provider has won recognition not just for their excellent technology, but also for their sincere commitment to sustainability and to ecological stewardship. And don't let the name throw you off: Though Canadian Solar is based in Canada, they provide solar power solutions in the U.S. and other countries.
Some additional facts about Canadian Solar:
- They offer a wide range of products, from energy converters to storage solutions.
- Their solar panels boast exceedingly high energy efficiency rates.
- Canadian Solar has won a number of awards for its first-class innovations, and one of their products even set a world record for conversion efficiency in 2020.
Why buy: This company has a proven track record of technological excellence, plus a real commitment to ecological stewardship. They also closely monitor their supply chain to ensure that no goods or materials used in their products come from prohibited forms of labor.
First Solar
First Solar boasts an impressive track record of advocacy for solar power and for renewable energy sources. And, thankfully, they back their advocacy with some excellent solar technologies.
A few reasons to choose First Solar solar panels:
- Their technology offers an outstanding temperature coefficient, meaning they won't lose performance during high temperatures.
- Their solar cells are among the most reliable and most efficient in the clean energy sector.
- First Solar also offers a lot of post-purchase, post-installation help, as needed.
Why buy: First Solar is a great option for anyone who's serious about renewable energy, and who wants the best performance from their solar panels.
Go Solar
The biggest drawback to Go Solar is that, right now, their work is limited to just a few states. But if you happen to live in that part of the country, you're in luck. Go Solar's panels are uniquely calibrated to take advantage of the western region's abundant sunlight. Some additional reasons to pick Go Solar include:
- They offer free home solar assessments.
- They custom-design solar systems to meet the needs of your home.
- They have some of the most trusted installers in the solar power industry.
Why buy: For solar solutions that are tailored to the climate of the American West, definitely consider Go Solar. Plus, with their Give Solar International partnership, they give an equivalent solar panel system to a family in Uganda for each system sold.
How does a solar energy system work?
As you explore the different options for embracing solar power, it may be helpful to have a baseline understanding of how solar energy systems actually function.
Generally speaking, solar energy systems involve solar panels installed on your roof. These panels absorb the sun's energy, storing it in what are known as photovoltaic cells. These cells convert the solar energy into direct current (DC) energy, then use an inverter to convert that DC energy into alternate current (AC) electricity. AC electricity is what you need to power all your home appliances.
It's important to note that, before you purchase solar panels, it's worthwhile to meet with a solar energy consultant who can tell you more about how many panels your home will require, and also to let you know how those panels should be ideally positioned on the roof.
One more note: If you're concerned about the affordability of solar power, it's important to remember that most solar energy companies provide a host of options, including flexible financing and solar lease options for a system rather than purchase it outright. As you talk with different solar energy companies, don't hesitate to inquire about these leasing and financing options.
Benefits of solar energy
Installing solar panels on your home can yield a number of benefits. Here are just a few examples.
Cleaner energy
One of the main reasons why homeowners choose to install solar cells is that it allows them to truly embrace clean energy sources. Rather than depend on fossil fuels and power plants, you can power your home with renewable energy that comes straight from the sun. This can be a highly effective way to minimize your environmental footprint.
Solar tax credits and rebates
There are a number of ways in which choosing renewable energy can save you money, starting with the fact that there are so many rebates and tax credits available. Essentially, both the federal government and many state governments want to encourage people to "go green" as much as possible, and they will make it worth your while by allowing you to claim these important tax incentives. Some utility companies also offer rebates that can help pay for the upfront costs of solar projects.
Lower electricity bills
Of course, embracing solar power will also help you save money by slashing your electricity bills. Most solar energy companies offer online calculators that allow you to see for yourself how much money you'll save over time, simply by changing to a renewable energy source. There is also an option called a power purchase agreement (PPA) that can allow you to host a solar or renewable energy system from a utility provider in exchange for lowered energy rates. If your solar panel system generates excess energy, the utility will then purchase that energy from you in the form of a net metering credit on your bill.
Make a smart choice about solar power
There are obviously a lot of perks to choosing solar energy for your home. And yet, it can also be a rather daunting process, simply because there are so many solar energy companies to choose from.
Using our guidelines and rankings, start doing your due diligence, seeking the solar power company that's right for you. Remember to look for a company that's well-regarded within the industry and get a consultation before you buy. Always be sure to ask some direct questions about the financing options that are available to you.
Josh Hurst is a journalist, critic, and essayist. He lives in Knoxville, TN, with his wife and three sons. His writing on natural health, nutrition, and supplements has appeared in Health, Shape, and Remedy Review.
Khalaktyrsky beach in the eastern Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy in 2018. Yuri Smityuk / TASS / Getty Images
By Charli Shield
Local authorities in the eastern Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy have been warning people against visiting the nearby Khalaktyrsky beach, after surfers complained of partially losing their eyesight and experiencing headaches, fevers and nausea when venturing into the water.
