Water

Hydropower Energy Facts | Hydroelectric Power Facts

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Thanks to human ingenuity and persistence, hydropower energy represents one of the oldest power sources on this planet. Best, its is clean, renewable, and sustainable as long as there is available water. That may be a larger challenge, according to some viewpoints. A very quick glimpse into hydropower history Humans have been harnessing water to

ExxonMobil Says Goodbye To Russian Arctic Oil Well (Part 1)

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You may well ask why PlanetSave, a blog usually dedicated to positive developments and actions to save the earth, is reporting news about ExxonMobil and a Russian arctic oil well. The oil discovery appears to have nothing to do with solar or wind or most of our usual topics—we’re talking fossil fuels here, which have caused much

Take Three Minutes To Climate Watch This Weekend

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It’s still Climate Week, though the marches and summit conference are over. If you’d like to spend some time doing a brief climate watch this weekend, here are a few suggestions. These short takes are the result of surveying over 500 free and publicly available videos. Each takes around three minutes or less to watch.

What Is Climate Change? (VIDEO)

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Remember the difference between weather and climate? We know what happens when the weather changes—it’s obvious. Climate is another story. Read on. When it rains, you put on a raincoat or take your umbrella when you go out. It snows: time for high boots, a heavier coat, scarf, and warm gloves. And sunny days, well,

Five Gallon Challenge Adds Drought Awareness to Ice Bucket Challenge

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You probably can’t go more than five minutes on any social media platform without seeing videos of people doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which has been a massively successful fundraising vehicle for the organizations working to find treatments for those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. While there has been

Weather And Climate — Similarities & Differences

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Weather and climate are similar but different. For the most part, they are very distinct phenomena. Below, we talk about the weather first, and then delve into the climate. Weather We measure what’s going on in our atmosphere over a short period of time—usually in a particular place on a particular day—by assessing the weather. Could be

Ebola Deaths May Reach Over 1,000 By Next Week (Exclusive Interview)

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West Africa may even reach 1,000 deaths from Ebola this weekend. That’s just a guess, but not a bad guess, considering the Olympic record of this hemorrhagic virus. At the beginning of July nearly 500 people had died from the disease; two weeks later, the numbers had increased by 20%,; and the most recent confirmed figure,

The Nefarious Connection Between Agriculture and Our Rivers (Part 3 of 4)

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This is part 3 of a 4 part series by Brad Walker of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment analyzing The Nefarious Connection Between Agriculture and Our Rivers. Read parts 1 and 2 Part 3: Small steps towards river repair There are currently effective Congressionally-authorized programs on the Missouri, Illinois and Upper Mississippi Rivers that

The Nefarious Connection Between Agriculture and Our Rivers (Part 2 of 4)

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This is part 2 of a 4 part series by Brad Walker of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment analyzing The Nefarious Connection Between Agriculture and Our Rivers. Read Part 1 Part 2: The major culprit There are many well-documented critiques of the industrialized agricultural system, so we will not dwell in detail about why

Fixing The Unseen Infrastructure: The Value Of Water

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The Value of Water Coalition hosted an in-depth conversation at the Newseum in Washington DC on the current condition of water infrastructure in the United States, the consequences of letting leaky and failing systems worsen, and solutions to water challenges of today and tomorrow. Our water infrastructure systems, a matter of pride for over a

National Climate Assessment Pulls No Punches About US Options

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(All figures are from the 2014 National Climate Assessment draft.) Later today (Tuesday, May 6), at 8 a.m. EDT, the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee of experts meets by conference call to approve the final version of the Third National Climate Assessment. The gist of their message, as Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian

Water Likely On New Terra-Like Exoplanet Kepler-186f

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Artist’s conception of Kepler-186f in its solar system (NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech) It’s a bit less possible now that we’re alone in the universe. The $600-million Kepler Space Telescope, launched five years ago to identify planets, has spotted more than 3,800 and confirmed 966 of them. The last one, fifth planet of a star in the

EPA And Army Corps Move Today To Safeguard Clean Water

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It doesn’t take rocket science to draw a line between pollutants in small streams and wetlands and water quality downstream. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers have united to propose a rule that will strengthen the Clean Water Act, applied to safeguard American water quality since 1972. The rule will

Los Angeles Council Unanimously Puts Off Fracking

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When the hydraulic fracturing measure passed the Los Angeles City Council today, several tweeters posted photos of this meeting (source of the above: Walker Foley on twitter). The City Council of Los Angeles, second-most populous metro in the United States, voted 10-0 today to prohibit hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and other “unconventional” deep-underground drilling methods to produce

Refitted Tunnel Shelter Farms Zero Carbon Veggies

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Premium hydroponic-grown, pesticide-free vegetables and herbs growing in the U.S. Gotham Greens facility (from eponline.com). Two entrepreneurs have recently made London the home of a very creative architectural reuse for food production—underground. Steven Dring, a former executive with Bunzl, an international provider of food-related products and services, and his friend and business partner Richard Ballard,

OrbSys' Closed-loop Shower Uses 90% Less Water

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By collecting most of the hot, soapy water that flows off of you during a ten-minute shower, Orbital Systems’ new closed-loop shower promises to reduce your water use by up to 90%, all while reducing the energy it takes to keep that water warm- by as much as 80%! All of which begs the question:

Australia Must Bank Its Water Now

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Much of Australia has just come out the other side of restrictive water use regulations in an attempt to halt the dramatic decrease in water-storage levels. Levels have recovered, but a new study shows that Australia should start banking its water underground now in preparation for future dry times. “There is enormous national potential to

World Water Day: Valuing Water by Fixing the Leaks

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What is essential to daily life and breaks 850 times every day: a water main somewhere in the United States.  In the time it took me to write that sentence one just broke – well, make that two – according to the “Water Main Break Clock” at WatermainbreakClock.com.  Since 2000, more than 3,793,942 water mains have

