Entries by Cody Pope

College cafeterias drop trays to save water

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GLENVILLE, W.Va — College cafeterias across the nation are ditching trays in order to become more “green”, LiveScience reports. The move, intended to reduce the amount of water consumed and the amount of waste products making it into the watershed, saves thousands of gallons daily. At Georgia Tech, enrollment 18,000, their no-tray policy saves nearly […]

Video: Kenny Irby of the Poynter Institute

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In a video interview with Circle of Blue, Kenny Irby, visual journalism group leader and diversity program director of the Poynter Institute, discusses the power of photos to drive social change.

“Mouth to Source” hopes to create a virtual library of Earth’s rivers

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Mouth to Source/Paul Stewart A Quicktime VR image from the the mouth of the Mekong at Thua Long (Quicktime Required) from “Mouth to Source”. “Mouth to Source”, an online blog hoping to navigate and photograph the world’s rivers, allows users to virtually tour the Mekong river in South Asia. Paul Stewart, founder and editor of […]

Himalayan Yeti Absent from the Headwaters of Asia’s rivers?

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Habitat loss, water diversion projects, and modern life threaten unknown primate.

As the Murray River Dries, Hope Dies

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The lower lakes of the Murray River in South Australia are slowly drying up, as water use along the Murray-Darling river basin continues to threaten the long-term health of the watershed. Lower lakes residents, hoping for an influx of water from upstream reserves, were told by government officials that, barring substantial rain, the reservoirs would […]

The River of Grass: Florida’s Everglades, clean energy, and sugar

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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Efforts to restore portions of the Everglades to more historic conditions have prompted the state government to buy up United States Sugar and its 187,000 acres of land. Under the proposal, U.S. Sugar would continue operating as usual for the next six years, before turning their land over to officials. […]

Sanitation and drinking water: is the world on track?

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New UNICEF and the World Health Organization report: despite global progress, sanitation remains a major health concern throughout the developing world. By C.T. Pope, Circle of Blue UPDATE: This article was updated on May 26, 2009. When I first arrived in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala, I spent the night in a posh upscale suburban […]

Climate change, water shortages threaten the cedars of Lebanon

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LEBANON — The historic cedars of Lebanon, famed from biblical accounts and prized for more than 4000 years throughout the Middle East, are now threatened by climate change, Reuters reports. The cedars, which once covered vast areas of the landscape from Turkey to Lebanon, stand as a symbol of Lebanese nationalism, but an ever warming […]

Global warming to increase unpredictable weather, impacts on water, Cooley says in Congressional testimony

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WASHINGTON – Congressional testimony July 10 said that global warming is likely to increase pressure on existing water resources and cause extreme events such as floods and droughts, as well as a rise in sea-levels. During the congressional committee hearing, Heather Cooley, senior research associate at the Pacific Institute, described what to expect and how […]

Great Lakes compact now moves to Congress

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SAUGATUCK, Michigan – Michigan became the last state to approve the Great Lakes Compact on Wednesday, with Govern Granholm formally approving the compact. Before it can become official US policy however, the international treaty needs to move through the US Congress where expectations are high that it will pass, the Detroit Free Press reports. The […]

U.S. water usage by state on Google Earth

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Using United States Geological Survey data from the most recent U.S. water consumption reports, Circle of Blue has generated a new visualization of water use by state. The Google Earth module also includes data for the U.S. Drought Monitor. Click here to download the module. Cody PopeCircle of Blue’s east coast correspondent based in New […]

T. Boone Pickens: Largest private U.S. water owner

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Texas – Businessman T. Boone Pickens is buying water and lots of it. The 80 year-old king of the cooperate takeover, has set his sights on the twenty-first century’s new oil. He plans to sell some 65 billion gallons of water a year to the Texas counties and municipalities lying south of his Mesa Vista […]