<p>"I noticed the ocean had a strange taste and didn't smell like it usually does. My eyes hurt, I had a dry, scratchy throat and my body itched horribly," Anton Morozov, founder of local surfing school, Snowave, told DW.</p><p>He and his team first noticed their symptoms in early September, but didn't associate them with the ocean until later in the month, when they reported them to the authorities.</p><p>Since then, images of dead octopuses, seals, sea urchins and starfish littered along the beach have been shared on social media, with some beachgoers saying <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/hundreds-of-dead-dolphins-washed-up-on-french-coast/a-52537366" target="_blank">dead fish</a> look as if they have been boiled.</p>
Local Authorities Investigate Three Causes
<p>The authorities took samples from the ocean, where by the end of September, Morozov said a "yellowish-greenish liquid" had appeared along a 20 to 30-kilometer (12-18-mile) stretch of the shoreline.</p><p>Local investigators are now looking into three main reasons for the water pollution, including a toxic spill, volcanic activity in the area and naturally occurring deadly <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/biggest-ever-seaweed-bloom-stretches-from-gulf-of-mexico-to-africa/a-49480178" target="_blank">algal blooms</a>, governor of the Kamchatka region, Vladimir Solodov, told a press conference on Monday.</p><p>On a video posted to Instagram, the governor said the situation was normalizing due to the ocean's unique ability to self-regenerate.</p><p>"As I said, we will push for a full and meticulous investigation of the reasons behind what happened, but now we can observe that the situation has significantly improved in the past few days."</p><p>The region's natural resources minister, Alexei Kumarkov, said tests on samples had thus far only detected unusually high levels of the chemical phenol and oil products in the water.</p><p>However, later on Monday, Russia's Natural Resources Minister said that the pollution was unlikely to be manmade, the RIA news agency reported.</p><p>Ecology Minister Dmitry Kobylkin said that so far research had only uncovered slightly raised levels of iron and phosphates.</p><p>He also said that the incident might have been prompted by the stormy conditions recently experienced in the region of eastern Russia. </p>Little Evidence for Oil Spill
<p>Environmentalist Dmitry Lisitsyn, head of local NGO <a href="https://bankwatch.org/office/sakhalin-environmental-watch" target="_blank">Sakhalin Environmental Watch</a>, told DW there have been no visible signs of oil on the surface of the water, and the bottom-dwelling sea creatures that have been found dead are not normally linked to oil spills.</p><p>"Petroleum products are lighter than water — they form a film at the top of the water, which mainly kills birds. Oil products aren't poisonous enough to kill such a huge amount of animals," he said.</p><p>Nicky Cariglia, an independent marine pollution advisor, said <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mauritius-oil-spill-disaster-tanker/a-48095315" target="_blank">oil spill events</a> are often "very obvious", and that though in some cases it is possible for spills of very light oil to kill marine animals that live on the sea floor, oil tends to float on the surface of the water.</p><p>"The first thing you see when you have an <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mauritius-oil-spill-compensation-pay/a-54725675" target="_blank">oil spill</a> is the presence of oil — whether it's crude oil or bunker oil or even lighter types of oil," she told DW.</p><p>As to the high concentrations of phenol in the water, Cariglia said it is not enough to indicate whether the event is a result of human activity or a naturally occurring phenomenon.</p><p>"High levels of phenol concentration can result from land-based runoff — if there have been, for example, a lot of fires — or from harmful algal blooms, or also from other decomposing organic materials," she said.</p>Deeper Research Needed
<p>Lisitsyn is "convinced" the water pollution is linked to a leak of decades-old expired rocket fuel from the Radygino military base located 10 kilometers from Khalaktyrsky beach.</p><p>"It's very likely that the waste disposal site there started to leak, maybe the storage tanks broke and a large amount of rocket fuel was washed into the ocean," Lisitsyn told DW, speculating that the noxious liquid could have been washed into the ocean during a cyclone that hit the area on September 9.</p><p>He says it is now up to authorities to launch a thorough investigation into the source of the contamination, which includes determining whether there is an ongoing leak.</p><p>"The military base needs to be examined, as do the storage locations and all the streams of water that flow down from it into the ocean," he said, adding that the components of rocket fuel are carcinogenic and that if it were spilling uncontained into the ocean, it could have long-term effects — not just for marine life.</p><p>"They are very harmful to people. I wouldn't recommend walking along this beach or breathing in the fumes there."</p>From Your Site Articles
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German towns like Ulrichstein, pictured, are experiencing water shortages due to wells running dry. Dirk Schmidt / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
By Wolfgang Dick
Despite the lush, verdant nature that surrounds the German town of Ulrichstein, residents here — and in the region — suffer from acute water shortages.
<p>Ulrichstein Mayor Edwin Schneider, meanwhile, is deeply concerned by his town's dire water shortage. "I never thought we would be affected like this," he told DW, even though he had heard about similar situations in surrounding regions of the state of Hesse. Other areas — from the northwestern state of Lower Saxony to municipalities in the country's east — have also reported water shortages.</p><p>For the last 100 years, the people of Ulrichstein have sourced their water from six wells that are only two to three meters deep. In recent times, these have almost dried up, delivering a mere four cubic meters of water per hour — just half of what the town of 3,000 needs. Unlike other parts of the country, where dams are used to divert drinking water to settlements, this option is not available here. The people of Ulrichstein, like 70% of people in German municipalities, must rely on groundwater.</p>
Digging Deep From Drinking Water
<p>Instead, a drilling company is set in the coming weeks to try to tap into the groundwater below the town. Water that the firm insists is there — despite criticism from geologists who say groundwater levels below Ulrichstein, the highest permanent settlement in the state at 614 meters (2,014 feet) above sea level, are insufficient for the town's needs.</p>Many Reasons for Water Shortages
<p>Schneider said the reason for his town's water shortages has to do with its geographical location. Due to the Rhine Weser watershed, he said, "water just keeps draining away, and winters have become quite mild in these parts."</p><p>This means groundwater is not being replenished during the winter months. The situation is complicated further because the nearby city of Frankfurt also taps into the local groundwater, sourcing one-third of its requirements — some 40 million cubic meters — from this region.</p><p>"I got quite angry when Frankfurt asked its residents to water the city's trees during one hot summer," the mayor admitted.</p><p>A €150,000 ($177,000) trial showed no groundwater the Ulrichstein could tap into at a depth of 120 meters. However, the drilling company found water at a depth of 200 meters. The well, which cost some €800,000 ($944,000) to drill, will only serve as an interim solution as there is not as much water as the officials hoped for, and no one knows how long before it dries up.</p><p>The municipal council is looking into alternatives to source drinking water. For this purpose, it has modernized two of its eight water treatment plants at a cost of €2 million ($2.4 million). Ulrichstein is also considering installing a 4.5-kilometer canal to the next town to source water. This endeavor, however, carries a €650,000 ($767,000) price tag.</p><p>Ultimately, the municipality decides to hire a logistics company to make six deliveries of 60,000 liters (15,850 gallons) of water each day by truck. Locals are also urged to use the precious resource sparingly by abstaining from watering their lawns or otherwise using water unnecessarily.</p>High Cost of Water
<p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/innovative-clean-water-technologies/a-45287950" target="_blank">Whatever option the town chooses</a>, residents will be facing higher water bills.</p><p>Local businessman Klaus Kraft is especially hard-hit by the water shortage. He has been running a laundromat for years. Each day, his business consumes about 12 cubic meters of water, less than half the 30 liters (8 gallons) it used to require. But, he said, he cannot hike up prices as this would hurt his business. Currently, sourcing and disposing of one cubic meter of drinking water costs about €10 ($12) — roughly three times what residents in other German cities pay.</p><p>A woman who has lived in the town for many years said she noticed the water shortages three years ago. "One day, the water pressure just dropped off," she said, adding that the town's calls for residents to use water sparingly are being ignored by many.</p><p>One of the more recent and visible culprits is private swimming pools appearing in many residents' backyards. According to Germany's Swimming Pool and Wellness Association, a growing number of Germans are deciding to install their own pools. One reason for this is that people who are <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/meet-the-germans-live-summer-and-vacations-in-germany/a-54081551" target="_blank">traveling less during this pandemic want to have a nice time relaxing at home</a>.</p>Gloomy Predictions
<p>Karsten Rinke, a biologist with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, says Germans will have to prepare for future water shortages. At least technological innovations and water conservation efforts have reduced the average daily water consumption in Germany from 147 to 123 liters (39 to 32 gallons) per person, says the researcher. But Germany's Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) reports that climate predictions paint a gloomy picture of the future. It warns that people in some parts of Germany could soon face problems sourcing drinking water.</p><p>German Environmental Minister Svenja Schulze has scheduled a "water summit" for spring 2021 to discuss this worrying situation with federal, state and local representatives. She wants to devise a comprehensive strategy to tackle the country's water shortage.</p>
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Gina Luster, 42, and her daughter Kennedy Luster, 8, stand at a now-defunct water fountain in downtown Flint, Michigan on October 11, 2016. Brittany Greeson / For The Washington Post / Getty Images
The state of Michigan has reached a settlement with the victims of the Flint water crisis. Michigan agreed to pay $600 million, which will primarily benefit the city's children since they were most affected by the lead-tainted water, The Washington Post reported.
