global warming (43)

I went to a conference last year that discussed some of the issues our world may face. Global warming was discussed. A key note was also the issue of potable water. And Global warming also affects this. The things discussed scared the beejeezus out of me! Here are some excerpts from an article on the matter.

Planet is running out of clean water
?By Brandon Griggs

One sixth of the world's population does not have access to clean drinking water. More than 2 million people, most of them children, die each year from water-borne diseases. Water-related problems aren't restricted to the developing world. A harmful pesticide, banned by many European countries, remains widely used in the United States, where it runs into rivers and streams. These sobering statistics come from "FLOW," a new documentary film about the world's dwindling water supply. The filmmakers and their sources argue a combination of factors, including drought and skyrocketing demand, have created a looming global crisis that threatens the long-term survival of the human race.
Not that the water isn't somewhere on the planet still -- but we have polluted it, diverted it, allowed it to get poisoned by seawater. One way or another, we have taken accessible clean water ... and we have rendered it unusable. We take massive amounts [of water] and we irrigate the desert, where it evaporates. We're pumping groundwater all over the world far faster that it can be replenished by nature. We are actually running out of fresh, clean water everywhere in the world, including here in North America. We have to give up this myth of abundance. We have come to the limits of the planet.
Global warming warms up massive bodies of water, which evaporate more quickly than they should. Warming is melting all the glaciers in the world. So there's no question that greenhouse gas-induced climate change is impacting water.