Food and Water Watch is encouraging concerned citizens to contact President-elect and his transition team to develop solid policies and programs for food, water and fish.
This is the link to send a message: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/t/5915/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=392
Here's an article I penned in August with climatologist William Patzert of JPL. It appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 19.
The article makes the case that water conservatin is a California necessity, but of course it is also a national and international necessity.
There is an increased focus in Europe on the centrality of water in dealing with climate change as reported by this article from EurActive.com
The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) , adopted in 2000, established a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. According to the directive, each member states must develop a river basin management plan "for each river basin district lying entirely within their territory" by the end of 2009.
The aim is to give groundwater, surface water and coastal waters 'healthy' status by 2015 by reducing pollution, protecting natural river structures and more efficient use of existing water resources by households, industry and agriculture.
This article, reprinted from EurActive.com, reports that environmental NGOs are urging European countiries, as they review their water management plans, to reconsider water allocation and pricing policies.
Corruption in the water sector is the "root cause" of the current global water crisis and is undermining efforts to develop a global response to climate change and the food crisis, according to a report published yesterday (25 June) by Transparency International.
The report , compiled by over twenty experts, highlights the importance of good governance in the water sector. It notably reveals how corruption has had a knock-on effect on the consequences of climate change by thwarting resettlement programmes and hindering water-sharing pacts.
- Reprinted from EurActive.com
By Stuart Fox Posted on Popsci.com
After a year of winnowing down questions from 38,000 scientists and citizens, Science Debate 2008 sent 14 covering health, research, the environment and science to the presidential candidates. Both Senator McCain and Senator Obama answered the questions, and their answers can be read here. However, it’s easy for a politician to make promises, so PopSci investigated both senator’s voting records to see if their history matched up with their promises for the future. Each day for the next two weeks we'll present an analysis of the candidate’s voting records as compared with their answers to the ScienceDebate2008 questions. You can follow the entire series at popsci.com/election, where you can also sign up for an RSS feed.
Premiere California water activist Dorothy Green's plea for a reformed water policy appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 8th, a week before her death.
Heal the Bay's founder lays out her vision for a clean and sustainable state supply.
by Dorothy Green October 8, 2008
To everything there is a season; but water is eternal. Or it was, until we started disturbing its natural rhythms. We penned it behind dams and diverted it to aqueducts, starving the life out of rivers and creating an unsupportable addiction to using more water than we need to live. Despite the looming crisis in water, we have enough to live on, but not enough to waste. And waste it we have, with great enthusiasm for lush green lawns in a desert and a penchant for backroom deals with agribusiness. These deals end up as sweetheart ones for the moneyed corporate farmers, providing them with essentially a bountiful private water supply, which they sell off at a profit, while the rest of us are carefully metered and potentially rationed.
John McCain has responded to the issue of water scarcity posed by Science Debate 2008. His complete response is found below.
A side-by-side comparison of his comments and Barack Obama's on this and other scientific issues can be found at: http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=42
An online vote comparing the responses of the two presidential candidates, grading Obama's as substantially superior is located here: http://sciencedebate2008.com/vote/?cat=14
Pithy comments comparing the responses of the two presidential candidates can be found at: http://sciencedebate2008.com/vote/?p=39#comments
A group of scientists, engineers and other concerned citizens have formed Science Debate 2008 to ensure that important science topics are dealt with in the 2008 Campaign. One of the fourteen questions submitted to the candidates was regarding water scarcity.
Barack Obama has responded to the issue by promoting close collaboration to develop greater water efficiency and eliminate waste. His complete response is found below:
A historic process to protect the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River Basin has now been completed as the US House of Representatives passed a joint ressolution providing consent to the Great Lakes Compact.
As water shortages in developing countries become more acute due to climate change, the EU is backing policies to manage the demands of all sectors, prioritising health, sanitation and cooperation between states.
This post and the related links outline the approach to achieving the Millenium Development Goas of reducing the number of people without adequate access to safe drinking water and santiation by half by the year 2015.
These policies present a framework for an Obama administration policy on international water issues.
McCain suggests renegotiating Colorado River compact to benefit Ariz., Nev., and Calif.
From Daily Kos
by mcjoan
On Thursday, Rasmussen reported a 2 point lead for McCain over Obama in Colorado, 47-45.
If they repolled today, chances are very good that slim gain would be gone. Because there's one thing you do not mess with in Colorado, and that's water.
Is it just an Arizona bias or a shameful lack of awareness about western water issues that motivated John McCain's recent comments about reopening the Colorado River Compact that determines the water fate of seven dry western states???
This Denver Post editorial details McCain's shocking position, a startling threat to six western states.
Why Water Rights Are Women's Rights
By Yifat Susskind, AlterNet.
Imagine that day. You spend six hours fetching and hauling heavy loads of water across a dangerous expanse. Once you get the water home, you conserve and manage every drop to have enough for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing the kids, and watering the vegetable garden that keeps your family from going hungry. Since the water is untreated, you never know what kind of microbes or pollution you and your family are drinking.