<p>The settlement will be officially announced on Friday. It is expected that tens of thousands of residents will be eligible for compensation, which is subject to approval by a federal judge in Michigan, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/flint-water-crisis-settlement.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have been entrenched in negotiations with lawyers for more than 18 months on behalf of the thousands of Flint residents who filed a lawsuit against the state, the <a href="https://www.apnews.com/be582ed788a70a2bb5ab29cd1132558e" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>The issue in the case dates back to 2014, when Flint city officials changed the city's water supply source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The decision was made under the leadership of a state-appointed emergency manager who overlooked safety precautions. This resulted in chemicals and lead leaching into Flint's drinking water through corroded pipes, <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/512856-michigan-to-pay-600m-to-victims-of-flint-water-crisis" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p>
<p>At the time, residents began to complain about discolored and foul-smelling water. Soon after that, residents reported skin rashes, but their concerns were ignored. Local pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha warned that abnormally high lead levels were appearing in children. Lead poisoning can severely harm brain development, The Washington Post reported.</p><p>Flint's water source is once again supplied by Lake Huron, but many residents continue to cook, drink and brush their teeth with bottled water. In 2016, researchers said there were no longer detectable levels of lead in many homes, according to the AP.</p><p>However, Flint's necessary pipe repairs remain unfinished. The repairs were supposed to be made by January, but were paused in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reported.</p>
<p>Mayor Sheldon Neeley said the repairs are almost done.</p><p>The Washington Post reviewed the settlement and reported that 80 percent of the award is earmarked for Flint residents who were younger than 18 at the time of exposure, with more than half of that amount slotted for children who were under 6 at the time. The remainder of the settlement will go to plaintiffs who experienced lost revenue from property damage because of the water crisis.</p><p>Anyone living in Flint between 2014 and 2016 may be eligible for part of the settlement. The payments are expected to start next spring, and individual amounts will be in proportion to the plaintiff's degree of suffering, The New York Times reported.</p>
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New Zealand Glacier Has Lost Enough Ice to Provide Country Drinking Water for Three Years
25 June 2020
Science
Brewster Glacier, located in Mount Aspiring National Park (pictured) on New Zealand's South Island, lost 13 million cubic meters of ice between 2016 and 2019. s_porter01 / Getty Images
By Elliot Douglas
A glacier in New Zealand is believed to have lost so much ice over the last three years that it could provide drinking water for every resident of the country over the same period, a research institute announced Wednesday.
<p>Scientists say the Brewster Glacier on the South Island lost 13 million cubic meters of ice between 2016 and 2019, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said.</p>
<div id="22eb9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4bc4a2abe0354b0319705f9b496058af"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1275550783556038656" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Since 2016 enough ice has melted from just one South Island #glacier to meet the drinking water needs of all NZers… https://t.co/ELLQoE4ygV</div> — NIWA (@NIWA)<a href="https://twitter.com/niwa_nz/statuses/1275550783556038656">1592949980.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Over the past few years, our observations of extreme and variable conditions highlight strong impacts on water — which is arguably our most precious natural resource," said NIWA climate scientist Andrew Lorrey.</p><p>The Southern Alps range has lost more than 15.9 trillion liters of water, which is about the amount today's population of New Zealand would use in 40 years. This constitutes around 30% of the range's ice volume.</p>
'The Path to Extinction'
<p>Damage sustained by some glaciers between 2018 and 2019 may place them on the path to extinction, Lorrey explained.</p><p>Marine heatwaves and record temperatures impacted snow lines. Ash from the recent Australian bush fires also blanketed some of the ice, increasing the potential for more melting as the ash absorbs more solar radiation.</p><p>It could take 20 or 30 years of improvement in snow cover before scientists could "even start to consider whether the recent damage can be reversed to any degree," Lorrey said.</p>From Your Site Articles
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An aerial view shows Lake Mead in Nevada on January 2, 2020. Daniel SLIM / AFP / Getty Images
By Brett Walton
Use of Colorado River water in the three states of the river's lower basin fell to a 33-year low in 2019, amid growing awareness of the precarity of the region's water supply in a drying and warming climate.
