Consider the following article that was recently posted on the website of the Guardian, a major newspaper in England.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east
Read it carefully and then, using the “Comment” feature on this blog site write a 250-word response in which you respond to the information and ideas in the article with reference to the information presented in the first 55 pages of the book World on the Edge. You may choose to focus on any part(s) of the news story but you should express opinions and you should support what you say by referencing material in the book.
Things to remember as you write your response:
As you write your response, please remember to paraphrase, quote, and cite correctly --- from both the article and the text. Remember that in using information or ideas presented in either the text or the article you must do the activities in column A and column B.
To quote, you should use the exact words of the source and a citation.
Example:
Saudi Arabia announced three years ago that the aquifer it was using to produce wheat “was largely depleted and they would be phasing out wheat production” (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
***
To paraphrase, you should radically change the words and structure but NOT the meaning AND you should provide a citation.
Example:
Brown (2011) notes that the Saudis have acknowledged that the aquifer they were using to produce wheat is so played out that soon they will not be able to produce wheat any longer in Saudi Arabia (p. 21).
Please remember some other important things:
1. Do not quote statistics. Instead, paraphrase and cite.
Bad example: The Saudis anticipate needing to import grain for “30 million people” (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
Good example: The Saudis anticipate needing to import enough grain to feed 30 million people (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
2. Use APA style. That means that when you cite, you will acknowledge the LAST name of the author, the year of publication, and, where possible, the page number. Since there is no page numbering system for the article, you don’t need to use page numbers. You can cite by either using a signal phrase or an in-text citation.
A signal phrase is a style in which the author’s name and date become the subject of the sentence or a major part of a phrase:
Example: Brown (2011) reports that the Saudis anticipate needing to import enough grain to feed 30 million people (p. 21).
An in-text citation puts the information at the end of the sentence:
Example: The Saudis anticipate needing to import enough grain to feed 30 million people (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
3. Paragraph your writing. Do not just write one giant block of print.
4. Spell check before you submit. I will count off a lot for any posting that is not spell-checked.
Things to remember as you respond to others:
Remember to check back on the blog and to find a response that you would like to respond to. What do you agree or disagree with? Do not just give the writer a compliment or criticism (e.g. “I really like what you said”). Instead, RESPOND. What has the writer forgotten? What other information could the writer use to support his/her point? Responses are shorter (about 100 words), but should also be well paragraphed and spell checked.
Again, use the Comment feature on the blog site to post your response to someone else’s response. Be sure to use the words “In response to XXXX” to show whose comment you are responding to. For example, if you decide to write a response to a comment by somebody named “Tom Harvey” you should write something like, “In response to Tom Harvey’s comment, I want to add . . .”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east
Read it carefully and then, using the “Comment” feature on this blog site write a 250-word response in which you respond to the information and ideas in the article with reference to the information presented in the first 55 pages of the book World on the Edge. You may choose to focus on any part(s) of the news story but you should express opinions and you should support what you say by referencing material in the book.
Things to remember as you write your response:
As you write your response, please remember to paraphrase, quote, and cite correctly --- from both the article and the text. Remember that in using information or ideas presented in either the text or the article you must do the activities in column A and column B.
| Column A | Column B |
| Quote OR Paraphrase | Cite |
To quote, you should use the exact words of the source and a citation.
Example:
Saudi Arabia announced three years ago that the aquifer it was using to produce wheat “was largely depleted and they would be phasing out wheat production” (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
***
To paraphrase, you should radically change the words and structure but NOT the meaning AND you should provide a citation.
Example:
Brown (2011) notes that the Saudis have acknowledged that the aquifer they were using to produce wheat is so played out that soon they will not be able to produce wheat any longer in Saudi Arabia (p. 21).