The Glaciers are Shrinking and the Water is Disappearing

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Glaciers across the planet are shrinking at a remarkable rate, a rate that is expected to increase as the years continue to pass by. However, conversely, water runoff from glaciers will not continue to increase, and is in fact expected to decrease over the coming decades. The new research is courtesy of research done in

5 Water Conservation Gifts to Give This Holiday

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The National Retail Federation estimates Americans will spend $465 billion on holiday giving this year. With any luck, a portion of that will be spent buying water conservation gifts. Water conservation is more often thought of as a thing that we do rather than a thing that we give, but this holiday season it can

Why Anglers Want Strong Mercury Protections

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Guest column by Catherine Semcer, Senior Washington Representative for the Sierra Club Resilient Habitats Campaign. I started fishing when I was 8. I remember my father took me to a lake near our home in New Jersey, baited a hook, and showed me how to cast it into the water.  I’ll always remember how proud

5 Ways to Conserve Water

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There are many easy, effective ways in which you can conserve water that require very little thinking: turn off the faucet or garden hose, fix those leaks, and use common sense.

Is the World Running Out of Clean Water?

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With the world’s population approaching 7 billion people, we are encountering a threat of a lack of clean drinking water. Now is the time to start conserving water and considering processes to alleviate the lack of clean drinking water.

Obama's Senior Campaign Advisor Former Lobbyist for Keystone XL Pipeline

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The Obama campaign recently hired Broderick Johnson, a former lobbyist for the Keystone XL pipeline, as a new senior advisor to the president’s 2012 re-election campaign. Records show that Broderick Johnson lobbied Congress on the Keystone XL pipeline while working for Bryan Cave LLP, a top lobby firm in Washington, DC. During the fourth quarter

Everything is Connected: Currents of Activism, Occupy Wall Street, Tar Sands

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Everything is connected: the things we do, the things others do, affect people’s lives. The aura of our material planet is a body of energy that is part of us and extends around us from the inside out. This connectivity is showing up willfully in our streets. Bill Mikkiben points out: “We cannot solve the carbon problem until we solve the power problem.” He also acknowledges the good timing of now-linking movements of activism. The time of putting positive energy into a collective force is in action now as a space to heal these gaping wounds in culture and environment unfolds.

From New York to Maryland, 100,000 Ordered to Evacuate their Homes because of Flooding

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Still recovering from Hurricane Irene, the East Coast is being hit again by remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. Rain comes on and off for the East Coast, sometimes only drizzling, but the rivers and streams continue to rise. Among many of the areas flooded are the many towns along the Susquehanna River. Rural towns are nestled along 444 miles of water that lead down into the Chesapeake Bay. As water surged over flood walls built decades ago to protect residences from potential flooding from the Susquehanna River, 20,000 people were ordered to head for higher ground. This is said to be the worst flooding in the history of Binghamton, at least since the flood walls were built in the 1930s and ’40s. Besides the town of Binghamton, nearly 100,000 people from New York to Maryland were ordered to flee the rising Susquehanna River on Thursday.

Could Icebergs be Towed to Areas Suffering Drought?

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Throughout the world many areas are facing severe droughts. It is a growing problem that most likely will get worse over the next century. One of the worst hit areas at the present moment is in the Horn of Africa. Drinkable water is becoming harder to come by, as they face a severe drought with little to no hope in sight.

World Water Day (60 Good Water Posts)

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Today is World Water Day. We’ve written quite a number of water-related posts on Planetsave over the years, and other sites on the Important Media network have as well. For this year’s World Water Day, I’ve decided to share a number of our good water posts altogether, rather than write yet another article on one or two aspects of this important topic.

Loving and Saving the Great Lakes

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Imagine a huge, blue body of water, white sandy beaches, waves crashing onshore and kids playing in the sand. You might be tempted to think of an ocean scene, but I’m talking about a typical July day on any of the Great Lakes. Sans the salty smell and the abundant sea life, the Great Lakes support

Hot and Water Matters Giveaway Winners Chosen

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We announced an opportunity to win two great books, Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth and Water Matters: Why We Need to Act Now to Save Our Most Critical Resource one month ago today. A number of dedicated greenies and interested people entered the contest and commented on the article telling us

Take Cold Showers (Going Green Tip #13)

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The best things in life are free. This doesn’t only apply to open source applications on the web but other aspects of life as well. You may be surprised, but one of the best things you can do for yourself and mother nature is take cold showers on a daily basis. Sound crazy? Yes, it

Large Dams Can Affect Local Climate

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New research has shown that large dams have the ability to affect the local climate, to the point of drastically altering the local rainfall in some regions. This marks the first time that researchers have found a clear difference had on the surrounding environment by large reservoirs compared to natural lakes and wetlands. The study

Global Warming and Environmental Politics News of the Week

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Here’s some of the biggest global warming and environmental politics news and commentary from the last week or so, along with some fun cartoons. Rocket Fuel in Our Water? The inspiration for the cartoon above, among other things: information that there is rocket fuel (or a component of it) in water supplies across the U.S.

'Fracking' Violates Safe Drinking Water Act, Congressional Letter Charges

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In what appears to be a major, positive stride for environmental quality preservation, congressional investigators submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency charging that  hydraulic fracturing — known as ‘fracking’ — violates the Safe Drinking Water Act. Amassing data from a dozen states for the period 2005 – 2009, investigators assert that tens of

American Southwest Heading for Permanent Drought

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The American Southwest is a subtropical area of the world, but one that has seen a cycle of droughts – long and short – over the past thousand years. Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory professor Richard Seager has been studying the climate, and believes that human-induced global warming could push the natural variability to a

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