<p class=""><br/></p>
<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/844750342&color=ff5500&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_teaser=false"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/circleofblue" title="Circle of Blue" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Circle of Blue</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/circleofblue/drop-in-colorado-river-water-use" title="Drop In Colorado River Water Use" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Drop In Colorado River Water Use</a></div>
<p>Arizona, California, and Nevada combined to consume just over 6.5 million acre-feet last year, according to an <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/4200Rpts/DecreeRpt/2019/2019.pdf" target="_blank">annual audit</a> from the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that oversees the lower basin. That is about 1 million acre-feet less than the three states are entitled to use under a legal compact that divides the Colorado River's waters.</p><p>The last time water consumption from the river was that low was in 1986, the year after an enormous canal in Arizona opened that allowed the state to lay claim to its full Colorado River entitlement.</p><p>States have grappled in the last two decades with declining water levels in the basin's main reservoirs — Mead and Powell — while reckoning with clear scientific evidence that climate change is <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6483/1252.full" target="_blank">already constricting the iconic river</a> and will do further damage as temperatures rise.</p><p>For water managers, the steady drop in water consumption in recent years is a signal that conservation efforts are working and that they are not helpless in the face of daunting environmental changes.</p>
<p>"It's quite a turnaround from where we were a decade ago and really, I think, optimistic for dealing with chronic shortages on the river in the future, knowing that we can turn the dial back and reduce demand significantly, all three states combined," said Bill Hasencamp, the manager of Colorado River resources for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a regional wholesaler and one of the river's largest users.</p><p>Observers of the basin's intricate politics are also impressed with the trend lines for a watershed that irrigates about 5 million acres of farmland and provides 40 million people in two countries and 29 tribal nations with a portion of their water.</p><p>"It is an incredibly important demonstration of the fact that we can use less water in this incredibly important water-use region," John Fleck told Circle of Blue. Fleck is the director of the University of New Mexico water resources program.</p><p>Projections for 2020 indicate that conservation will continue, though not quite at last year's pace. Halfway through the year, the <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/forecast.pdf" target="_blank">Bureau of Reclamation forecasts</a> water consumption to be roughly 6.8 million acre-feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water that will flood an acre of land to a depth of one foot, or 325,851 gallons.</p><p>"I have to give them credit," Jennifer Gimbel, a senior water policy scholar at Colorado State University, told Circle of Blue about the lower basin states. "They're working hard to get these numbers."</p>
Raising Lake Mead
<p>Just five years ago, in 2015, the three states were making use of their entire 7.5-million-acre-foot allotment. By statute and tradition, the basin is divided into a lower basin, where use is higher, and an upper basin, which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The basins have different water allocation systems and rules governing its use.</p><p>In the lower basin, Arizona's annual allocation is 2.8 million acre-feet, but last year it used just 2.5 million. Nevada used 233,000 of its 300,000 acre-feet. The big savings were in California, which used only 3.8 million of its 4.4 million acre-feet. California hasn't used that little water from the Colorado since the 1950s, Fleck said.</p><p>The drop in California last year is due in large part to Metropolitan Water District, which consumed only 537,000 acre-feet. Five years ago, the district's tally was around 1 million acre-feet per year. Urban conservation and development of local water sources have played a large role in the decline, but the district's Colorado River water use is also influenced by snow levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains. When more water is available to be imported from the northern part of the state, as it was last year, the district leans less heavily on the Colorado River.</p>Total Lower Colorado Basin Consumptive Use
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxMTU1OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzM0NDYxM30.RVr3Rzi1jqZHweILfonMU8SWs_LGJBGqg9lMiQ-jrVY/img.png?width=980" id="d31ab" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="15ef390e64a1be66991bfd26b0f0fee5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="825" data-height="649" /><p>Reclamation's annual audit measures the amount of water consumed by humans, plants, and animals in the lower basin. Consumptive use equals total withdrawals minus any water that is returned to the river system, from irrigation runoff or wastewater treatment plants.</p><p>As meticulous as it is, the audit neglects a significant piece of the basin's water budget: evaporation from reservoirs and system losses, which is water consumed by riverside vegetation and absorbed by the ground. Together, these add up to about 1 million acre-feet per year, Jeremy Dodds, water accounting and verification group manager for Reclamation, told Circle of Blue.</p><p>This factor is part of the lower basin's "structural deficit," which means that total demand in the lower basin — use by Arizona, California, and Nevada, plus evaporation and required deliveries to Mexico — exceeds the amount of water that flows into Lake Mead, the lower basin's supply source.</p><p>Gimbel, who was the principal deputy assistant secretary for water and science for the U.S. Department of Interior from 2014 to 2016, said that despite the conservation efforts reflected in the audit, the lower basin still has much work to do. "They're closing the deficit, but they're not there yet," she said.</p><p>The goal of the lower basin's conservation is to keep Lake Mead from a precipitous decline into "dead pool" territory, where the reservoir is too low to send water downstream. The dead-pool threshold is at elevation 895 feet. Not using 1 million acre-feet last year most certainly helped the reservoir. Dodds said that at the current elevation of 1,089 feet, each block of 85,000 acre-feet equals 1 foot of elevation. So last year's conservation added 12 feet to Mead, compared to a scenario in which the three states use their full entitlement.</p><p>The conservation tool box that the states have employed has a range of instruments. Cities have provided incentives to remove grass lawns and replace inefficient toilets, showerheads, and washing machines. In Imperial Irrigation District, farmers have lined earthen canals with concrete to prevent seepage and they have agreed to fallow land to save water. Those measures, in both town and country, have helped to reduce demand. Supplies, on the other hand, have been bolstered by more investment in recycling and reuse, groundwater treatment, and desalination. As a whole, the seven states in the watershed came together in 2019 to modify rules for mandatory water-use restrictions that kick in as Lake Mead drops.</p><p>The decline in Colorado River water consumption mirrors regional and national trends. In Metropolitan Water District's service area in Southern California, water use per person fell from about 181 gallons per person per day in the mid-1990s to 131 gallons in 2018, a drop of 27 percent. Colorado River consumption on the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation, in Arizona, is down about 20 percent since 2016.</p>
