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China’s Karst Region: Infographics

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As they span significant areas of Asia, Europe and the Americas, karst landscapes cover some 15 percent of the Earth’s land mass. Scientists estimate that these areas of porous bedrock are home to as many as 1.5 billion people, a quarter of the global population.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ of China Captured in Karst

Among all the scenic spots in Shilin, the rock of Ashima in the Small Stone Forest is the most famous. This rock resembles a girl, with a kerchief on her head and a bamboo basket on her back. The shape and expression are surprisingly lifelike. Tourists dress up in traditional Sani -- a branch of the Yi ethnic group -- dresses to strike the same pose next to the stone girl.

Peter Gleick: Water for Haiti, Now

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Information on the disaster in Haiti is only slowly coming out, but it is clear that the magnitude and extent of the catastrophe is vast, in a land seemingly cursed by endless environmental destruction.

Peter Gleick: Water, Climate Change, and International Security

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It would be nice if water resources fell neatly into national political boundaries. It would be nice if countries that shared water resources cooperated more. It would be nice if climate change wasn't a growing threat to the stocks and flows of water around the world.

Epilogue from Steve Solomon’s Water The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization

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The close of economic journalist Steven Solomon's book is a reflection on the new meaning of water given today's scarcity crisis. Solomon connects freshwater's past and present to paint a future, and potentially very unstable picture of human civilization. By redefining facets of this precious resource, however, he presents the foundation of finding global solutions.

Heart of Dryness: Water, Climate, and Energy

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The second installment Climate Change Coping Strategies of excerpts from James G. Workman's Heart of Dryness

Heart of Dryness: Climate Change Coping Strategies

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Since the dawn of Homo sapiens in arid Africa, nine tenths of our evolution has unfolded as foragers. Only relatively recently did our species embark on agriculture, and recent events suggest certain limits to that extraordinary experiment. Exponential population growth has combined with unprecedented climate change until half the planet’s land surface can now be classified as drylands—arid landscapes inhabited by a third of humankind.

Video: James G. Workman Discusses the Water and Climate Issues that Haunt Botswana’s Bushmen

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The video above and corresponding transcript below are a Q&A author James G. Workman did with the book's publishers, Walker & Company.

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.

Water versus Chocolate: Comfort Food Without the Calories

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Is Water Better for you Than Chocolate ?A study released last week might convince you to ditch the chocolate and replace emotional eating with emotional drinking, of water that is.