The Scariest News I've Read In A While

I can't find the link, but there is a story about a conference being held in June in Europe about the dire world water situation. In brief, we live on a planet that is a living changing thing, and it's about to change again: by 2080 hundreds of millions of people will no longer have access to water. I don't know that there is truly anything we can do about this particular problem, as important things like this, get shoved aside so the men can fight wars.

Can we go for women world domination, and get back to the important stuff?

Ali

I didn't read the article you are speaking of, but I do know about the situation you are talking about.

My father has a lot of time to read, being retired and ill, and I remember him telling me that we will have a severe water shortage in some nations by the year, I believe he said, 2030. So I can imagine it affecting the millions of people you mentioned by 2080.

It's just a scary time, looking at all the information about our oil supplies, global warning, water shortages and everything they predict to come about in the next 100 or so years.

I'm all for the woman world domination! :runnningaround:

I'm all for the woman world domination! :runnningaround:


LOL How fun is that emoticon???? :yes:

Water.

I meant to post this in a previous "conservation" thread but never got around to it. The whole idea of conservation and reycyling always leaves out the water factor. Cloth diaper instead of disposable = increased water usage. Cloth instead of paper towel = increased water usage. Miracle mop instead of Swifter wet pad = increased water usage. Cleaning items to go into recycling bins = increased water usage. Industrial washing and processessing for recycling = increased water usage + increased electricity usage = increased water usage. Anything that is manufactured increases industrial water usage, anything that individuals do to try to reduce waste increases personal water usage. I think about this subject everytime I turn on my faucet, and then I say, "You fool, how about the gazillions of gallons used to water lawns? You can't make a (excuse the analogy) drop in the bucket in this impending disaster.

How many people in Africa already have no access to water? I just heard that (somebody please correct me if my numbers are wrong) there are 6 major rivers in China and 3 of them are polluted beyond any known way to reverse the pollution, and if they continue to build their industries, without regard for their water sources, there are going to be billions of people without water. We are very lucky in the United States to have so many sources for water, but for how long?

There are two local municipalities that are going to invest millions into processing plants to purify sewage for drinking water. Do we need to know anything else to know how serious the problem is?

I'm all for the woman world domination! :runnningaround:


Oh yeah I'm all for that!!!!!:cheers:

Overpopulation=water shortages. Big threat. We don't care, we just keep having kids.:witsend:

I live in Melbourne, Australia, it is a large sprawling city that is not overpopulated. We have major water shortages here as like many parts of Australia we are suffering from drought.

We are currently on stage 3 water restrictions and there is talk that the restrictions could increase to stage 4 or be made permanent. We only have 4 hours per week that are designated for watering our garden beds and watering lawns is banned. We are not allowed to wash our cars or our windows on our houses with tap water.

My fiance and I recycle all our washing machine water in to our garden.... here this is called "grey water". We use a detergent that is enviromentally friendly so that we can do this without damaging our plants or the environment. It's amazing how much water you can reuse.... at least 6 buckets per load of washing, but we now have a hose that we connect direct to the machine outlet to make life easier for us.

We also keep a bucket in the shower & shower together whenever possible.

Water saving has become a way of life for us because if we didn't our entire garden would be dead by now.

The thing I don't understand is why we still allow immigration to this country when we don't have enough water to supply the current population.

When I moved home to my small town in 2002 we were in the middle of a water shortage. We've had them before, when the water table drops and were in fact about 90 days until NO MORE WATER! Some of the same conservation measures were in place as in Australia. As a matter of fact, the first few days I was back I noticed that many people were WEARNING DIRTY CLOTHES! As my town is one of the richest on the East Coast, I was wondering what on earth was going on?

As for world domination by women: I'm thinking about working with the Dems to try to get Hilary Clinton to the White House. I know they had some political troubles, but she has more experience than any candidate option that is currently out there. (Except for maybe Ted Kennedy but I don't think he's ever going to run.) Is anyone interested in this?

Ali

Overpopulation=water shortages. Big threat. We don't care, we just keep having kids.:witsend:

Or perhaps it's just what we do with ourselves while we're here. We generate too much trash, consume too much fuel which releases toxins to the atnosphere, etc. Perhaps it's not time to make the population smaller, but to change how we live.

Ali

I don't know.. this scares me more than droughts.

"Pharmaceuticals In Our Water Supplies

Are “Drugged Waters” a Water Quality Threat?

Developed to promote human health and well being, certain pharmaceuticals are now attracting attention as a potentially new class of water pollutants. Such drugs as antibiotics, anti-depressants, birth control pills, seizure medication, cancer treatments, pain killers, tranquilizers and cholesterol-lowering compounds have been detected in varied water sources.

Where do they come from? Pharmaceutical industries, hospitals and other medical facilities are obvious sources, but households also contribute a significant share. People often dispose of unused medicines by flushing them down toilets, and human excreta can contain varied incompletely metabolized medicines. These drugs can pass intact through conventional sewage treatment facilities, into waterways, lakes and even aquifers. Further, discarded pharmaceuticals often end up at dumps and land fills, posing a threat to underlying groundwater...."

Read more here:

http://cals.arizona.edu/AZWATER/awr/july00/feature1.htm