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Topic: drought, fracking, Keystone threaten food supply

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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

NASA warns: Global groundwater crisis could lead to food supply collapse

Saturday, November 15, 2014 by: Jennifer Lilley

(NaturalNews) Shocking findings reported by NASA show that the problem of diminishing groundwater is poised to lead to the collapse of the food supply, where there could be devastating consequences.

The impact has already been felt, primarily in California. Data obtained form the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) reveal that there, Californians in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins have lost approximately 15 cubic kilometers (4 cubic miles) of total water every year since 2011, which is more water than all 38 million Californians combined use on an annual basis for both municipal and domestic purposes. More than half of that use is linked to Central Valley groundwater pumping.(1)

Such excessive use is a classic case of overusing a resource that can't keep up with demand. "The myth of limitless water and the free-for-all mentality that has pervaded groundwater use must now come to an end," says Jet Propulsion Laboratory hydrologist James Famiglietti.(1) That, along with many other words of warning, is made clear by Famiglietti in article he authored which appeared in the October 2014 journal Nature Climate Change.

"Precipitation, snowmelt, and streamflow are no longer enough to supply the multiple, competing demands for society's water needs," he explains. Sadly, it would appear that, since non-renewable groundwater is often turned to in an effort to meet the supply and demand, especially during periods of drought, "groundwater supplies in some major aquifers will be depleted in a matter of decades."(1)

It's not limited to California either. While it's there that the situation is deemed particularly devastating, the impact is far-reaching; it's quickly becoming a global groundwater crisis. In fact, other parts of the world such as Australia's Canning Basin, the High Plains aquifers of the United States, the North China Plain, the Northwest Sahara Aquifer System, aquifers beneath northwestern India and the Middle East and the Guarani Aquifer in South America are facing water depletion at breakneck speeds, primarily from water that's required for farming.(1)


The global groundwater crisis: a diminishing food supply and civil uprisings

So, what does all of this mean? Quite simply, as the water supply runs out, so too will the food supply. However, with the word underground comes a severe flaw in human nature: out of sight, out of mind. Because groundwater obviously resides underneath the Earth's surface, it's difficult for many to grasp the severity of the situation and become proactive about that which they can not see.

Consider the fact that irrigation, the main contributor to groundwater depletion, is responsible for 70 percent of water usage globally. Then, factor in that 40 percent of the world's food supply is derived from nearly 20 percent of irrigated farmland, and "food security" seems to be an oxymoron.(2)

Along with a thinning food supply also comes levels of strife, so it can be expected that already-mounting tensions throughout the world could spike. Famiglietti notes that the disappearing groundwater "may well trigger more civil uprising and international violent conflict in the already water-stressed regions of the world, and new conflict in others."(3)


Working toward a solution to preserve water, maintain food security

According to Famiglietti, there should be an immediate focus on agriculture. More efficient agricultural practices, even on a small scale, is something THAT he says can lead to volumes of groundwater being saved.(1)

Engaging in more sustainable ways of living -- not just concerning agriculture, but right in one's own backyard -- can play a role in making right what has the potential to go drastically wrong. Practicing limited irrigation, collecting rainwater and even simply making a shift in the "want" versus "need" mindset are just some ways that can help restore balance to this very serious issue.

Sources:

(1) http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

(2) http://voices.nationalgeographic.com

(3) http://thinkprogress.org

(4) http://science.naturalnews.com


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047654_groundwater_crisis_food_supply_NASA.html?utm_content=buffer7521a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#ixzz3JLWAC49s


Last edited by untanglingwebs on Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:42 pm; edited 2 times in total
Post Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:13 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

I watched CNN last night about the water crisis in California. The drought is not the only factor having an impact on farmers, fracking contaminated a huge aquifer. CNN showed well drillers creating new and deeper wells for farmers to support farmers (mostly large corporations) With limited water reservoirs, how will tht impact everyone else.

Already grocery prices are rapidly increasing. I went to Meijers for milk and so much milk on the shelves had a very low shelf life. In multiple stores, I did not buy lettuce because it e=was so brown.

Are people buying less because the prices are too high?
Post Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:20 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/keystone-xl-pipeline-may-threaten-aquifer-that-irrigates-much-of-the-central-us/2012/08/06/7bf0215c-d4db-11e1-a9e3-c5249ea531ca_story.html



Keystone XL pipeline may threaten aquifer that irrigates much of the central U.S.


By Steven Mufson August 6, 2012 


Jane Kleeb is a savvy activist who, Nebraska’s Republican governor once said, “has a tendency to shoot her mouth off most days.” A Florida native who moved to Nebraska in 2007 after marrying a rancher active in Democratic politics, she did as much as anyone to bring the massive Keystone XL crude oil pipeline to a halt last year.

