Water Supplies

An old commons-based solution to a 21st century crisis

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Right here in the desert southwest, in fact, one of the last great “common pool resource” systems in North America provides irrigation water and open grazing land to farmers and pastoralists. Derived from the imported culture of Spanish settlers (via the Arabic Moors who brought the concept to Iberia previously) and combined with the best practices of the native peoples of the region, the acequia system is a powerful example of how we might envision people working together not only with each other but with the land itself.

Will shale gas turn out to be an energy sink?

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We may ultimately find that shale gas is nothing but an energy sink. It will provide net energy for a while to those who are living now while burdening future generations with huge cleanup costs that, in terms of energy, may equal or exceed the energy gain we are currently receiving from this supposedly “clean” energy source.

Knowledge and change, the intangible and development

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Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a body of knowledge that has been nurtured and built upon by groups of people through generations of living in close contact with nature. It is usually specific to the local environment, and therefore highly adapted to the requirements of local people and conditions. Three examples illustrate the value of intangible cultural heritage to the evolving crises of our times: food, energy and climate change.

The ‘transition’ movements in North America and Western Europe, which are contributing greatly to a wider and participatory understanding of sustainable societies, now embody ideas and practices that have been at work for centuries in the rice-growing communities of Sri Lanka (as also elsewhere in South and South-East Asia). The water tribunals of Valencia and Murcia (which is on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity) serve as an inspiring testament to the strength and validity of an ancient system of adjudicating rights and resources.

Boat mills: water powered, floating factories

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The waterwheel was seen as the most important power source in the world, from the Middle Ages to the end of the nineteenth century. When smaller streams became saturated, medieval engineers turned their attention to larger rivers, eventually leading to the development of the hydropower dams that still exists today. Lesser known are the intermediate steps toward that technology: boat mills, bridge mills and hanging mills.

Climate scientists get tough – Nov 21

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– Want to Stand Up for Climate Science? We’re Doing It
– US Researchers Fight to Reclaim Climate Science Message
– Climate Change: Science’s Fresh Fight to Win Over the Sceptics
– In Canada It’s a Gov’t Versus Its People on Climate Change
– Stuart Stanifor on the Future of Drought
– The Ten Biggest American Cities That Are Running Out Of Water-

Water – Oct 17

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– When I learned that water isn’t supposed to have a taste
– Has the U.S. Passed the Point of Peak Water?
– Expect More Floods as Global Water Cycle Speeds Up
– When Will Our Water Be Clean?