It’s almost impossible to over estimate the role water is already playing and will play in the coming decades as we confront our energy and environmental challenges. From drought and a lack of water for personal use, agriculture, and power generation, to rising sea level, to impacts on which technologies we can use to generate electricity, water and ice are everywhere in the E/E landscape.
Sea levels to rise faster than expected, scientists say
An international team of environmental scientists led by the University of Pennsylvania has shown that sea-level rise, at least in North Carolina, is accelerating. Researchers found 20th-century sea-level rise to be three times higher than the rate of sea-level rise during the last 500 years. In addition, this jump appears to occur between 1879 and 1915, a time of industrial change that may provide a direct link to human-induced climate change.
The results appear in the current issue of the journal Geology.
The Associated Press: Turmoil from climate change poses security risks:
An island in the Indian Ocean, vital to the U.S. military, disappears as the sea level rises. Rivers critical to India and Pakistan shrink, increasing military tensions in South Asia. Drought, famine and disease forces population shifts and political turmoil in the Middle East.
U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, viewing these and other potential impacts of global warming, have concluded if they materialize it would become ever more likely global alliances will shift, the need to respond to massive relief efforts will increase and American forces will become entangled in more regional military conflicts.
…
Former Republican Sen. John Warner, a longtime chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a close ally of the military, has been touring the country to talk about climate change and national security.
“We are talking about energy insecurity, water and food shortages, and climate-driven social instability,” says Warner. “We ignore these threats at the peril of our national security and at great risk to those in uniform.”
Among the flash points:
* Himalayan glaciers are likely to recede, producing fresh water shortages in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and parts of China.
* Receding Arctic ice could trigger a territorial conflict involving Russia, the United States, Canada and others.
* Sea level rise in Bangladesh, and drought in other parts of the world could unleash a flood of cross-border “climate refugees” and violence.
* The Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, an atoll only a few feet above sea level, likely would disappear, taking away a critical U.S. military staging area.
Accelerating ice loss from Antarctica and Greenland
See the post for a couple of hair-raising graphs of the polar ice situation.
Arctic sea ice is refreezing quite slowly. Go figure!
Hydropower industry braces for glacier-free future
FACTBOX – Impacts of glacier retreat on hydropower
Melting Glaciers Changing Europe’s Energy Outlook
Solar Projects Battling for Water
On the Water Front: Sausage Making and California Water Legislation
Changing Climate Complicates Central Asian Water Management
TreeHugger: Drought Decimates Kenyan Herders’ Net Worth
TreeHugger: Linda Loudermilk’s Luscious ‘Water is a Human Right’ Jewelry
