Archive for April, 2010
« Previous EntriesHow Can Green Consumers Demand Durable Technology?
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
I have been thinking about writing this post ever since my aborted attempt at repairing some USB headphones this weekend. I am very frustrated with the fact that almost all consumer electronics are designed to break. It makes perfect sense from a business standpoint, but it is pretty much the opposite of [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
He speaks truth! Chuck Howe tears apart a proposal to ship water to Colorado’s Front Range that’s based on unreal costs and imaginary customers.
A distraction: TapIt’s website and iPhone application users can locate the nearest participating business that acts as a water refill location. Whatever happened to using the tap in the [...]
Water Policy in Spain — The (mini) Review
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Garrido and Llamas edited this book on Spanish water policy. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to read it; even if I did, I would not have the expertise to evaluate it. On the other hand, I recommend it to anyone interested in that country, comparative institutions for managing water, and [...]
Irrigating for National Security
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
JM and JWT sent this surreal article:
Lemoore Naval Air Station’s 18-thousand acres lie entirely within the Westland’s water district, the district most affected by the severe reductions in water imposed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to protect “endangered species” in the delta.
But without that water, Capt Knapp says, his “partner” farmers [...]
Travelblog: Indonesia photos I
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
In the next few days, I’m going to post a few photos for those of you interested my thoughts from my recent travels in Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
Part I: You’re in a less-developed country
Indonesia is welcoming, but not to drug traffickers. Also see this post on Islam.
This pollution indicator sign [...]
I’m in the right club
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
(via DL) Yesterday, Asit Biswas (winner of the Stockholm Prize for his work on water issues) said this about the Millenium Development Goals for water:
“If somebody has a well in a town or village in the developing world and we put concrete around the well – nothing else – it becomes an [...]
Monday Funnies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
In related news funnies, we have this insight:
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Don’t take our water (or buy it?)
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
DW sent this:
A North State water agency has filed suit in federal court in Sacramento based on a 77-year-old state law that says water shall not be shipped from its area of origin unless and until the local water contractors’ thirsts have been quenched.
In other words, they do not want “foreigners” to [...]
Flashback: 18 — 24 Apr 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still relevant (to me :), so please comment!
Water in Europe — they use a lot for agriculture as well, maybe because it’s subsidized too.
Shantytowns and Growth — better policies, not fences, will work.
BEST: Read This Paper on Demand Management! Again. Then reflect on The Value of Water — we [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This academic paper [pdf] shows that people will use less water if they are outside “peer” norms…
Terrain magazine has some good stories:
How Berkeley’s horrible bureaucracy prevents backyard farmers from selling to their neighbors.
Pesticide residue on lawns means that “green waste” clippings contaminate — and invalidate — organic compost.
An interview with Annie Leonard [...]
Co-equal fiction — and realistic solutions
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
David Hayes (Interior deputy secretary) says that the Delta is a “zero-sum game,” which I interpret to mean that co-equal goals — save the environment AND export water — are not possible. (Maybe I’m wrong, but hang with me here…)
That’s what I was thinking when I wrote “A Broken Hub Will Not [...]
The US can improve
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
After a few months in Australia and New Zealand, I think we need these changes:
The metric system! Would 2 yrs matter?
Sales taxes included in prices, but footnoted on the receipt
No tipping*
Mailboxes that we can modify — especially with the right to refuse junk mail.**
gas prices that do NOT include tenths of pennies, [...]
Earth Day
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
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The pendulum has swung too far
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“A woman has been sentenced to jail for a hoax in which she claimed her daughter was injured by a glass shard in a bottle of water…The former Better Business Bureau* employee was sentenced to 30 days in jail”
“* BBBs gather and report information on business reliability, alert the public to frauds [...]
Water managers don’t look for bargains
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
BF, who works for an irrigation efficiency firm, says:
What drive me nuts is this: cities (eg. San Diego) have HUGE funds (~$10 Million) for rebates for low flow personal appliances (shower heads, toilets, etc) that save maybe 50 gallons of water a week and yet we get feedback from cities that they [...]
China’s so-called friends
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
China’s dams on the Mekong worry neighbors. The Chinese — as people everywhere — will use up all that “extra” supply, the environment will suffer, and the situration will return to the that of “emergency” status quo ante — something that also worries Peter Gleick. It would be better if the Chinese [...]
Floral externalities
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Kenya is the main exporter of flowers to Europe, and the Kenyan floral industry is centered around Lake Naivasha in Rift Valley Province. Unfortunately, although the livelihood of half a million inhabitants depends upon floriculture, an unsustainable demand for irrigation water is draining the lake” [Italian original].
Unsustainable can be translated as “they [...]
LADWP’s new head
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The Daily News is annoyed that the mayor has appointed his friend as the temporary head of LADWP. I agree. LA doesn’t need more cronyism.
They are surprised that the new head is a Wall Street financier, not an engineer. That does NOT surprise me.
They worry that he will not be qualified to [...]
The sorrow of West Virginia
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Some of you may have heard of the 25-plus coal miners who died in an “accident” at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine. What you may not have heard is this:
In 2009, the Mine Safety and Health Administration cited the UBB mine 515 times, often for problems with its ventilation and escape-route [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Renowned physicist Bob Parks does the math: “What must be done [to combat climate change] is to reduce the fertility rate to below two, and keep it below two until world population drops to about a third of what it is now. It requires no draconian measures. We have only to educate [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Renowned physicist Bob Parks does the math: “What must be done [to combat climate change] is to reduce the fertility rate to below two, and keep it below two until world population drops to about a third of what it is now. It requires no draconian measures. We have only to educate [...]
My talk to the environmental engineers
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
About 50 people (mostly graduate students) showed up to this talk on California infrastructure.
Here are my slides [pdf]
Here is the one hour talk [21 mb mp3]
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Dam bureaucrats
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This correspondence (via HZ) is real, and I recommend that you read the dam funny reply (under the fold):
December 17, 1997
Mr. Ryan DeVries
2088 Dagget
Pierson, MI 49339
Dear Mr. DeVries:
SUBJECT: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023-1 T11N, R10W, Sec. 20, Montcalm Count-,),
It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has [...]
A Modest Proposal for Carbon
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Given:
China is growing without restraint, through exports and exploitation of natural resources.
The US has a voracious appetite for imports, but little credit to buy them, and little local production to export.
The Chinese are eating more and more meat, and Americans suffer an obesity problem.**
(1) and (2) can be reconciled by taking (3) [...]
America is NOT turning socialist
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
We already are. Click on the image (or here) to see the full size.
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