James Goecke is a counterpoint to Kleeb. A hydrogeologist and professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, he has been measuring water tables in Nebraska’s ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region since 1970 and has shunned the political limelight — until now. He recently appeared in an ad for the pipeline’s owner, TransCanada, rebutting some of the arguments against the project and its new route.

Under ordinary circumstances, Kleeb and Goecke would be natural allies. Democrats in a red state, they both care about preserving Nebraska’s unique environment. Instead, they are divided over Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile steel pipeline that would carry heavy, low-quality crude from Canada’s oil sands to refineries in Texas.

At the heart of their battle is whether the pipeline would pose a threat to the massive Ogallala Aquifer — one of the world’s largest underground sources of fresh water. By one calculation, it holds enough water to cover the country’s 48 contiguous states two feet deep. The Ogallala stretches beneath most of Nebraska from the Sand Hills in the west to the outskirts of Omaha. And it runs from South Dakota well past Lubbock, Tex.


Named after a Northern Plains tribe, the Ogallala provides water to farms in eight states, accounting for a quarter of the nation’s cropland, as well as municipal drinking wells. Though early white explorers who saw this apparently arid part of the Great Plains called it a “great American desert,” the aquifer has turned it into America’s breadbasket.


The spongelike aquifer formed more than 20 million years ago, when erosions of gravel and sand from the Rocky Mountains were washed downstream. It is replenished by rain and melting snow, but it gets just two to five inches of precipitation a year, according to a ­TransCanada filing to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. Much of the water it holds was absorbed thousands or millions of years ago.

In some places the aquifer is buried 1,200 feet deep, but in many places it is at or very close to the surface, often less than five feet below ground. In these places, you can literally stick a stake in the ground and hit water. Extensive stretches of Nebraska’s plains require no irrigation; to keep cattle watered, ranchers just dig a hole and the water flows in.

That’s where concerns about the Keystone XL came in. Its original route traversed 92 miles of the Sand Hills and the Ogallala. TransCanada, which said it would bury the pipeline at least four feet underground, could in many places be putting it in water.

If the pipeline should spring a leak where it touches the aquifer or even above it, Kleeb and other opponents say, oil could quickly seep into and through the porous, sandy soil. The Ogallala, Kleeb said last year in a television interview, is “a very fragile ecosystem, literally made of sand. . . . To have a pipeline crossing that region is just mind-boggling.”

She cited University of Nebraska civil engineering professor John Stansbury, who drew on pipelines’ history and TransCanada regulatory filings to predict that during the projected 50-year life span of the pipeline, “there would be 91 leaks . . . that could potentially put 6.5 million gallons of tar sands oil in the Ogallala aquifer and essentially contaminate our drinking water.”

He maintained that a worst-case spill in the Sand Hills region could pollute 4.9 billion gallons of groundwater with a “plume” of contaminants 40 feet thick, 500 feet wide and 15 miles long.

The message rallied Nebraskans from ranches to cities, and it was what President Obama pointed to in January when he rejected the initial Keystone XL route. In May, TransCanada submitted a revised route to the State Department, bypassing the Sand Hills but still passing over some parts of the aquifer.
Post Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:40 pm 
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twotap
F L I N T O I D

August 27, 2011

“I’ll Get Arrested Next Time”

By hastingswatcher




Insane Jane coordinated a protest in D.C. at the White House this week – more pipeline stuff.

A Lincoln resident / former school teacher / aged and fragile BOLD member had actually planned to get arrested– and she did.

While Nebraskans were getting arrested, Insane Jane threw her group under the bus and took a “step back” to avoid arrest. And she thinks the authors of this blog are “cowards”…phleeease, Jane….

The Omaha World Herald reported “Kleeb opted to not get arrested Monday so she could coordinate efforts from the outside. She said she planned to get arrested as part of a second group of Nebraskans who will arrive in Washington on Sept. 2 and will join the final day of protests on Sept. 3.”

So, Insane Jane is actually planning to get arrested, and is essentially committing a pre-meditated crime.

A Hastings area reader wrote us this week and said “If Jane is talking about getting arrested…isn’t that some kind of violation of Hastings school board ethics?” Let’s face it, Insane Jane isn’t exactly the kind of role model we want for our kids down here in Hastings. So, good point, reader – thanks for making it.

Our favorite line of this OWH article was “Obama was not at home Monday — he was vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard.” Those BOLD folks just can’t seem to catch people at home when they visit!

_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times.
Post Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:06 pm 
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