Competing with this holiday “white noise” were news snippets surrounding the Copenhagen Climate Change (COP15) conference which took place Dec 7-18. The news from COP15 was not as promising as some activists and governments would have liked. The conference produced the Copenhagen Accord which some have likened to a pre-nuptial agreement between nations regarding how they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Copenhagen Accord has been criticized because it is non-binding and some developing countries have said the emission reduction targets are not ambitious enough.

However, the fact that all these nations met and had a serious dialogue about climate issues is a positive sign. In the United States we’ve seen how contentious tackling health care reform can be. From personal experience, I’ve seen that it can be frustrating to even reach consensus on local school issues. So it’s really not surprising that an undertaking as ambitious as setting guidelines for global greenhouse gas emissions is bound to require a herculean effort. It’s clear more serious work will be needed at the next United Nations climate conference in Mexico in 2010.

Much of the recent debate about a warming earth and climate change focuses on anthropogenic causes. Since the late 1800’s (see graph) and the advent of the Industrial Revolution temperature records show a warming trend.  Some observers have linked this rise in temperature to the influences of industrialization and mankind’s altering of climate. The Copenhagen Accord advocates that nations control greenhouse emissions to keep global temperature from increasing 2 degrees Celsius. However, some skeptics argue that humans will have little ability to control global temperatures and that some of the recent warming is only part of  the natural warming and cooling cycles that the earth experiences.

This image shows the instrumental record of global average w:temperatures as compiled by the NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The data set used follows the methodology outlined by Hansen, J., et al. (2006) "Global temperature change". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103: 14288-14293.

If we step back and look at global temperature on a geologic timescale, it’s obvious that large fluctations in climate have occurred. The earth has been dominated by ice ages and glaciers over the past several million years. On average, the earth warms temporarily and experiences an interglacial period. Since the last ice age ended about 15,000 years ago, the earth’s temperatures have risen nearly 8.9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees F) and sea-level has risen approximately 300 feet. This shows how long term climate change dwarfs some of the short-term shifts that are currently under such close scrutiny.

This figure shows the Antarctic temperature changes during the last several glacial/interglacial cycles of the present ice age and a comparison to changes in global ice volume. The present day is on the right. The first two curves shows local changes in temperature at two sites in Antarctica as derived from deuterium isotopic measurements (δD) on ice cores (EPICA Community Members 2004, Petit et al. 1999). The final plot shows a reconstruction of global ice volume based on δ18O measurements on benthic foraminifera from a composite of globally distributed sediment cores and is scaled to match the scale of fluctuations in Antarctic temperature (Lisiecki and Raymo 2005). Note that changes in global ice volume and changes in Antarctic temperature are highly correlated, so one is a good estimate of the other, but differences in the sediment record do no necessarily reflect differences in paleotemperature. Horizontal lines indicate modern temperatures and ice volume. Differences in the alignment of various features reflect dating uncertainty and do not indicate different timing at different sites.

“The Geological Society of America (GSA) supports the scientific conclusions that Earth’s climate is changing; the climate changes are due in part to human activities; and the probable consequences of the climate changes will be significant and blind to geopolitical boundaries. Furthermore, the potential implications of global climate change and the time scale over which such changes will likely occur require active, effective, long-term planning.”
– GSA Position Statement adopted October, 2006

However, from a water resource perspective even slight changes in global temperatures can have significant impacts on local rainfall distribution patterns and recharge of water resources. This has serious implications, especially in terms of displacing or reducing production of agricultural crops. Therefore, the water issue should be inextricably connected to discussions of global warming, but apparently that was not the case at COP15.

In the following interview, Paul Horton, Chairman of the European Water Association Climate Change Working Group laments the lack of attention paid to the water issue at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference. He notes that climate change will bring about increased flooding and water scarcity, which will have severe societal impacts. Mr. Horton feels discussions about water resources are critical because countries will need to formulate a consistent approach to managing these resources within the context of global climate change.

Italian expert Riccardo Petrella, founder of the International Committee for the World Water Contract fears the privatization of water resources.  Riccardo states “If water or air are turned into commodities, that is equivalent to commodifying life itself and leads to the privatization of democracy. If we do this, it will make democracy a lie.” [Source: No Water in Copenhagen Talks]

Some of the Copenhagen attendees reflect on “Water is Life” in this brief video.