<p>According to Tom Ley, a water consultant to the tribes, the decline is due to changes in farming practices and participation in a land fallowing program that will see 10,000 acres taken out of production in the next three years. The tribes' decrease in consumptive water use "may look even more dramatic once the 2020 report comes out," Ley told Circle of Blue.<br></p><p>All of these actions amount to a shift in the perception of what's possible, Fleck said.</p><p>"It shows that the expectation that a growing population and a robust agricultural economy require more water is wrong," explained Fleck, who is optimistic about the basin's capacity to wield the tools of conservation effectively. Environmental doom is not the inevitable outcome, he says. "We're seeing success in the transition away from the tragedy narrative," he added.</p><p>Still, there are minefields to navigate. There are dozens of proposals in the upper basin states to withdraw more water from the river, which, if they were built, would further stress supplies. Some of the water conserved in Lake Mead is stored as a credit that participating agencies can theoretically draw upon in the future. How agencies handle those withdrawals, especially if large requests are made as lake levels plummet, is an uncertainty. On top of that, a warming climate will suck more moisture from the basin, even before rain and snow reach the river.</p><p>A hot, dry spring this year in the upper basin is evidence of what aridity can do. Snowpack in the basin's headwaters was roughly average on April 1 and runoff into Lake Powell, a key water supply indicator, was expected to be 78 percent of normal. But then dry conditions arrived in April and May. Combined with dehydrated soils, which took their share of water, the runoff forecast by June 1 had diminished to just 57 percent of normal.</p><p>Those climate signals are the counterbalance to the conservation success so far. Water managers, now wary, know the risk.</p><p>"Just hopefully we don't get a string of dry years coming back," Hasencamp said.</p>
<p class=""><em>This story originally appeared in <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/" target="_blank">Circle of Blue</a></em> <em>and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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UN secretary Ibrahim Thiaw tells DW how consumers can combat desertification and drought. Rainer Jensen / picture alliance / Getty Images
By Sonya Diehn
More than 2 billion hectares of previously productive land is degraded. For Desertification and Drought Day on June 17, DW spoke with Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
<p><em>DW: What do you want people to know about this year's desertification day?</em></p><p>Ibrahim Thiaw: Despite COVID-19, we still need to eat. We still need to have clothes. We still need to feed our animals. And we still need the planet. The planet does not need us.</p><p><em>More than a third of the world's land is vulnerable to exploitation that can lead to desertification. Where are some of the worst-affected areas?</em></p><p><em></em>If you consider the size of the land that is affected by desertification, Africa. But if you consider the number of people that are affected by land degradation, it is Asia. If you include the Americas, both north and south, 40% of land is affected by desertification or susceptible to be affected by land degradation. Europe is not spared either — we still lose a lot of soil here. And Europe has been more vulnerable to drought in recent years because of climate change. </p><p>We have one planet, so therefore there is no region in the world that is immune to land degradation or drought.</p>
<p><em>What do those areas have in common, are there some patterns there?</em></p><p>When you cause land degradation, you are affecting people's lives: their health, the economy, their security. Land degradation is also having an impact on migration — we will see more migration because people cannot produce anymore in their land. So therefore, it is not biophysical only. It is social. It is economic. It is health. It is our well-being.</p><p><em>What are some steps people can take?</em></p><p>Let us take the issue of fashion. Having our houses full of clothing that we don't need or we don't wear, or wear only once and throw away, that is what we call the wasteful economy. It is possible that you and I as shoppers are conscious about how we shop. How many liters are being used by the T-shirt I'm going to buy? How much land is being affected? How many people are being affected by that land degradation? It is important that the consciousness of the people, of the buyers, of the consumers, of the school, children, of the adults, are all at the same level. </p>
<p><em>People often think their changes are not going to make a difference. What do you say to that?</em></p><p>How can you make the change if you don't vote? How can you make the change in the planet if you don't buy the right jeans or the right T-shirt? Or if you decide to waste your food. We waste one-third of the food we produce, we just produce it to send to the dustbin. And yet we have 800 million people who are going to bed hungry. Do we live on one planet? Are we one humanity, or is there something wrong?</p><p><em>Is there something that needs to be changed in the way the land is managed?</em></p><p>Yes. The one-third of food we produce each year is equivalent to 1.4 billion hectares. So basically, each year we are wasting the equivalent of 1.4 billion hectares, meaning that we can feed the entire community, the entire world without further degrading on our land, without further clearing our forests, without further affecting our wetlands and our water ponds. We need to be more rational in the way we use these resources. We will have to manage. We should not be considering that these resources are limitless.</p>
<p><em>Can you give us a few examples of places that have successfully reversed desertification?</em></p><p>There are many good examples in different parts of the world, including in Germany. The old mine sites that have been rehabilitated, have been regenerated, and are now being used as tourist attractions.</p><p><span></span>You have examples in many parts of Africa where land that was degraded is now being reconstituted and managed for wildlife conservation. You have put tourists back in countries like Niger, one of the poorest nations on earth, they have decided to manage the land, and now you have giraffes. And when you have giraffes, you have tourists. When you have tourists, you have economic activity. So regeneration is something that can be positive to the economy, can be positive for communities. </p><p>More than 80 countries have pledged to regenerate 400 million hectares by 2030. It is not something that can be done only by experts, scientists or naturalists or biologists. It should be done by everybody.</p>
<p><em>You come from a region that has been dealing with desertification for decades. Is this somehow a personal issue for you?</em></p><p>It is, and I hope it is for you as well. It is a personal issue for me because my family has suffered, because my village has suffered, because my community, because my region, because my continent, because my world, my planet … when you see all the consequences that land degradation is having in the world, you should be concerned. And as a citizen of the world, you should be really conscious of the fact that there is something I can do about it. You are an actor, you are not a spectator.</p><p><em>Do you foresee that the pandemic will have an impact on desertification?</em></p><p>Why do we have that virus? Because we changed the land use. Because we, as human beings, have been in places where we should not have been, because we have taken species out of their ecosystems and because we are using them, we are over-consuming. So COVID-19 is one of the consequences of our new lifestyle. We hope that people will take some steps back and we learn lessons from it, and we hope that the post-COVID-19 world will be a world that is more sustainable. We hope that we will not have a repeat of the pandemic.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/to-stop-land-degradation-reject-fast-fashion-and-cancel-food-waste/a-53824564?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646190732#/" target="_self"></a></p>
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A large school of fish swim in a fish farm. wildestanimal / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Thursday that environmentalists warned will accelerate the corporate exploitation of oceans by relaxing regulations on and streamlining the construction of industrial offshore aquaculture facilities, which critics deride as "floating factory farms" that pump pollution and diseases into public waters.
