Graph of the Day: Global Distribution of Physical Water Scarcity by Major River Basin

Water scarcity is growing and salinization and pollution of groundwater and degradation of water bodies and water-related ecosystems are rising, the State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) reports. Large inland water bodies are under pressure from a combination of reduced inflows and higher nutrient loading — the excessive […]

Researchers assess effects of a world awash in nitrogen

Contact Skip Derra, skip.derra@asu.edu, 480-965-4823, Media Relations15 December 2011 Humans are having an effect on Earth’s ecosystems but it’s not just the depletion of resources and the warming of the planet we are causing. Now you can add an over-abundance of nitrogen as another “footprint” humans are leaving behind. The only question is how large […]

Video: State of the Oceans 2011

20 November 2011 (Desdemona Despair) – Here’s Desdemona giving a presentation on the accelerating destruction of the oceans by various human activities. It’s basically Graph of the Day with narration. Download the slide deck: http://www.leftopia.com/presentations/State_Of_The_Oceans_2011.pdf http://www.leftopia.com/presentations/State_Of_The_Oceans_2011.pptx State of the Oceans 2011 Technorati Tags: ocean acidification,global warming,climate change,phenology,overfishing,ocean overexploitation,fish decline,mass extinction,extinction,coral,habitat loss,ecosystem disruption,dead zone,ocean anoxia,phosphorus,nitrogen,carbon,carbon dioxide,overpopulation,doom

Image of the Day: Satellite View of Toxic Algae Bloom in Lake Erie

Caption by Holli Riebeek14 October 2011 The green scum shown in this image is the worst algae bloom Lake Erie has experienced in decades. Such blooms were common in the lake’s shallow western basin in the 1950s and 60s. Phosphorus from farms, sewage, and industry fertilized the waters so that huge algae blooms developed year […]

Alarming ‘dead zone’ grows in Chesapeake Bay, on track to be largest ever

By Darryl Fears24 July 2011 A giant underwater “dead zone” in the Chesapeake Bay is growing at an alarming rate because of unusually high nutrient pollution levels this year, according to Virginia and Maryland officials. They said the expanding area of oxygen-starved water is on track to become the bay’s largest ever. This year’s Chesapeake […]

Phosphate: A critical resource misused and now running low

By Fred Pearce7 Jul 2011 If you wanted to really mess with the world’s food production, a good place to start would be Bou Craa, located in the desert miles from anywhere in the Western Sahara. They don’t grow much here, but Bou Craa is a mine containing one of the world’s largest reserves of […]

Ten existential threats to global agriculture

By Steve Savage27 June 2011 I tend to be a “glass half full” sort of person, particularly about the prospects of successfully feeding the 9-10 billion people we expect by 2050.  My optimism is based on daily contact with the innovative public and private entities who develop technology for agriculture.  It is also based on […]

Graph of the Day: Planetary Boundaries and Status of the Phosphorus Cycle, 2010

Planetary boundaries and current status of the phosphorus (P) cycle. (A) Planetary boundary and current status for P input to freshwaters from terrestrial ecosystems, Tg y–1. (B) Planetary boundary and current status for P input to terrestrial soils, Tg y–1. (C) Planetary boundary and current status for P mass in terrestrial soils, Tg. In each […]

Global warming ‘may increase water-borne diseases’

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Climate change could increase exposure to water-borne diseases originating in oceans, lakes and coastal ecosystems, and the impact could be felt within 10 years, US scientists told a conference in Washington on Saturday. Several studies have shown that shifts brought about by climate change make ocean and freshwater environments more susceptible to […]

Graph of the Day: Dissolved Oxygen Percent of Goal Achieved in Chesapeake Bay, Summer 2007 – Summer 2009

Most of the Chesapeake Bay fails to meet dissolved oxygen goals in the Summer. From 2007 to 2009, only 12 percent of the Chesapeake Bay had sufficient levels of dissolved oxygen in the summer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describes the Chesapeake Bay as “highly eutrophic,” meaning that it is highly susceptible to […]

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