Please remember some other important things:
1. Do not quote statistics. Instead, paraphrase and cite.
Bad example: The Saudis anticipate needing to import grain for “30 million people” (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
Good example: The Saudis anticipate needing to import enough grain to feed 30 million people (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
2. Use APA style. That means that when you cite, you will acknowledge the LAST name of the author, the year of publication, and, where possible, the page number. Since there is no page numbering system for the article, you don’t need to use page numbers. You can cite by either using a signal phrase or an in-text citation.
A signal phrase is a style in which the author’s name and date become the subject of the sentence or a major part of a phrase:
Example: Brown (2011) reports that the Saudis anticipate needing to import enough grain to feed 30 million people (p. 21).
An in-text citation puts the information at the end of the sentence:
Example: The Saudis anticipate needing to import enough grain to feed 30 million people (Brown, 2011, p. 21).
3. Paragraph your writing. Do not just write one giant block of print.
4. Spell check before you submit. I will count off a lot for any posting that is not spell-checked.
Things to remember as you respond to others:
Remember to check back on the blog and to find a response that you would like to respond to. What do you agree or disagree with? Do not just give the writer a compliment or criticism (e.g. “I really like what you said”). Instead, RESPOND. What has the writer forgotten? What other information could the writer use to support his/her point? Responses are shorter (about 100 words), but should also be well paragraphed and spell checked.
Again, use the Comment feature on the blog site to post your response to someone else’s response. Be sure to use the words “In response to XXXX” to show whose comment you are responding to. For example, if you decide to write a response to a comment by somebody named “Tom Harvey” you should write something like, “In response to Tom Harvey’s comment, I want to add . . .”
32 comments:
Falling water tables is a serious global environmental issue now. “Find water and you find life.” (Carrington, 2011) I strongly agree this maxim because water is an important element in the world for us to alive. We not only drink water every day, but also “use 70% of all water for irrigation” (Brown, 2011, p.30). Besides water, we also need food to maintain our life; therefore, water is playing an important role in our daily life.
Population is increasing rapidly. It is no doubt that we need to increase the production of grain to feed people around the world. At the same time, we need to drill deeper fossil aquifers for irrigation. The water amount we consume today is far more than the water amount we got. This is also the cause of falling water tables in many countries.
Based on this problem, I think government should regulate the farmers as soon as possible. A lot of wells have been drilled because property rights are not well defined. Farmers can earn more profits by expanding their harvests, so they will try their best to drill the wells. This problem can be solved only if government clearly defines the property right in each area.
On the other hand, fast population growth will make the earth deplete in an accelerating rate. We need to feed the baby after the baby born. It is an unpreventable fact that we need to face. This is also the main reason of the falling water tables issue. Hence, government should regulate the population growth rate. China did a good job in controlling the population growth last few decades. Every family can only has one baby and government penalized the family who violate the policy. Then the population rate became stable in China. This is a strong evidence to prove that regulating the population growth is feasible. Once the world has a stable population rate, we can start the plan to save the Earth from the edge.
Work Cited
Brown, L. R. (2011). World On The Edge. New York, NY, USA: W. W. Norton.
Carrington, D. (2011, June 27). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. Retrieved June 30, 2011, from Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east
These days, the earth’s climate has been changed. In May 26th, 2007, Pakistan reached a peak of their temperature. They hit 128 degrees Fahrenheit and it is the highest temperature in all over the world as well as in Asia (Brown, 2011, p.46). In other words, this high temperature melts ice which is in Greenland. These changes affect to our life in two ways: threatening our food security, and water.
As the temperature of nation is increased, the Greenland’s ice is also going to melt even faster. In other words, the melting ice might affect to raise sea level. Indeed, the land of Gangetic Delta in Bangladesh and other cultivating rice crop countries were sunken by raising its sea level (Brown, 2011, p.50). Thus, our food security can be threatened by the climate change.
