tagged w/ Urbanization
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In a dramatic reversal of fortune compared to last year, an unusually dry winter is causing the level of Lake Mead, Nevada, to decline, making water managers increasingly anxious about supplying water to the thirsty Southwest.
The latest U.S. Drought Outlook shows continued dry conditions in the Southwest are likely for the rest of the winter.
During the past three years, the level of Lake Mead has followed a boom and bust cycle, dropping to a record low in 2010 during an intense drought, then recovering during 2011 thanks to record mountain snowfall, and now dropping again in the midst of a dry winter.
According to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, water managers are forecasting the lake level to drop by about 13 feet due to the dry winter so far. As the newspaper reported:
"In December, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was predicting a roughly 11-foot rise in Lake Mead over the next year. Now the bureau expects the nation's largest man-made reservoir to shed about 13 feet by January 2013.
One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, which is enough water to supply two average valley homes for one year. At current consumption levels, the 2.45 million acre-foot reduction in Lake Mead's forecast since last month represents enough water to supply the entire Las Vegas Valley for a decade."
During the past 11 years, a particularly dry and warm climate has lingered in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Southern California, leading to reduced flow along the Colorado River. In fact, scientists have already shown that the stress on the water resources in the Southwest region is consistent with the effects of a warmer climate, and that increased emissions of heat-trapping gases are linked to recent changes in river flows and winter snow pack. Adding to the region's water challenges is the fact that cities that draw water from Lake Mead, such as Las Vegas, have grown in recent years and are further taxing the water supply.
More at the linkIn a dramatic reversal of fortune compared to last year, an unusually dry winter is... more
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From The New York Times: Environment
By JUSTIN GILLIS
Published: November 18, 2011
It is likely that greenhouse gas emissions related to human activity have already led to more record-high temperatures and fewer record lows, as well as to greater coastal flooding and possibly to more extremes of precipitation, the report said.
Whether inland flooding is getting worse because of greenhouse gases is murkier, the report said. Nor, it found, can any firm conclusion be drawn at this point about a human influence on hurricanes, typhoons, hail storms or tornadoes.
The findings were released at a conference in Kampala, Uganda, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a high-profile United Nations body assigned to review and report periodically on developments in climate research. They come at a time of unusual weather disasters around the globe, from catastrophic flooding in Asia and Australia to blizzards, floods, heat waves, droughts, wildfires and windstorms in the United States that have cost billions of dollars.
“A hotter, moister atmosphere is an atmosphere primed to trigger disasters,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton University climate scientist and a principal author of the new report. “As the world gets hotter, the risk gets higher.”
The I.P.C.C. won the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007 for its efforts on climate change, but later became a focus of controversy related to minor factual errors in a large report that it had issued that year. It has tightened its procedures in the hope of preventing future errors.
The new report on extreme weather, one of a string of reports that the panel is issuing on relatively narrow issues, did not break much ground scientifically, essentially refining findings that have been emerging in climate science papers in recent years.
Indeed, the delegates meeting in Kampala adopted scientifically cautious positions in some areas. For instance, some researchers have presented evidence suggesting that hurricanes are growing more intense because of climate change, but the report sided with a group of experts who say that such a claim is premature.
Nonetheless, the report predicted that certain types of weather extremes will grow more numerous and more intense as human-induced global warming worsens in coming decades.
“It is virtually certain that increases in the frequency and magnitude of warm daily temperature extremes and decreases in cold extremes will occur in the 21st century on the global scale,” the report said. “It is likely that the frequency of heavy precipitation or the proportion of total rainfall from heavy falls will increase in the 21st century over many areas of the globe.”
By the end of the century, if greenhouse emissions continue unabated, the type of heat wave that now occurs once every 20 years will be occurring every couple of years across large areas of the planet, the report predicted.
Even as such extremes are projected to increase, human vulnerability to them is growing as well, the report said. Rising populations and flawed decisions about land use, like permitting unchecked coastal development, are putting more and more people in harm’s way, the report said.
“Rapid urbanization and the growth of megacities, especially in the developing countries, have led to the emergence of highly vulnerable urban communities, particularly through informal settlements” — meaning slums — “and inadequate land management,” the report said.
Increases in population density and in the value of property at risk, rather than changes in the climate, are the likeliest explanation for rising disaster losses in many countries, the report said. It called on governments to do a better job of protecting people and heading off catastrophes before they strike.
The report, approved in its final form on Friday morning, is a 29-page summary of a larger document with more scientific detail that is not expected to be ready until the spring. The group’s next all-encompassing review of climate science is due in 2013.
In two weeks, negotiators from many countries are to convene in Durban, South Africa, to try, as they have been doing for nearly 20 years, to come up with more effective ways of reining in the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are causing the climate to change.
Analysts are not optimistic about any major breakthrough at those talks. At the same time, some countries that had long held out are starting to adopt stronger domestic policies on climate change, with Australia being a notable example. It passed a carbon tax earlier this month.
Some groups that have long attacked mainstream climate science did so again Friday in response to the new report. David Whitehouse, an astrophysicist working for a London organization called the Global Warming Policy Foundation, declared that “the I.P.C.C. scientists are speculating far beyond any reasonable scientific justification.”
But advocates of climate action, particularly American groups stymied in their efforts to win aggressive measures in Washington, welcomed the new report.
“I think it really provides an opportunity to shift the conversation away from just changes in global averages to the kinds of extreme weather that people are seeing in their back yards,” said Juanita Constible, who follows scientific issues for the Climate Reality Project, founded by Mr. Gore.
http://www.whataretheywaitingfor.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Global-Climate-Change.jpgFrom The New York Times: Environment
By JUSTIN GILLIS
Published: November 18, 2011... more
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Photographer Peter McBride traveled along the Colorado River from its source high in the Rocky Mountains to its historic mouth at the Sea of Cortez. In this Yale Environment 360 video, he follows the natural course of the Colorado by raft, on foot, and overhead in a small plane, telling the story of a river whose water is siphoned off at every turn, leaving it high and dry 80 miles from the sea.
