Climate Refugees: Coming Soon

I've posted information like this before, but it is worth repeating in light of upcoming airing from CBS:

The people of Kiribati could become the world's first climate refugees

 

Stay tuned:

Some people in the South Pacific could become the world’s first climate change refugees due to rising sea levels. For “CBSN: On Assignment,” CBS News correspondent Seth Doane visits the low-lying island nation of Kiribati where about 100,000 people live. Watch the full report on Monday, Aug. 21, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and CBSN



Read more here: https://wdef.com/2017/08/19/the-people-of-kiribati-could-become-the-worlds-first-climate-refugees/

Six-year Ban on Plastic Water Bottles Ended - Thanks, Trump

Who knew plastic water bottles in national parks would be a political issue? The common good over corporate profit, right? Not so under the Trump administration.

If the original Bill was indeed flawed, why not fix it instead of ending the ban?

National parks put a ban on bottled water to ease pollution. Trump just sided with the lobby that fought it.

Hikers wade through the Virgin River along the “Narrows” in Zion in 2014. 

 

(Ross D. Franklin/AP)

The Trump administration has ended a six-year-old ban on selling bottled water at some national parks that was aimed at easing plastic pollution and the huge amount of waste being recycled.

In a statement that closely tracked the arguments of a campaign by the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) in opposition to the ban, the National Park Service said the 2011 action under the Obama administration “removed the healthiest beverage choice at a variety of parks while still allowing sales of bottled sweetened drinks.”

The move follows a review of the policy “in close consultation with Department of Interior leadership,” according to the statement Wednesday. The department declined to elaborate.

The decision came three weeks after the Senate confirmation of David Bernhardt as deputy interior secretary. Bernhardt is a former lobbyist with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, which has represented one of the largest water bottlers in the United States, Nestlé Waters. Nestlé distributes the Deer Park brand.


Another quote from the article: “Under Trump, the Department of the Interior appears to be working hand in hand with the bottled-water industry to do its bidding,” said Lauren DeRusha Florez, associate campaign director for Corporate Accountability International, a nonprofit groups that takes on the tobacco, fast-food and fossil-fuel industries.


Read the full article by Darryl Fears here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/17/national-parks-banned-bottled-water-to-ease-pollution-trump-just-sided-with-the-lobby-that-fought-it/?utm_term=.85f3ffec4712

The Gulf Of Mexico's Dead Zone

More bad news, water lovers:

The Gulf Of Mexico's Dead Zone Is The Biggest Ever Seen

The teal blue area along the Louisiana coastline represents a "dead zone" of oxygen-depleted water.
Resulting from nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Mississippi River, it can potentially hurt fisheries.

NASA/Getty Images

Quoting the NPR article:

It has become a rite of summer. Every year, a "dead zone" appears in the Gulf of Mexico. It's an area where water doesn't have enough oxygen for fish to survive. And every year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration commissions scientists to venture out into the Gulf to measure it.

This week, NOAA announced that this year's dead zone is the biggest one ever measured. It covers 8,776 square miles — an area the size of New Jersey. And it's adding fuel to a debate over whether state and federal governments are doing enough to cut pollution that comes from farms.

The debate actually goes back many years, at least to 1985, when Don Scavia was a scientist at the NOAA. He and his colleagues asked some scientists, for the first time, to go look for a dead zone in the Gulf.

"We expected it to be there," Scavia recalls. They expected to find it because they knew that the Mississippi River delivers a heavy load of nutrient pollution, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, into the Gulf.

Farmers use those nutrients on fields as fertilizer. Rain washes them into nearby streams and rivers. And when they reach the Gulf of Mexico, those nutrients unleash blooms of algae, which then die and decompose. That is what uses up the oxygen in a thick layer of water at the bottom of the Gulf, in a band that follows the coastline.

The record-breaking dead zone this year is the result of unusually heavy rains in the Midwest, which flushed a lot of nutrients into the Gulf.

The dead zone is invisible from the surface of the ocean. Scientists lower instruments into the water to measure oxygen levels near the bottom. But Scavia describes it as a kind of hidden environmental disaster. "You know, it's 8,000 square miles of no oxygen. That can't be good!" he says. Potentially, it could have huge economic costs as well, because it imperils Louisiana's shrimp industry.



Read full article from NPR here: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/08/03/541222717/the-gulf-of-mexicos-dead-zone-is-the-biggest-ever-seen

Is Boxed Water Better?