Additionally, according to Brown, “Agriculture as it exists today has evolved over 11,000 years of rather remarkable climate stability.” (Brown, 2011, p.47) It means if the climate changes, agriculture can be modified as a different form. For example, as China, the center of agriculture, has been changed their temperature, they has been suffered from severe drought (Carrington, 2011, p.1). In other words, the number of harvest does not come up to their primary expectation, and it makes China to find another ways to sustain their agriculture. Finally, China imports a lot of virtual water for sustaining their food supplies. Moreover, “The UN predicts that, by 2025, two-thirds of us will experience water shortages, with nearly two billion suffering severe shortfalls.” (Carrington, 2011, p.1) As a result, because of changing the climate, we suffer from the environmental change. It will finally reach to another problem which is lack of water.
Therefore, the effect of high temperature scares food security and the shortage of water will kill us. We absolutely are on the edge. However, if we develop the environment for the nature rather than us, or if we try to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, we can save our earth.
References
Brown, Lester R. (2011). World on the edge. Norton, NY: Earth Policy Institute.
Carrington, Damian. (June 27, 2011). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. 1-2. from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east.
In response to Wong’s comment, I also strongly agree with we need to find solution for our environmental crisis. We are on the edge, and we certainly suffer from the environmental change such as drought, global warming, and raising sea level. However, regulating individual farmer is not a good recommendation for solving the problem of water shortage. It only affects individual property, and it might make another vicious cycle. I think making agreement between countries is better than regulating farmers. For example, if one country exceeded the certain amount of usage, they should pay more budgets for the nature of world.
If we follow the news, we will find that there are so many natural disasters in the world. These natural disasters sign that our civilization is in trouble now. Water supply issue is a good example to explain this. Carrington (2011) reports that there are billions of people live with little or no water (par.1). Human cannot live without water.
People do not only use water to drink, but also use water in industry and agriculture. The data indicates that 10 percent of water goes to residential use, 20 percent of water goes to industry and 70 percent of water use in irrigation (Brown, 2011, p.30). Hence, as the world population is rocketing, most of water is used in agriculture. Each year, a global civilization increase by 80 million people and irrigation water supply is in trouble (Brown, 2011, p.14). There are 10,000 new mouths need to feed each day (Carrington, 2011, par4). For instance, Brown (2011) reports that “the grain supply for 175 million Indians was produced by overpumping water” in 2005. In China, 130 million people need fed with grain that produced by irrigation (p.25 & p. 26). As a result, the water tables are falling everywhere, but the rainfall is low. The water supply is shrinking.
Based on this problem, I think the government should regulate the population grow rate, especially in India and Africa. More people need to feed, more water need to use in irrigation. China did a good job in controlling the population growth, but there need more countries to implement this policy. Once the world population growth rate is controlled, the water supply issue will be remit.
References
Brown, L. R. (2011). World On The Edge. New York & London: W.W.Norton&Company
Carrington, D. (2011, June 27). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme.Retrieved June 30, 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east
In response to Wong’s comment, I strongly agree with your point about growing population is a mainly factor to cause water supply issue. The water supply is shrinking because of the population is growing rapidly. More new mouths need to feed; more water will be used in residential and agriculture. When the surface water is not enough used for irrigation, people will drill deeper fossil aquifers for irrigation. The water tables are falling and that is why billions of people in many places live with little or no water. My suggestion to the government is same with you that to regulate the population growth rate. When the world population is controlled, the water will not overpumping and more people will not live with limited water supply.
In response to Chen's comment, I am so glad that he/she has nearly the same point of view with me. Controlling the population growth is a good method to save the Earth. On the other side, I also think that governments can plant more trees to prevent the Earth from desertification. Trees help storing water under fossil aquifers. This not only can increase the water supply, but also solve the problems of soil erosion and dust storm. Governments should not just concern about the economic growth within the countries, they also need to take good care of environmental issues around the world in order to have a rapid economic grow.
Water shortage becomes a serious issue nowadays. “The UN predicts that, by 2025, two-thirds of us will experience water shortages, with nearly two billion suffering severe shortfalls.” (Carrington, 2011) Along with this problem, food shortage is also a concern with increasing population.