In the video, McBride, a Colorado native, documents how increasing water demands have transformed the river that is the lifeblood for an arid Southwest.Photographer Peter McBride traveled along the Colorado River from its source high in... more
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Air pollution: The silent killer
Air pollution: Silent killer in the city
By Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
November 16, 2010 8:53 a.m. EST
How to protect yourself from polluted air
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Air pollution can raise the risk of lung and heart problems, Dr. Gupta says
* Urban pollution kills more than a million people annually, according to U.N. figures
* Cities around the world are trying out solutions to tackle the problem
Kobe, Japan (CNN) -- For the last several days, I have been in beautiful Kobe, Japan, reporting about the World Health Organization forum on urbanization and health.
Given that more than half the world's population now lives in cities, with the number expected to increase significantly, the implications on individual health are becoming pretty clear. A lot of the discussion here has been specifically on the quality of the air we breathe, and the news has not been great.
For starters, an Environmental Protection Agency report found the air in many cities is simply too dirty to breathe. Think about that: as things stand now, toxic pollution has become a particular disease of the world's urbanites, affecting more than a billion of its citizens.
And, if you look more closely at the impact of pollution, you see more than half the burden on human health is on people in developing countries already crippled with poverty and few resources.
As things stand now, toxic pollution has become a particular disease of the world's urbanites.
--Dr. Sanjay Gupta
For example, here in Kobe, there is an obvious marriage between the industrial sector filled with at least 15 large factories, and residential areas close by. Walking around the city, you quickly see the consequences of explosive urban growth. The combination of factory emissions with exhaust from trucks, buses and automobiles is proving toxic to human health.
Today, urban pollution kills a million people a year, according to the United Nations. And, conventional wisdom was that it took a long time to develop health problems associated with pollution, but it is simply not the case. A study published in 2007 found that on days when pollution is high, cities see spikes in emergency room visits over the next 24 hours. Just one day.
If you live in a city, chances are you might not even notice just how polluted the air has become. Turns out that within four days of breathing the dirty air in, your body sort of becomes accustomed to it, despite the fact that your airways becomes more inflamed and restricted, and your risk of lung and heart problems start to rise.
The good news is that fixes are being tested in many cities around the world. In Shanghai, coal-free downtown areas have been established, which has already resulted in lower particulate matter. In New York City, there is a ban on idling trucks and buses. And in Bogota, transport management policies have led to increased use of mass transit.
Having spent time in many major cities on every continent in the world, it is safe to say "urbanization" is here to stay. As individuals and as societies, however, it is up to us to try to make the beautiful city we live in a safer and healthier one.Air pollution: The silent killer
Air pollution: Silent killer in the city
By Dr.... more
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i. Fundamental agriculture: That needed for human survival, i.e. fruit, vegetable, grain, oil and seeds, cereals, essential spices, salt, and etc. Farmers of such products if prioritized, irrespective of size of farm land, would give more. This may be one of the solutions to retain them to Fundamental agriculture:
Ø Incentive based on the production per M2 or bighas or acre so more produced would get more. Small farmers can earn more by organic quality products. Quality and quantity both be taken into account as quality producers would give lesser yield.
Ø Labour cost all over the world has increased discouraging farmers. Most farmers end up in losses. So Incentive per Kg or tonne sold should cover cost and the profit. This is one of the ways to improve rural employment opportunity and living standard of agricultural workers, without upsetting farmers.
ii. Commercial Agriculture: We can divide this to two categories:
Ø Commercial agriculture but essential for human survival – Such agriculture is essential for human and are basic needs. These may be milk, fishery, poultry, bio fertilizer, organic products and so on. Over 60% of Indian farmers are with small lands unable to grow sufficient for market and self. Many states of India with rising urbanization are neglecting these sectors. Blame goes to educational system that helps urbanization.
Small farmers with very less land need encouragement and training to set up alternative sources of agriculture such as poultry, fishery etc., in order to promote production to accommodate shortfall and rising prices.
Allowances and interest free loans, to promote produce and their living standard.
Direct marketing facilities without multiple mediators.
Ø 2nd category is agriculture with commercial intention: Rubber, spices, and wood of commercial usage, flowers and ornamental ingredients, dry fruits, spirits, chemicals, medicinal and cosmetic usage, bio fuel and etc.i. Fundamental agriculture: That needed for human survival, i.e. fruit,... more
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Globalization Overpopulates urban cities as job openings and educational systems are based on urbanization. In 1800, 2% of world’s population was in urban cities. In 1950, 30% urbanized. In 2000, 47% of world population began to live in urban cities and in 2008, urban population reached Over 50% (Facts by www.unhabitat.org).
Agricultural land forest conversion to urban lands. Impact of urban growth is reducing size of agricultural land. Over 20% of farm lands of developing countries have been converted to cities and buildings for the past decades and Over 50% of farmlands of villages (close to cities) got merged with citiesGlobalization Overpopulates urban cities as job openings and educational systems are... more
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More than 1/2 the world's population lives in cities today...5 urbanists (inluding the always interesting and provacative James Howard Kunstler) give their opinion on how our cities need to adapt to the growing urban population. More than 1/2 the world's population lives in cities today...5 urbanists... more
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This is a very small but representative sample of what we have done with our coast in Spain.
Not much to say, except that there have been not one politician, not one developer, not one person has yet been held accountable for any of this. Will we ever learn?
Photos are from newspaper El Pais. Music by Camaron de la Isla.This is a very small but representative sample of what we have done with our coast in... more
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