Here are the folks who will tell you why boxed water is better:

BETTER PACKAGING.
BETTER PLANET.

Bottled water is convenient. The way it’s produced isn’t. Our boxes are more eco-friendly than plastic bottles and are more efficient to produce and ship. Every choice we make is a step toward a healthier lifestyle. Make Boxed Water one of your steps.

PUTTING THE PLANET FIRST

It’s our responsibility to take care of the planet. We offer a convenient, environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic bottled water. We are 100% recyclable and ship flat to our regional filling locations; reducing our carbon footprint compared to plastic.

SUSTAINABLE BY DESIGN

Roughly three-quarters of each of our boxes is made of paper, fully recyclable and free of BPAs and phthalates. Our paper comes from well-managed forests which are continually being replanted to replace harvested trees, helping offset our carbon footprint and allowing us all to breathe easier.

Read more here: https://boxedwaterisbetter.com/pages/why-boxed-is-better

Water Supply Decline In East Asia

Climate plays role in decline of one of Asia's most critical water resources

Photo from: http://www.writeopinions.com/yangtze-plain

 Source: Kansas State University

Quoting the article:

Climate variability -- rather than the presence of a major dam -- is most likely the primary cause for a water supply decline in East Asia's largest floodplain lake system, according to a Kansas State University researcher.

The fluvial lake system across China's Yangtze River Plain, which serves nearly half a billion people and is a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion, lost about 10 percent of its water area from 2000-2011, according to Jida Wang, assistant professor of geography. Wang and colleagues published their findings for the lake system's decline in the American Geophysical Union's journal Water Resources Research.

"Many people's first intuition is that the culprit must be the Three Gorges Dam because it impounds so much water in the Yangtze River, but our fingerprinting study undeniably shows that the dam is not the decline's primary cause," Wang said. "Climate variability is the predominant driver of this decadal dynamic."

Wang collaborated with Yongwei Sheng, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Yoshihide Wada, of Austria's International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. They found that roughly 80 percent of the observed lake decline is the result of simultaneous climate variability closely related to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which has caused droughts and flooding in the region.

 
Read full article here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170803103146.htm

Houston Zoo will no longer sell plastic water bottles

Congratulations to Houston Zoo! 

Good news via Ban The Bottle:

Ban The Bottle is reporting that the Houston Zoo has taken the important step to ban plastic water bottles following their momentous announcement banning plastic bags in 2015.

Read on, water lovers:

HOUSTON (KTRK) —

In 2015, the Houston Zoo removed plastic bags in the gift shops to protect animals in the wild, by eliminating an estimated 80,000 plastic bags from entering landfills and the environment each year. Now, two years later, the zoo-based conservation organization has gone one step further and eliminated single-use plastic water bottles from all concession stands.

The zoo provides veterinary care for rescued wild sea turtles that have consumed plastic every year. The elimination of single-use plastic water bottles will have a significant, wildlife saving, impact on the environment by reducing the amount of plastic waste by nearly 300,000 single-use plastic bottles in just one year.

Guests now have two choices when purchasing water at the zoo – an aluminum reusable water bottle (pre-filled with water) or a JUST Water recyclable, paper-based water bottle at any of the restaurants or kiosks. JUST Water bottles are made up of 82 percent renewable resources, leaving behind a much smaller carbon footprint than bottles made entirely of plastic. The bottle itself is made of paper from certified forests and the plastic cap is made from sugarcane, making JUST Water bottles 100 percent recyclable.

The zoo also has water bottle refilling stations throughout its grounds. There are two types of refilling stations- free standing, green fountains and silver, chilled fountains attached to walls, made possible by a partnership with Texas Plumbing Supply.

These fountains are easily recognizable by the “Save Sea Turtles Here” signs. Using reusable water bottles and refilling them at these stations helps save sea turtles in the wild by keeping this waste out of the ocean. Plastic bottles and bags can make their way to Houston’s waterways and end up in the ocean, home to animals like sea turtles, sting rays, sharks, and an array of fish.

“The zoo is committed to saving animals, and their habitats, in the wild and this is just one more way we can inspire guests to take simple actions and join us in protecting wildlife,” says Peter Riger, vice president of conservation education. “We are using this action specifically to highlight the need to protect marine animals from debris. It also allows our guests to play a direct part in making a difference on our planet.”


Read full article here: https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/houston-zoo-will-no-longer-sell-plastic-water-bottles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BanTheBottle+%28Ban+the+Bottle%29