Rising temperature is the cause of these two things. “Crop ecologists use a rule of thumb that for each 1-degree-Celsius rise in temperature above the optimum during the growing season, we can expect a 10 percent decline in grain yields.” (Brown, 2011, p.47) First, rising temperature causes an uneven precipitation in different areas. This could destroy harvests. As a result, problem of food shortage occurs and people have not enough food to deal with the increasing population.
Second, destructive flooding and severe drought lead to the problem of water shortage. “Overall, higher temperature means more evaporation and therefore more precipitation. Some parts of the earth will get wetter, other parts dryer” (Brown, 2011, P.47) Now, this phenomenon can be applied to most of the countries in the world and is resulting in not enough drinking water and water for irrigation. There is no doubt that food and water are humans’ basic needs. Instead of sitting here and contributing nothing to the environment, we should co-operate to solve these problems, either for ourselves or the next generations.
Developed countries give financial aids to developing countries or countries that mainly depend on the income of agricultural activities. Countries, which are suffering from rising temperature should innovate new technology to protect their harvests; for example, building warm houses and buy new technology for irrigation. This could help the problem of drought and unstable temperature. Uneven precipitation cannot be changed by humans. We should acquire some useful facilities to better use water. Countries which are suffering from serious flooding can build dams and rivers to save water and transport them to drought countries.
All in all, water and food shortage are not only problems of those suffering countries. Resources are limited and humans should contribute to protect the environment. People should not only focus on their self-interests at this situation. If there is no free-rider among countries, we could solve these environmental issues more easily.
Work Cited
Brown, L. R. (2011). World On The Edge. New York, NY, USA: W. W. Norton.
Carrington, D. (2011, June 27). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. Retrieved June 30, 2011, from Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east
In response to Wong’s comment, I agree that environmental issue is related to the population. Government could make a law to regulate the population growth rate. And people should co-operate with the government too. Some people in China gave birth to two or three children when the policy was implementing before. They did it although they knew that was illegal. So I think government should not only implement policies, but also educate people about the impacts of water and food shortage. Controlling the population growth rate can be an effective way to reduce casualties if there is a destructive flooding or severe drought. Moreover, I think educating our next generation to treasure their drinking water can slightly solve the problem of water shortage too.
Water is important of one’s life. Human cannot live without water. According to the article “Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme”, there are “billions of people living in places with litter or no water.”(Carrington, 2011) In our Earth, more than sixteen countries are facing the water crisis. Afghanistan can be one of the examples, there are 29 million people are living in Afghanistan today and Afghanistan’s people are facing the problem of water shortages, the factors of the water shortage is “mostly drought and excessive use, about 50 percent of groundwater sources have been lost in the past several years.” (Brown, 2011, p.29) Beside the nature factors, human activities are also a catalyst of the shortage of water. “China’s water-short cities and rapidly growing industrial sector are taking an ever-greater share of the available surface and underground water resource.” (Brown, 2011, p.27)
Do you know how many water used to produce 1 tons of grain? The answer is 1,000 tons of water. (Brown, 2011, p.32) The use of water of produce food or other goods can also call “Virtual water”. (Carrington, 2011) China “is the world's biggest importer of ‘virtual water’”. (Carrington, 2011) To import “virtual water” is not the best way to solve the shortage of water and it is only for well-off countries. In my opinions, we can also do something to reduce the water shortage crisis. There are so many ways can save our water, for examples, we can reduce our shower time, don’t use the dishwasher and wash dishes by our hands, and so on. We need to protect our environment in order to improve the quality of our life and save our earth.
References
Brown, Lester R. (2011). World on the edge. Norton, NY: Earth Policy Institute.
Carrington, Damian. ( 27 June, 2011). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. P.1-2. from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east.
