Comments on: Links for the Week – April 29/06

By: Dave Pollard

Dave Pollard — Fri, 05 May 2006 20:09:31 +0000

Gav: Thanks. I confess I’m not a fan of Nielsen products. I find blogpulse tends to pander to celebrity watch, trivia, and other similar insignificant matters while ignoring matters of substance. Their charts are pretty cluttered and undecipherable. “The job of the media is to make what’s important interesting”, as Bill Maher said, and the MSM and Nielsen have no interest in doing that. Joe: Could, could, could. Yes of course this is all possible, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. We are a reactive species, always playing catch-up. Western US snowpack, which provides most of their potable water and irrigates 75% of US-grown fruit, is down by 60% in a generation, and still plummeting due to global warming. Even if PRI’s recommendations were followed, it would not be enough to prevent a huge water scarcity in the US by 2050, one which could easily precipitate a war with Canada. We’re going to see too-little, too-late conservation of water just as we’re seeing it now with oil.

By: Joe Deely

Joe Deely — Tue, 02 May 2006 00:18:45 +0000

"You Think the End of Oil is Bad, Just Wait for the End of Water: In an interview with Fred Pearce, author of the new book When the Rivers Run Dry, Salon's Katherine Mieszkowski reveals how much water we waste, and how much water scarcity is driving and will drive future political conflict."The key word in the above statement is "waste". It is not that difficult to reduce water usage if some simple policies are implemented. In California, water usage has essentially remained flat since 1980... even with a huge increase in the number of households and a booming economy.And according to the Pacific Research Institute,simple changes could reduce California's water consumption by 20% over the next 25 years. "The Pacific Institute High Efficiency scenario shows that water use in 2030 could be 20 percent below 2000 levels, even with a growing population and a healthy economy. "http://www.pacinst.org/reports/california_water_2030/ca_water_2030.pdfIf, California, one of the fastest growing regions of the world can cut water usage over the next 25 years, even after many efficiency improvements over the past 25 years, then it should be much easier for other regions in the world to do the same. Imagine what we could do if we eliminated non-native grass lawns and charged farmers a more realistic price for their water. This is not rocket science.

By: scruff

scruff — Mon, 01 May 2006 18:52:49 +0000

There I was asking for a sign to let me know if I should quit my job or not, and what else do I find but that beautiful squiggle up at the top of this post. Thanks, Dave. I’m gonna go party with Jesus.

By: Big Gav

Big Gav — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 13:30:46 +0000

The other blog tracking service is called "Blogpulse"http://blogpulse.com/