A new report about drinking water policy just released by the Water Foundation and the US Water Alliance that was based on roundtables held around the country found that “despite regional differences, leaders face many shared challenges, and winning coalitions and campaigns have approached drinking water challenges in some similar ways,” yet they face similar obstacles […]
“Water use” often fails to adequately describe what happens to water because “water use” can take two forms – consumption or withdrawal. It’s important to understand the difference. The US withdraws a lot of water on a daily basis for use in homes, businesses, industries and food production. While domestic use is significant, the majority […]
The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people, farms and ecosystems in the West, yet overallocation, ongoing drought and climate change threaten to snip away at the amount of water available. As data shows, the cornerstone of water storage on the river, Lake Mead, dropped one foot in 2018. The states of the Colorado […]
The Trump administration is planning to roll back Clean Water Act protections created under the Waters of the United States rule put in place by the Obama administration. The rule affects millions of acres of waterways and wetlands, and in California in particular it includes up to two-thirds of California’s inland streams. The rule angered […]
In order to feed the 10 billion people expected to inhabit the planet by 2050 without also completely trashing it, several issues will have to be addressed in order to close the food, land and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions gaps that prevent sustainability. A new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI) has identified 22 solutions […]
Beef has a large water footprint and the system in which cattle are produced can make a substantial difference in the size of the footprint. While pasture-raised beef can be more sustainable, many assume that its water footprint is always smaller than that of industrially produced beef. This is not necessarily the case, although it can […]
Last week the US federal government released the important National Climate Assessment, which stated that human health, life and economies are endangered as reliable clean water for agriculture, urban areas, industry and ecosystems are “increasingly in jeopardy.” Mandated by Congress, the National Climate Assessment is a mammoth and comprehensive report that involves more than 300 […]
Climate change is setting the stage so that by the end of this century some parts of the world could face as many as six climate-related crises at the same time, according to a new paper in Nature Climate Change. The paper shows the effects of climate change across a broad spectrum of problems, including […]
Thanksgiving and other holidays are the perfect time to consider just how egregious food waste is in America. A new study by two Texas A&M researchers focused on how people react to wasted food at organizations like supermarkets, retail stores, cafeterias and restaurants. The study found that people who cared more about the resources needed […]