In response to Chen’s comment, I am totally agreed with you. Control the growth rate is a way to solve the problem of water shortage. It can also solve the energy crisis, grain crisis, and so on. However, I think control the growth rate is not the only ways to solve the water problem. In my mind, education is also important on water shortage. School should let students know water shortage is a serious problem. Water conservation is mostly directly ways to solve this problem. We need to bring out the message of saving water. We should appeal people to use less water in their daily life.
Water is a beginning of life on the earth. In fact, we are all from water and even our body is made up of water mostly. We just cannot live without any water. We, however, will be running out of fresh water soon if we do not change the water use. According to the online article, “the UN predicts that, by 2025, two-thirds of us will experience water shortages.” (Guardian, 2011). It is getting serious problem sooner than we have expected and already happening in some parts of world. One of the economic leaders, China, is the one of them. Today China imports “virtual water” more than any other countries in order to grow grains and produce goods (Guardian, 2011). However, water shortage is not the only problem. It is also tightly connected with food shortage. Since we use 70% of world water for irrigation, it will cause food shortage as an additional effect (Brown, 2011, p.23). Especially for China the combination of water and food shortage will be their fatal issue in near future. At the same time the demand for food by tremendously growing population might knock off the country. However, we all should definitely not let this water shortage be. Water is limited amount of important resource that we all have to share and keep it for our next generation. It is a problem that each individual has to concern about.
References
Brown, L. R. (2011). World on the Edge. New York: W.W. Norton.
Carrington, Damian. ( 27 June, 2011). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. Retrieved June 30, 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east.
In response to Xiaoxiao Chen, I can somewhat agree with you and I believe you picked up important facts about China from the book. However, I feel your opinion is not solid at all and you are being ethnocentric to your own country’s one-child policy. I believe that even under this policy the population in China is still growing dramatically and still importing a lot of water. Do you still say that Chinese government did good job for the water problem? I believe we all have to work on this water shortage problem because water is part of our life.
Climate changes have affected our lives every day. “You cannot have food, water, or energy security without climate security” said by William Hague, Britain’s newly appointed Foreign Secretary and the Former leader of the Conservative Party (Brown, 2011, p15). This statement is so true that climate changes have impact human lives in different ways, and earth’s rising temperature is one of the biggest issues. Moscow was hit record-high temperature in last summer, continued through mid- August (Brown, 2011, p1). Because of the heat wave in Russia, fires were starting every day which cause million of acres of forest burned, and crops were destroyed (Brown, 2011, p1). Consequently, price of wheat increased and affected the food prices all over the world, more people starve because of Russia’s gain harvest shrank.
“And climate change is not the only threat to food security” (Brown, 2011, p13). This point out that water shortages are also another huge problem. Drinking water is essential to maintain our lives, while70 percent of world water is also used for irrigation-based harvest (Brown, 2011, p23). And since there are 10,000 more new mouths to feed each day, it increases the world demand on food just as grain production plummets (Carrington, 2011). Farmers have drilled irrigation wells to pull water out of the aquifers to expand their harvest in order to match up with the population growth. Water comes from aquifers are regularly replenished with rainfalls; these can be pumped as long as it does not excess the recharge rate of an aquifer (Brown, 2011, p24). Because of the failure of government in the control of population growth and water policies, many countries are suffering from aquifer depletion, and people are using more water than they receive (Carrington, 2011).
Work cited
Brown, L. R. (2011). World On The Edge. New York, NY, USA: W. W. Norton.
Carrington, D. (2011, June 27). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. Retrieved June 30, 2011, from Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east
In response to Hama’s comment, I strongly agree with your point about water shortage is tightly connected with food shortage. China is definitely a great example of rapid population growth, and it is also one of the major food suppliers. Similar to china, India is another good example with issue in supplying water to many of its residents. As mentioned in our reading, India’s water tables are falling and shallow well have gone dry; as the result, even the deeper wells will go dry soon. This eventually affects India’s food supply and their livelihood (Brown, 2011, p30-31). Action should be taken now to save our next generation.