<p><br/></p>
<p>The Don't Cage Our Ocean Coalition, which was formed to oppose ocean industrial fish farming, said in a <a href="https://foe.org/news/trump-exploits-covid-19-crisis-to-advance-corporate-aquaculture-agenda/" target="_blank">statement</a> that Trump's <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-promoting-american-seafood-competitiveness-economic-growth/" target="_blank">Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth</a> "mandates federal agencies to craft a program for rapid authorization of industrial offshore aquaculture facilities, which use giant floating cages to cultivate finfish, allowing toxic pollution to flow into open waters."</p><p>Rosanna Marie Neil, policy counsel for Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, a member of the coalition, said the Trump White House is "supporting the corporate takeover of our oceans while they hope we aren't paying attention."</p><p>Environmental attorney Marianne Cufone similarly accused Trump of exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to "push through dangerous short-cuts to regulatory processes, while communities struggle to stay healthy, pay rent, and put food on the table."</p><p>"The federal government should strengthen local food security during this health crisis by supporting sustainable seafood," said Cufone, "rather than allowing corporations to pollute the ecosystems we depend on."</p>
<div id="fe319" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="adca5f7739b67f6e84573e61c8c75192"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1258511621237817344" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: In the middle of a public health pandemic, Trump just issued an executive order to bolster aquaculture --… https://t.co/u18OynL4wg</div> — Friends of the Earth (@Friends of the Earth)<a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/statuses/1258511621237817344">1588887527.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div id="426fc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="91fba35f38678fb1d98153ba259fcd85"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1258512402380808194" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump is exploiting a public health crisis to help an industry known for pumping diseases & antibiotics into oceans… https://t.co/itIuFwjMtw</div> — Friends of the Earth (@Friends of the Earth)<a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/statuses/1258512402380808194">1588887713.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Trump's executive order Thursday was just the latest step the president has taken amid the coronavirus pandemic to loosen regulations on polluting industries. In late March, as <em>Common Dreams</em> <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/27/holy-crap-insane-citing-coronavirus-pandemic-epa-indefinitely-suspends-environmental" target="_blank">reported</a>, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a sweeping suspension of pollution regulations and empowered the fossil fuel industry to police itself indefinitely.</p><p>Environmental groups <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/200416" target="_blank">sued</a> the EPA over the move, which they condemned as a "free pass for polluters."</p><p>In an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lifts-the-net-off-american-fishing-11588875561" target="_blank">op-ed</a> for the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> Thursday, White House advisers Joe Grogan and Peter Navarro touted Trump's aquaculture executive order as a step toward making the U.S. "the world's seafood superpower."</p><p>"President Trump's executive order creates a task force to enact policies that encourage fair and reciprocal trade for America's seafood industry, and strengthens enforcement of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing," Grogan and Navarro wrote.</p><p>But environmentalists cautioned that the order simply hands U.S. mega-corporations more power to plunder oceans without oversight, imperiling local fishing communities and the health of public waters.<br></p><p><span></span>"It is outrageous and unethical for the federal government to use the current public health crisis to bolster this polluting industry," Hallie Templeton, senior oceans campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. "Now is the time to prioritize our health, security, sustainable food systems, and American farmers and fishermen, not corporations."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/08/trump-signs-executive-order-greenlighting-corporate-takeover-our-oceans-while-they?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank"><em>Common Dreams.</em></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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Leon, Spain's main reservoir barely reaches 10% on September 1, 2017 during the country's worst drought in 20 years. Alvaro Fuente / NurPhoto / Getty Images
By Chiara Cecchini
Although it is difficult today to divert attention from the dramatic situation we live in, it is even more important to get closer to our primary needs. Recently, we celebrated World Water Day, and the timing couldn't have been more appropriate to give to all of us the chance to rethink priorities and draw some lessons.
<p>Without water, our lifespan would be 14 days. Our entire existence is closely dependent on one single, exhaustible resource. In a moment where we all feel vulnerable, and surprisingly dependent on more external systems than we imagined, life is reminding us of what makes us human, and where we should probably focus our attention.</p><p>Looking at the numbers, desertification is on the increase everywhere in the world. <a href="https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/BP_DESERTIFICATION/BP_DESERTIFICATION_EN.pdf" target="_blank">In Europe it already affects 8% of the territory</a>; <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/us-desert-50-years1.htm" target="_blank">in Africa, almost 70% of the continent is arid or semi-arid</a> land; and in North America about 40% of the continental land is at risk of desertification. Data shows that this scenario is destined to get even worse, with forecasts saying that <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/new_report_highlights_crucial_role_of_water_in_development/" target="_blank">47% of the world population is going to experience water scarcity by 2030</a>.</p><p>But where do we consume all this water?</p><p>Only <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/where-earths-water?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects" target="_blank">2.5% of the water on Earth is fresh</a> and only <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-1YrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT29&lpg=PT29&dq=0.1%25+of+water+is+accessible+to+humans&source=bl&ots=1Bl2FEa1Ng&sig=ACfU3U1k-ZLPQC8WRk5j2lkO3O3iecyA6g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO_YuqyOXoAhUSVRUIHYeqCnk4ChDoATADegQIDBAw#v=onepage&q=0.1%25%20of%20water%20is%20accessible%20to%20humans&f=false" target="_blank">0.1% of it is accessible to humans</a>, while every human being needs it to survive. This explains the reason why in 2010 the UN officially recognized access to safe drinking water as a basic and universal human right, as well as including water among the Sustainable Development Goals.</p>
<iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-freshwater-use-over-the-long-run" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe>
<p>Global <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000372985.locale=en" target="_blank">water use has increased by a factor of six over the past 100 years</a>. The majority of it (up to 70%) goes into irrigation of crops that eventually feed us, the animals that we eat, or the clothes we wear. The remaining 30% is consumed by the industry and for domestic use.</p><p>While the majority of the available water goes to produce human food, the water impacts of individual products vary considerably. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_footprint" target="_blank">214 liters of water are needed to produce one kg of tomatoes</a>, 2,500l for a kg of rice, 3,180l for a kg of cheese, and 15,400l for a kg of beef. It is then easy to understand the risks of price increases for food in contexts of water scarcity. As well as the power we have every time we do our grocery shopping. Do we know how much water we eat every single day?</p><p>The <a href="https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/pdf/human_right_to_water_and_sanitation_media_brief.pdf" target="_blank">World Health Organization defines the concept of water scarcity</a> based on the assumption that each person needs between 50 and 100 liters of water per day to meet their primary needs. We know that in most Western countries this percentage is abundantly exceeded.</p>
<p>The average American uses about 340 liters of water each day, and this is calculated as consumption at home only, without considering food consumed. Add to it your morning coffee (140 liters) a banana (80 litres), some grilled chicken (430 liters) and tomatoes (50 liters) for lunch, some cheese (200 liters), olives (200 liters) and a beer (150 liters) as aperitif, and some rice (250 liters) and broccoli (40 liters) for dinner. Your average daily water consumption has already jumped to 1,900 liters per day.</p><p>Not to mention current data on food waste. Every day in the United States, consumers throw out nearly a pound of food each, wasting both food and water. When we throw food away, we also throw away all the water and energy used to produce it.</p>
What Can We Do About It?
