A South American drought keeps global grain reserves tight, but it could mean good things for North American corn producers.

Global Perspectives: How Dry Weather in Argentina Could Affect Chicken Prices in Chicago

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A South American drought keeps global grain reserves tight, but it could mean good things for North American corn producers.

Food vs. Water: High Commodity Prices Complicate Aquifer Protection in Colorado’s San Luis Valley

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Decades of groundwater pumping have left one of the San Luis Valley aquifers in a perilous state. To restore its health — and the foundation of the local economy — valley leaders are developing a plan to pay farmers to fallow up to 16,000 hectares. But with commodity prices soaring, will anyone go for it, or will the state have to step in?

Water News: What’s Ahead in 2012

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News headlines are often dominated by the big, unexpected events…

Map: NASA Shows Big Dip in U.S. Groundwater Regionally, Especially Near Texas Drought

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Using calculations based on satellite observations and long-term…

Report: Thirsty Power Plants Increase U.S. Water Stress

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Water-energy choke points in Texas serve as examples of a larger issue for the United States, as pointed out in a new report for the Energy and Water in a Warming World Initiative, spearheaded by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Red Tide Dead Fish Algae Blooms

Red Tide Downstream of Texas Drought: Marine Ecosystems Suffer Lack of Fresh Water

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High temperatures and salinity concentrations along the Texas Gulf Coast are behind a toxic red tide, fish kills, and an influx of oyster parasites. Additionally, several saltwater species have been found upstream, surviving in a typically freshwater environment and signaling a large change in these delta ecosystems.
Somalia Suffers from Severe Drought

Water and Food Security: Somalia Famine Grows, Drought Could Ease

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Meteorologists are hopeful for future rainfall, though they say the current disaster was preventable. The lack of rain, which is also affecting neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, and political instability have tipped Somalia into a food crisis that could persist, even as drought conditions abate.

Peter Gleick: Water as a Weapon — Qaddafi’s Last Desperate Gamble

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There is a long history of conflicts over water. The first known water war was nearly 5,000 years ago: a conflict over irrigation ditches between the cities of Umma and Lagash in ancient Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq.

Texas Utilities Use Restrictions, Not Prices, To Cope With Water Shortages

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The preference for government mandates reinforces the idea that…

Tehuacán Video Essay: Scarcity and Solutions – Pt. 1

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The Tehuacán Valley captures the tragedy and triumph of Mexico’s worst freshwater crisis in decades. In this video, meet Francisca Rosas Valencia, a leader who is working to better her community's water future.
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

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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.

United Nations Stalemates on Climate Change and Security

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Climate change became a hot-button issue at a recent U.N. Security…