In one of the problems discussed in this analysis, I noticed that the fast growing populations are one of the essential and fundamental reasons of causing our nature overwhelming. Once the populations got over control, people’s need on demand would overcome their supply and I believed the food chain would start to be disequilibrium after then. Therefore, consequences that the book mentioned of over using our world’s natural assets will start causing problems from rising temperature, soil erosion, melting polar ice sheet and mountain glaciers, etc. (Brown, 2011, p.6)
Since our fast growing populations and industries have been over using in natural assets from our earth, one of the problems causing is over pumping the water demand. Many countries’ water tables are falling and the shortage of water demand forces the aquifer decline to meet its recharge rate. (Brown, 2011, p.24) With our water supply shrinking more and more recently, food bubbles and water bubbles problems are launching directly to our society and threaten our lives.
“The world's population tripled in the 20th century, but the thirst for water grew six-fold, the large majority sprinkled on fields. The UN predicts that, by 2025, two-thirds of us will experience water shortages, with nearly two billion suffering severe shortfalls.” (Carrington, 2011) To avoid such huge consequences we may have to suffer for, I think our governments really have to consider these methods more, by putting more efforts on avoiding soil erosion, controlling raising water demands, stabilizing the water tables, and most importantly improve our global warming problem which is also one of the fundamental reasons of all these causes approached. I believe if the governments from all over the world could collaborate together and put more efforts on solving these problems, our generation can continue to extend longer. As the author mentioned, even a simple useful solution like recycling wasted water and save from the rains, could turns out challenging with people who spending more than one can afford. (Carrington, 2011)
Work Cited:
Brown, L. R. (2011). World On The Edge. New York, NY, USA: W. W. Norton.
Carrington, D. (2011, June 27). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. Retrieved June 30, 2011, from:http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east
In response to Poon's article, I strongly agree with the point that people should not just concern about their own good and should consider on what they can do to save our nature when such disasters happened. From my point of view, governments and those outstanding welfare people from all over the world should also consider these kinds of attitudes, by not just only focusing on economic growth nor military systems, etc. A tiny savings from those expenses can save up a lot of money to protect our nature's assets and heal our environment. In such disasters happening around us all over the world, people should acknowledge how seriously things are happening to threaten not only out lives and civilizations, but our future generations. Sooner or later businesses and militaries are overall meaningless.
“When water-based food bubbles burst in large countries, like China and India, they will push up food price worldwide, forcing a reduction in consumption among those who can least afford it” (Brown, 2011, p. 32). However, there are many technological solutions that could potentially help to alleviate the current water shortage.
Water recycling is an important part of ensuring a sustainable water supply for future generations. Through the natural water cycle, the earth has recycled and reused water for millions of years. Water recycling generally refers to projects that use technology to speed up these natural processes. Recycled water can reduce much aquifer water demands, as long as it is adequately treated to ensure water quality appropriate for the use.
The recycling of water has many benefits. The main benefit is that by recycling water, we are saving ground water for other uses. Sometimes many agriculture island goes through drought because over use of ground water. With water recycling, the amount of secondary effluent available for recycling is always greater than the demand of it, therefore making it virtually drought proof. Also, recycled water can be produced at a price that is cost-effective, when compared with other methods.
If we can consider the recycle water and make it circulate, and not just use ground water and transfer water from other place when lack the water. Falling water not just the nature issue, also it consider with our human culture and social morals. Maybe we should always understand the meaning of warning nature gave us, and then we can truly save our world.
References
Brown, Lester R. (2011). World on the edge. Norton, NY: Earth Policy Institute.
In response to Tsz-man’s comment, I agree with you that fast growing populations is one of the main reason causing water shortage. I more agree that the goveroment should care about the simple solution "recycle water". I suggest that use the secondary effluent available for recycling to the agriculture irrigation. That way we can save water also reduce the demande. Thank you for sharing.