Resources for further reading:

• Copenhagen Accord
• Global Warming: A Chilling Perspective
• It’s Getting Hot in Here
• No Water in Copenhagen Talks
• Temperature
• The Real Climate Hoax
• United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15)

The book draws some of the parallels between the oil shortage and the impending water crisis that will face the world in the 21st century. In fact, the water industry has grown to $425 billion dollars which makes it the third largest industry in the world, behind electricity and oil.

One of the authors Maude Barlow, is the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians is an activist who is helping spread the word about the world’s water crisis. Here is an interesting two part interview with Barlow in which discusses the water issue and the 2008 documentary FLOW: For Love of Water.

Here is a trailer for the movie FLOW.  I think the film will get your attention.

You can also view the entire movie.

One day, some of my friends, in “urban Huck Finn” fashion, decided to raft over to a nearby island. They successfully reached the island, but on the way back the flimsily constructed raft started to unravel and one of my friends ended up falling into the river.

In those days, the Charles River had a reputation for being polluted.  For years sewage, industrial wastewater and urban runoff had flowed unfettered into the river due to lax environmental regulations. By 1955, the river had become so polluted that Bernard DeVoto described it in Harpers magazine as “foul and noisome, polluted by offal and industrious wastes, scummy with oil, unlikely to be mistaken for water.” Some might even remember the classic hit record “Dirty Water” by the Standells in 1966 that celebrated Boston and the dubious water quality of the Charles River.

As I remember, my friend’s parents were none too happy when he arrived home, sopping wet with clothes stained with from the brown-tainted water. At the time, rowers or sailors who fell in the Charles were advised to rush to get a tetanus shot.

Well, the water quality of the Charles River has improved over the years, but I’m still not sure I would want to drink the water. However, new advances in nanotechnology are making this a possibility as this video shows.

So what’s all this buzz about nanotechnology — what is it and what can it do? The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office has produced a new brochure titled “Big Things from a Tiny World” that helps explain the excitement surrounding nanotechnology in terms that a non-scientist can grasp. The brochure introduces nanotechnology with the following passage:

It’s a relatively new are of science that has generated excitement worldwide. Working at the nanoscale, scientists today are creating new tools, products, and technologies to address some of the world’s biggest challenges, including:

• clean, secure, affordable energy
• stronger, lighter, more durable materials
• low-cost filters to provide clean drinking water
• medical devices and drugs to detect and treat diseases more effectively with fewer side effects
• lighting that uses a fraction of the energy
• sensors to detect and identify harmful chemical or biological agents
• techniques to clean up hazardous chemicals in the environment

Here are some resources to start to learn more about nanotechnology:

• How Nanotechnology Works
• Nanotechnology (Wikipedia)
• National Nanotechnology Initiative
• NanoKids

Here are some references that describe how nanotechnology can be applied to clean water:

• Nanotechnology for clean water
• Nanotechnology and water treatment
• Nanotechnology and the challenge of clean water

While New England experienced torrents of rain, on the other side of the United States, California is in the midst of a three-year drought. This crisis is having severe impacts on the local economy and quality of life. Californians are being forced to curtail their water usage. Because of water shortages, California farmers have left over half a million acres of agricultural land unplanted.

In the San Joaquin Valley’s, known as the “nation’s breadbasket,” the drought is having devastating affects on the farms. This region produces over half the fruits, nuts and vegetables for the rest of the United States. This drought has made the U.S. more dependent on imported agricultural produce and these imports often has higher rates of contaminants, such as Salmonella.

The prolonged drought has intensified some of the water issues that have developed as California has grown and become the world’s eight largest economy. The following video provides a good overview of how California’s water crisis developed and some of the ramifications.

In the following video, California farmers speak about their endangered livlihoods.

For more information, see:

• California’s Water: A Crisis We Can’t Ignore
• California’s Drought

Kamen is also tackling one of the big challenges facing mankind — how to provide adequate clean water for our expanding population. Today, over a billion people do not have access to clean water, so providing solutions are a pressing need. Kamen has been looking at developing portable systems, that will work under harsh conditions and are extremely energy efficient. To address this goal, Kamen and his team of engineers at DEKA have created a product that contains two components, a water purifier called Slingshot that requires minimal energy and a Stirling engine based power generator that is fueled by cow dung.  

How the Slingshot Water Purifier Works