Keith Schneider: Climate Treaty Will Come After COP15

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It’s been 30 years since scientists first gained a clear understanding of the dangerous consequences of continuously adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This week during the five days of negotiations in Barcelona the world learned again that the formula for solving global warming is a diplomatic chemistry problem that still defies a solution.

Peter Gleick: California Water Bills. Is the New Water Legislation Better than Nothing?

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A lot of people have asked me my opinion about the new water legislation just passed in Sacramento. Here is a longer version of my piece in the New York Times Bay Area blog page

Keith Schneider: Advocates Try To Plug the Drain of Water From Climate Negotiations

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Circle of Blue's Keith Schneider examines the Bangkok and Barcelona conferences to understand why water's been pulled from climate negotiations. Schneider also talks with an advocate who's determined to put water back on the table.

Peter Gleick: Doing Desalination Wrong: Poseidon on the Public Dole

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Many people believe that desalination of seawater is the ultimate solution to California (and the planet's) water problems. I've written about desalination in previous posts (see here and here), and have made it clear that I love the idea. In theory. And in select locations.

Peter Gleick: Who Is Stealing California’s Water?

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Someone is stealing our water. Many someones. But who and how much? No one knows today, mostly because the agency responsible for keeping an eye on water rights and use--the State Water Resources Control Board--is blind, deaf, and dumb. Blind, because they don't look. Deaf, because they don't listen to or act on most requests to investigate water rights allocations and use. Dumb, because they don't talk about these issues. "Asleep at the switch," as a colleague describes it.

Peter Gleick: Water use in the United States has Leveled off: New Remarkable Numbers Released

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New numbers on total water use in the United States in 2005 have just been released by the U.S. Geological Survey, which does an assessment of water use every five years.

Peter Gleick: Water and Population part 2

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In a previous post here, I raised the population and water issue in a general way. My point was that ignoring the population component of our resource challenges was a mistake, certainly in the long term and in some places, in the short term. I think this is indisputable -- resource constraints are worse than they would otherwise be if populations are large and growing rapidly rather than small and growing slowly, or even shrinking.

Peter Gleick: Destroying our Libraries: A Water Story

Libary of Alexandria, Courtesy: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:DomitoriIn 49 BC, parts of the priceless Library of Alexandria burned, when Julius Caesar set a fire to the Egyptian fleet in the harbor and the fire spread.

Peter Gleick: Population and Water

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Population discussions raise lots of hackles. And they bring the crazies out of the woodwork like termites when the Orkin Man appears.

Peter Gleick: Safe Water During Disasters: Preparing Better for the Inevitable

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Disasters happen. Earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis,…

Peter Gleick: Crikey! Real Water Conservation and Efficiency in Australia

Regular readers of this blog know my feelings about the potential to improve the efficiency of our water use. Besides being cheaper and more environmentally beneficial than new supply options, efficiency improvements are easier to find.

Peter Gleick: Another Missed Opportunity to Fix California’s Water Problems

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It is raining this morning. Very unusual for September. Maybe we'll have a wet year.