Nowadays, there are two biggest problems which are rising temperature and shortage of water in the world.
First, rising temperature is one of the biggest issues in the world. “The earth’s rising temperature is also melting polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.” (Brown, 2011, p. 6) People in the world would suffer in the future if earth’s temperature keeps rising. Also, some countries made new high temperature record in their countries. For example, In Los Angeles, temperature went up to 113 degrees which was the highest temperature record compared to Los Angeles’s official thermometer on September 27th (Brown, 2011, p. 46). Moreover, if earth’ temperature keeps rising, some countries will be under ocean because polar ice sheets will be melted. Brown (2011) said, “The other is that once rising water demand climbs above the recharge rate of an aquifer, the excess of demand over sustainable yield widens with each passing year (p. 24).
Second, shortage of water in the world is also one of the biggest issues. Carrington (2011) notes that two-thirds of people (about two billion) in the worlds will suffer from water shortages according to UN forecast (p. 1). Main cause of this issue is agriculture because agriculture needs a lot of water. Brown (2011) reports, we need 1,000 tons of water when we create a ton of wheat, but only we need 14 tons of water when we create a ton of steel (p. 30). Also, in worldwide for all usage of water, it is used about 70 percent for irrigation, 20 percent for industry and 10 percent for residential (Brown, 2011, p. 30).
References
Brown, L. R. (2011). World on the edge. Norton, NY: Earth Policy Institute.
Carrington, D. (27 June, 2011). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. P.1-2. from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east.
In response to Kim’s comment, I strongly agree with her opinion that “if the climate changes, agriculture can be modified as a different from.” I also wrote about earth’s climate change, but I did not write about agriculture related to earth’s climate change. Moreover, she wrote about raising sea level. I agree that our food security can be threatened by the climate change because if earth’s temperature keeps rising, sea level will be raising too. Therefore, our food security could be threatened. Moreover, I really like your quotation from the textbook, “Agriculture as it exists today has evolved over 11,000 year of rather remarkable climate stability”. This quotation is well supported to your next sentence and paper. However, I suggest that if you write more why changing the climate is related to shortage of water in your body of paper, the paper will be stronger.
Nowadays, there are two biggest problems which are rising temperature and shortage of water in the world.
First, rising temperature is one of the biggest issues in the world. “The earth’s rising temperature is also melting polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.” (Brown, 2011, p. 6) People in the world would suffer in the future if earth’s temperature keeps rising. Also, some countries made new high temperature record in their countries. For example, In Los Angeles, temperature went up to 113 degrees which was the highest temperature record compared to Los Angeles’s official thermometer on September 27th (Brown, 2011, p. 46). Moreover, if earth’ temperature keeps rising, some countries will be under ocean because polar ice sheets will be melted. Brown (2011) said, “The other is that once rising water demand climbs above the recharge rate of an aquifer, the excess of demand over sustainable yield widens with each passing year (p. 24).
Second, shortage of water in the world is also one of the biggest issues. Carrington (2011) notes that two-thirds of people (about two billion) in the worlds will suffer from water shortages according to UN forecast (p. 1). Main cause of this issue is agriculture because agriculture needs a lot of water. Brown (2011) reports, we need 1,000 tons of water when we create a ton of wheat, but only we need 14 tons of water when we create a ton of steel (p. 30). Also, in worldwide for all usage of water, it is used about 70 percent for irrigation, 20 percent for industry and 10 percent for residential (Brown, 2011, p. 30).
References
Brown, L. R. (2011). World on the edge. Norton, NY: Earth Policy Institute.
Carrington, D. (27 June, 2011). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. P.1-2. from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east.