<p>Now that the whole world is experiencing the effects of a major disaster, we have the opportunity to re-evaluate some of our choices. COVID-19 has transformed everyday life so significantly that the effects are already visible from space, showing us that change is possible and results are tangible. COVID-19 is teaching us (among other things) that our eagerness for creation should not result in the destruction of our planet.</p><p>Here are five simple things we can all start doing to have a healthier relationship with water and our environment in the future.</p><p><strong></strong><strong>1. Follow the food pyramid,</strong> which forms the basis of the <a href="https://oldwayspt.org/resources/oldways-mediterranean-diet-pyramid" target="_blank">Mediterranean diet</a>. </p><p>Our weekly food intake should be mainly composed of fruit, vegetables and grains, with minor presence of animal-based proteins. It takes 31 mixed salads to make the water footprint of one burger.</p>
<p><strong>2. Look at how food is produced. </strong></p><p>Regenerative agriculture, permaculture and organic farming aim to improve the quality and productivity of soil so that it retains moisture, minimizing the need for excessive irrigation. <a href="http://www.betterfishfarming.org/" target="_blank">Hydroponic, aquaponic</a>, <a href="http://civileats.com/2015/12/14/can-large-corporate-urban-farms-grow-local-food/" target="_blank">aeroponic and vertical farming</a> make it possible to grow produce very efficiently.</p>
<p><strong>3. Eat unprocessed food. </strong></p><p>While the water footprint of whole foods is made up entirely of the water needed to grow, processed foods require additional water for cleaning, pre-cooking, and making packaging materials.</p>
<p><strong>4. Reconsider where to live and shop. </strong></p><p>As food and other products are traded, their water footprint follows them in the form of virtual water. Which means that every time you consume an imported product, you don't only increase its footprint by the water needed to take care of shipment, but you also take away water from its local population. Supporting your house, neighborhood and city to grow more food can have a hugely positive impact on your water footprint, as well as supporting existing local producers.</p>
<p><strong>5. Think twice before buying new clothes. </strong></p><p>It takes about <a href="https://curiosity.com/topics/it-takes-2700-liters-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt-curiosity/" target="_blank">2,700 liters of water to make just one t-shirt</a>, enough for one person to drink for 900 days. <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2260064/Over-600-dresses-400-pairs-shoes-1-116-tops-No-Suri-Cruise-mean-YOU-Women-558-pairs-trousers-372-cardigans-lifetime.html" target="_blank">The average woman will own 372 cardigans and 558 pairs of trousers during her adult life</a>. The fast-fashion industry is based on us buying items extremely often, but do we really need all of them?</p><p>In a moment where we feel caged, where we are scared of losing our loved ones, and we feel vulnerable in the middle of a pandemic that seems unstoppable, our ecosystem is presenting us with a challenge. It is everyone's personal responsibility whether to accept it or not. Are we able to preserve our main source of life?</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/covid-19-water-what-can-we-learn/" target="_blank"><em>World Economic Forum.</em></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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- One of the most significant, yet ignored, impacts of climate change is its disruption of the water cycle.
- The youth-driven climate movement provides examples of how to incorporate water into the climate agenda by raising awareness, encouraging advocacy and promoting innovation.
- World Water Day 2020 is focused on the interconnectedness of water and climate change.
<p>This year, World Water Day is focused on the interconnectedness of water and climate change. Water is the <a href="https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/climate-change/" target="_blank">primary resource affected by climate change</a>, with repercussions on the supply of drinking water, sanitation, and water used for food and energy production. Or in other words, as suggested by climate-change experts, "If climate change is a shark, <a href="https://www.watercalculator.org/footprint/climate-change-water-resources/" target="_blank">then water is its teeth</a>."<em></em></p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/world-water-day-how-to-put-water-into-the-climate-agenda/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>
<p>Against this backdrop, young people are increasingly recognized as the driving force for action behind the climate movement – and for injecting water into the climate agenda. Currently, more than half of the global population is under the age of 30, making it the largest youth population in history and the ones who will be most affected by the climate change induced disruption of water resources.</p><p>One active youth group is the World Economic Forum's <a href="https://www.globalshapers.org/" target="_blank">Global Shapers</a>, an impact-orientated network of young people, who listed water as the number one social risk in the Forum's Global Shapers survey.</p><p>Having launched several initiatives linking both water and climate change, here are three key lessons from global youth to advance an inclusive and effective climate action agenda:</p>
1. Raise Awareness
<p>Not enough is understood and communicated about the devastating risk of climate change to the world's water resources. Currently, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3674533?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents" target="_blank">50% of our drinking water comes from glaciers</a>, which are melting at an unprecedent speed. Higher air temperatures are causing increased flooding – <a href="https://www.zurich.com/en/knowledge/topics/flood-and-water-damage" target="_blank">which is affecting more people globally than any other natural hazard</a>. If no measures are taken, water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, is expected to cost some regions <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication/high-and-dry-climate-change-water-and-the-economy" target="_blank">up to 6% of their economic growth</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg4ODQ1NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3NDI5MDQ1MX0.QIpWh-aXw8xh1wynYmOUF1M0B4rH6RCMTRRHGLMMhy8/img.png?width=980" id="c2fa7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fcd44dcbca3778d12738b067737eaf05" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="755" data-height="432" /><p>With water and climate change being complex topics in and of themselves, not to mention how they intersect, much remains to be done to raise awareness in a comprehensive, accessible and action-oriented way. The World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW), a globally-recognized youth network, has therefore dedicated one of its three main working pillars towards awareness-raising. Noting the need to mainstream the unique role of water throughout the climate agenda, the WYWP is currently broadcasting "The <a href="https://soundcloud.com/climatereadypodcast/sn3episode3" target="_blank">ClimateReady Podcast</a>", sharing stories of youth action on combatting the climate crisis and reaching thousands of people.</p><p>All sectors can learn from these efforts, as an increased awareness of the water and climate change link will lead to an enabling environment for change and corporation, and more so, safeguard our water resources.</p>
2. Be an Advocate
<p>Young people are organizing and uniting around the world to raise awareness through climate strikes – bridging political differences and linking separate sectors. Rather than confronting one environmental issue at a time, they are holistic in their advocacy, recognizing the strength in combining efforts.</p><p>During the 2020 Annual Meeting in Davos, Global Shapers engaged in climate work and discussions on the future of water. Their participation, enthusiasm and conviction to further incentivize young people to scale up water innovation, resulted in the stakeholder proposal to develop an award. Rather than being a one-off entrepreneurial activity, this prize aims to be a milestone in a long-term water advocacy agenda.</p><p>While having a Corporate Social Responsibility programme is common, more companies could push the cause. An example is Heineken's "<a href="https://www.theheinekencompany.com/newsroom/heineken-announces-every-drop-water-ambition-for-2030/" target="_blank">Every Drop</a>" campaign, dedicated to lowering water usage to combat water scarcity.</p><p>Choose to be a champion, mobilize for the climate-water cause and implement what you advocate!</p>3. Seek Innovation
<p>Since 2012, the rise in smart phones has been dramatic (to date, there are more people with a mobile phone than access to a flushable toilet). Today's youth is the generation most accustomed to technology from an early age. With the increase of artificial intelligence, smart sensoring and blockchain, the possibilities for tackling water issues have multiplied.</p><p>In the run-up to COP 21, youth representatives released a white paper with recommendations in four key areas on how to address climate change – all of which included water. This led to the creation of the <a href="https://youthwaterclimate.org/project/ahiafor-yahovi-amedzape-danyi-apeyeme-togo-tonfuturtonclimat-project-to-support-the-young-people-for-the-protection-of-environment-water-and-land-in-togo/" target="_blank">Youth for Water and Climate</a> (YWC) initiative. Similar to the World Economic Forum's <a href="https://www.weforum.org/uplink" target="_blank">UpLink</a>, the YWC is a platform connecting young, innovative solution providers with solution seekers that are able to offer technical and financial resources to help scale up the projects.</p><p>By providing the means and the mentoring, the chances for these projects to develop increase, while offering tangible solutions for companies in return. Companies such as AB InBev have launched <a href="https://www.ab-inbev.com/sustainability/100-accelerator.html" target="_blank">sustainability accelerators</a>, enabling start-ups to grow, while learning from their breakthrough water innovations. In line with stakeholder capitalism, more companies aim to be inclusive – and what better way to do that – than by getting insights into innovative solutions for water challenges and climate change.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A girl makes a water run with empty buckets on May 17, 2017 in New Delhi, India. Shams Qari / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Ever more of the world's population is living with water insecurity and is unable to consistently access safe, clean drinking water.
