Archive for water
You perhaps don’t know it but swimming is by far my favorite sport. This is to the point that I seriously consider having one day my own pool to daily swim a kilometer of breaststroke.
One of the problems faced by swimming pools - besides using a lot of water, an increasingly scarce resource - is the extensive use of potentially harmful chemicals like chlorine.
But the Daily Green provides us with great data and pictures on natural swimming pools, an alternative to their traditional counterparts. Continue reading »
This week takes place in Stockholm the world water week. This is the occasion for me to focus on this vital resource for both Nature and Mankind.
This is even more interesting as water scarcity crises are more and more frequent at a global level and as nearly half of the world population (2.6 billion people) lacks sanitation.
Even if our planet seen from space is blue thanks to water, only one percent is available to consumption. This explains well the scarcity of this resource. Continue reading »
Africa’s rapidly changing environment
Posted by: on June 13, 2008 in Tags: Africa, Climate change, Environment, forests, Sustainable development, water
According to the 390-pages atlas released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Africa is changing rapidly because of many factors like deforestation and climate change.
The already fragile environments are under pressure due to wars, the increasing population and water scarcity, a major problem as 300 million people suffer from it.
However, all these dramatic consequences could be avoided as some UNEP actions are already fruitful, and this shows that the worst could be avoided Continue reading »
World Ocean Day : save our seas
Posted by: on June 8, 2008 in Tags: oceans, pollution, Sustainable development, water
Today is World Ocean Day. It is the occasion for me to write on how oceans and seas are important for Mankind as 60 percent of the world population live in coastal areas.
Covering more than 70 percent of Earth, water bodies are the home of many species but are threatened in many ways, and this in staggering amounts.
This is a major source of concerns as they represent major resources. I propose you in today’s article an overview of the main threats. Continue reading »
Barcelona is facing important water scarcity
Posted by: on May 9, 2008 in Tags: Europe, Sustainable development, water
The capital city of Catalonia and one of my favorite European places is facing an increasing water scarcity due to a severe drought as El Pais notes.
This might lead to a total lack of water by October and there are no really good solution to solve this problem as Barcelona doesn’t have any water source nearby.
A really scary thought for an agglomeration that comprises more than five million inhabitants and is the second largest in Spain. Continue reading »
Using wind energy for cargo shipping
Posted by: on January 27, 2008 in Tags: Energy, renewables, transport, water
This is the great - and yet very simple - idea developed by a German company, SkySails. The container ship pictured on the left uses one of the oldest inventions: a simple kite.
According to SkySails, this enables to decrease by 10 to 35 percent the energy consumption of these boats, which are largely used for freight transport worldwide.
As oil prices are at high levels, this simple technology might save millions of barrels per year, and thus decrease a bit greenhouse gases emissions. Continue reading »
China is facing increasing water crises
Posted by: on January 14, 2008 in Tags: China, Environment, pollution, water
According to a recent article from the French daily Le Monde, China is experiencing more and more difficulties to answer its water needs as a severe drought strikes the country.
This reinforces even more the problems of water scarcity and pollution that the People’s Republic is facing and one can ask how the Chinese will solve the problems.
I propose you below a resume of this very interesting article as well as additional notes, taken from my previous readings and articles. Continue reading »
This is perhaps the most serious and most worrying news of the beginning of the year as Canada reported last year the most important ice melting ever witnessed.
According to the WWF, summer sea ice in the arctic could disappear within six years, much faster than previously thought about.
Temperatures at the poles rise much faster than in any other point of the globe, and this at an exponential rate. So, is it too late to act ? Not necessarily. Continue reading »
Toward a new world war because of climate change?
Posted by: on December 13, 2007 in Tags: Climate change, Environment, UN, water
This is the question asked by Le Figaro [Fr] as the United Nations released a report that should urge ALL world leaders to make climate change mitigation their top priority.
According to the UN, many countries in Africa, Asia and Americas might be seriously threatened by wars as their environments deteriorate in many ways.
But these tensions could also spread to neighbouring regions such as Europe or the USA as hundreds of million people would be migrating to more favourable places.
How to grow more rice with less water
Posted by: on November 27, 2007 in Tags: India, Sustainable development, water
Rice is the most consumed cereal in the world and is the base of food for half the world population. It is also very water intensive.
Meanwhile, water scarcity problems are already increasing in India and China, and will increase even more with climate change.
So when the WWF writes a report on a method that decreases the water needs of rice culture, (System of Rice Intensification or SRI), one can be interested by the findings.
