According to Earthjustice attorney Trent Orr, California’s current water crisis is a man-made phenomenon. It is the outcome of the mid 20th century notion that equates progress with giant public works projects and assumes that we can engineer our way out of all sorts of problems, including living on a drought-prone state. This doesn’t work.
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Is BC Setting The Stage For Another Mount Polley Disaster?
Twenty-four million cubic meters of silt, metals and water spilled into the adjacent waterways, when the Mount Polley tailings pond dam breached. It has been called one of Canada’s worst environmental disasters. The province’s independent review panel made six recommendations, one of which was that tailings and water should not be mixed anymore in BC. This did not please the mining companies who say dry stacking of tailings would cost too much. The Clark Government appears to concur. An application to restart Mount Polley, with tailings in water, is under consideration. The Secwepemc Peoples regard this as “a violation of sovereignty” which “opens the territory up to further damage.” Is BC setting the stage for another Mount Polley Disaster?
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Nine States Report Record Low Snowpacks
Nine states report record low snowpacks. A report from the US Department of Agriculture states, “the largest snowpack deficits are in record territory for many basins,especially in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada where single – digit percent of normal conditions prevail. Very low snowpacks are reported in most of Washington, all of Oregon, Nevada, California, parts of Arizona, much of Idaho, parts of New Mexico, three basins in Wyoming, one basin in Montana, and most of Utah.” This region is undergoing the warmest winter temperatures since record keeping began in 1895.
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A Partial Solution To California’s Water Problems
A new report, Clean Energy Opportunities in California’s Water Sector, offers what could be a partial solution to California’s water problems. The authors, Juliet Christian-Smith and Laura Wisland from the Union of Concerned scientists, primarily focus on the 20 percent of California’s electricity that is consumed by the water sector. They point out that most water and wastewater utilities own assets (land, reservoirs, ponds etc) that could be used to produce renewable energy.
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Vancouver Has Made Significant Progress
By Roy L Hales
In 2009, Gregor Robertson was elected mayor of Vancouver after campaigning to make it the greenest city in the World. Two years later, the Economist ranked Vancouver #2 in North America. In 2013, Vancouver was chosen as the planet’s first Global Earth Hour Capital. The judges were impressed by the city’s overall holistic approach to climate action. According to the city’s sustainability director, Amanda Pitre-Hayes, Vancouver has made significant progress.
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