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<p>A number of factors, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a> and poor water management, are worsening water scarcity, which coupled with other social problems like rising inequality and ethnic tensions, are threatening conflict between states and within states.</p><p>Charles Iceland, director of global and national water initiatives at the <a href="https://www.waterpeacesecurity.org/map" target="_blank">World Resources Institute</a>, spoke to DW about disputes over the essential resource and how it can be avoided, as well as the new <a href="https://www.waterpeacesecurity.org/map" target="_blank">Water, Peace and Security (WPS)</a> tool that forecasts where water disputes are likely over the next 12 months, and how they might be avoided.<br></p>
<p><em>DW: What is a water conflict and what does it look like?</em></p><p>Charles Iceland: In many places throughout the world, there's just more and more demand for water with respect to what's available. Sometimes the conflicts are nonviolent — like in Australia or California where people go through the legal system or they work their issues out without violence. But in a lot of places, the problem is grave enough and the ability to resolve the problem is not well developed. So you can see the wrestling over these scarce resources develop in violent ways.</p>
<p><em>Where would you say are the regions and countries in which water, water scarcity, water quality are playing a role in conflict?</em></p><p>Populations are growing very quickly in sub-Saharan Africa — going up fourfold between 1960 and today. Resources have either stayed the same or you have a reduction in resources, because of climate change or because desertification is reducing arable land. So you have a lot of violent conflicts between these smallholder farmers and pastoralists wrestling over scarce land and water resources. We've seen over the past couple of years pastoralists massacring farming communities and retribution by farming communities.</p><p>We're also seeing a lot of violent conflict play out in the Middle East. So, for example, in Iraq, a lot of the demonstrations that led to the prime minister's resignation a few months ago. But part of the grievances entailed lack of services, which included lack of access to clean water and lack of access to electricity. They're getting sick. About a year and a half ago, 120,000 people in Basra had to be hospitalized because they were drinking contaminated water.</p><p>And it's [water scarcity] is also a problem in places like Iran, Afghanistan and India. So those are some of the hotspots.</p>
<p><em>So it could be an interstate conflict, but it could be intrastate as well between various stakeholders in society?</em></p><p>When you have violent conflict, it usually plays out at a subnational level. While you have international conflicts over water, those are rarely resolved through violence. So, for example, we have India and Pakistan wrestling over water in the Indus. We have Iraq and Turkey wrestling over water in the Tigris and Euphrates. We have Egypt and Ethiopia wrestling over water and in the Blue Nile Basin. The parties try as much as they can to resolve the issues in a nonviolent way through diplomacy.</p>
<p><em>Will we see a future of water wars and water as the new oil?</em></p><p>Both, like a lot of metaphors, are not really accurate. Wars are rarely fought over water as a single issue. Rather, we see the problem as a threat multiplier. So it's one issue in the background. If you have other issues leading to instability, maybe problems between ethnic groups or anything could trigger violence, the background of having water scarcity, has destabilized the society and made it less able to resolve problems amicably.</p>
<p><em>How much of a role does climate change play in water scarcity or water quality?</em></p><p>We have trouble attributing any particular <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought">drought</a> or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding">flood</a> to climate change, but we are seeing very dramatic increases in the incidence and severity of drought in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. So we're having a general decline in rainfall in some of these areas. In some of these areas the amount of rainfall stays the same but you have very large intermittent drought and flood periods. That's what's been predicted by climate change experts.</p>
<p><em>What other factors can lead to water scarcity?</em></p><p>The management of water resources is a critical factor. So people, in theory might have enough water in some places, but they're mismanaging it. They're losing water. They are polluting the water. And then there are upstream, downstream issues. There are many instances where the upstream users are accessing water, but downstream users suffer because they're getting less water.</p>
<p><em>What exactly is the Water Peace and Security tool?</em></p><p>We're a consortium of nine organizations in the U.S. and Europe that are working together to both try to identify hotspots of water insecurity and then try to help local people and the global community do something about this to either avoid conflict or minimize the impacts of conflict. So we've developed a machine learning-based model that tries to predict where conflict might break out in the next 12 months. We're using a number of factors — political, economic, social, demographic — that might point at imminent conflict. And to that group of indicators, we add water and food insecurity indicators. We try to identify these hotspots, whether they are water-related conflicts and what are the drivers of the conflict.</p>
<p><em>How can you resolve a water conflict?</em></p><p>There are lots of examples on the subnational and international levels where either global or national entities have brought competing [water] users together.</p><p>A very good example of this was in 1960 — the World Bank brought the governments of India and Pakistan together to develop a treaty that divided up the water in the Indus River Basin. That treaty has come under pressure recently but it's still been able to keep India and Pakistan from having problems boil over — at least to date.</p><p><em>Jennifer Collins conducted the interview, which has been shortened and edited for clarity.</em></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/tackling-the-growing-threat-of-water-conflict/a-52696755?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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