Posts

Wild rice on the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin is in the floating leaf stage by early June, with a single shoot lying on the water’s surface. This is considered one of the most critical—and and dangerous—stages in the rice’s life cycle. The plants are just beginning to change physiologically from exchanging gases with the water column to exchanging gases with the air. Therefore, they are very susceptible to heavy rains and flooding events that can either rip out the young plants by the roots, or drown them. June 6, 2011.

Where Food Grows on Water: Environmental and Human Threats to Wisconsin’s Wild Rice

3 Comments
/
For generations, the upper Great Lakes region has boasted harvests of wild rice, growing in Lake Superior and other watersheds within the basin. But disease, dams, and climate change are now endangering the uncultivated bounty.
train

Coal Conversion in the Rust Belt: Will It Be a Diamond for Small Ohio River Town?

3 Comments
/
An energy company has plans to withdraw water from the Ohio River, the potential site for a coal-to-liquid fuels conversion plant, which would be the first of its kind in the United States and the sixth in the world. Though it will bring jobs to the region, the proposal is facing strong opposition from environmental groups.

American Arsenic: After a Decade, Small Communities Still Struggle to Meet Federal Drinking Water Standards

9 Comments
/
When the EPA lowered the arsenic standard for drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 in 2001, there were 3,000 water systems in violation. Today, nearly a thousand still are.
The Pleasant Power Station, Willow Island, West Virginia. 1.3 megawatt coal-fired power plant.

FOIA Lawsuit Seeks Release of U.S. Department of Energy’s ‘Water-Energy Roadmap’

0 Comments
/
The report, one of two ordered by Congress on water and energy, has been delayed for years.
Water & Energy Chokepoint

Double Choke Point: Demand for Energy Tests Water Supply and Economic Stability in China and the U.S.

2 Comments
/
The cords of energy demand and water supply are tightening around the world's two largest economies.
Mongolia Slideshow

Energy Economy Brings Change to Shepherd Life: Modernization Comes to the Dry Grasslands of Inner Mongolia

0 Comments
/
Along the vast frozen grasslands, 23-year-old Wu Yun and her father, Bao Zhu, tend their flock of sheep and cattle. Just over the ridge, the northern city of Xilinhot is booming as the coal industry continues to expand. But it will take a lot of water to feed both the city and the mining.
Shanghai Drought

Rains Bring Relief For Six-Month China Drought, But Chronic Water Problems Loom

1 Comment
/
Although now satiated, the dry spell is the latest in a growing trend of severe water shortages threatening China's food production, energy generation, and accelerating modernization.

Uncertain Future for Shale Gas in Europe — Accepted by U.K., Rejected by France, Others Undecided

2 Comments
/
Despite getting a go-ahead in the U.K., shale gas faces an uncertain future in Europe.
alt

China’s Other Looming Choke Point: Food Production

6 Comments
/
The Yellow River Basin is the center of a contest over water, energy, and agriculture.

The Price of Water 2011: Prices Rise an Average of 9 Percent in Major U.S. Cities

18 Comments
/
Because of costlier inputs and infrastructure replacement, rate experts predict prices will only go higher.
Faced with irrigation restrictions, many farmers in eastern Hebei Province look for other ways to make a living.

Off the Deep End — Beijing’s Water Demand Outpaces Supply Despite Conservation, Recycling, and Imports

2 Comments
/
How China's capital got in over its head, and what the city is doing to get its water crisis under control.
AAJ-Ningxia-IMG_8436_1000x694

Water Needs Curtail China’s Coal Gasification For Fuel, Yet Conversion To Chemicals Pushes Ahead

2 Comments
/
Though coal-to-liquids has been suspended due to water scarcity, the process uses 50 percent less water per unit of end product compared with coal-to-chemicals processes which have been given the go-ahead in hopes of slowing petroleum imports.