In the article, Water use in China and the Middle East is a Ponzi scheme, the author talks about how the water usage of some Middle East and north Africa countries along with China are built on an environmental Ponzi scheme. And this scheme is formed as these countries use more water than they receive. The over-usage then in turn causes water and all products produced with water to appear cheaper than they otherwise would. Due to the unrealistically low price of products produced with water, more quantities demanded of these products results and leads to a cycle of even higher water usage. The cycle of high water usage of course is not with a cost which, however, is somewhat invisible before the problem may be too late to be corrected. “The overpumping of aquifers for irrigation temporarily inflates food production, creating a food production bubble, one that bursts when the aquifer is depleted” (Brown, 2011, p23).
The whole problem gets even worse as more and more people are being born and awaiting to be fed. “The global water deficit is a product of the tripling of water demand over the last half-century coupled with the worldwide spread of powerful diesel and electrically driven pumps” (Brown, 2011, p. 23). Because of the increase in the water demand, the already scarce water is in a position where full depletion is not a matter of whether but when. Like what the article says, Brown (2011) also notes that Middle East is the geographic region which food security is most immediately going to be affected by the water shortage (p. 27).
Even though I can understand the arguments of both the article and the book, World on the Edge, that overpumping and population growth are going to cause problems to water; I do not understand the mechanics and economics of why some countries would overpump and oversupply water while the demand for water does not actually skyrocketed as much. Therefore, it would be better if both the article and the book could have talked more about the incentives for countries to overpump water.
Reference
Brown, L. R. (2011). World on the edge: how to prevent environmental and economic collapse. New York, NY, USA: W W Norton & Co Inc.
In response to Shirley Lau, I want to add that soil erosions and desert expansions are also huge problem plagued by overgrazing and overplowing. “Once vegetation is removed either by overgrazing or overplowing, the wind begins to blow the small soil particles away. Because the particles are small, they can remain airborne over great distances. Once they are largely gone, leaving only larger particles, sand storm begin” (Brown, 2011, p. 37). In addition to the problem of sand storms, soil erosions and desert expansions also intensifies the problem of the water shortage and endanger the places that are already prone to droughts. I think Shirley Lau could make her argument stronger with lesser usage of quotations and more explanations.
Reference
Brown, L. R. (2011). World on the edge: how to prevent environmental and economic collapse. New York, NY, USA: W W Norton & Co Inc.
In response to what Howard said, I think that there are several explanations for why countries allow over pumping of water to continue. It's not that the demand for water is not increasing, believe me it really is! The problem is that many of these countries' populations are already so great that they are having to make a difficult decision between pumping enough water to grow enough to feed the population, which encourages the expansion of the population, and creates an unsustainable vicious cycle. Yes, they are over pumping water, but there incentives are the hungry mounts that demand food. Also, in many of these countries, the governments are fairly weak and if they were to start to ration and cut down on the amount of food it produces, it could lead to rioting. In my post, which is not showing for some reason, I share my opinion that many of these countries are already past the point of no return. I think that many of them see the future without a solution, in which they'll just continue with unsustainable practices because they already feel forced to. Already, many of these countries have a significant portion of their population who is already below the world's poverty line, which means that there is not a whole lot of room to cut back before you're essentially handing out death sentences to large populations of youth and the elderly.
I tried posting this response over the weekend, but the blog was not letting me add it. I think maybe it was too long. Here is part 1.
After reading Carrington’s (2011) blog featured on the Guardian’s news site and the first few sections from our required reading, it is clear that the world is participating in some unsustainable practices and it also seems clear that there is not a collective urgency to alter how we use valuable natural resources, or maybe the reason is even more sobering (I’ll share my opinion at the end). One of the interesting points that the blog brings up, but most of the major U.S. news corporations have failed to discuss, is how the turmoil in the Middle East is partially related to frustration over the availability and pricing for water and subsequently, the price for food (Carrington, 2011). Both an example of the Middle East and the prediction that social unrest will accompany food and water shortages are addressed in our required reading. Brown (2011) uses the example of my home country, Saudi Arabia’s, unsustainable practice of draining its fossil aquifer to support grain production, which he predicts that my country will harvest its last grain crop in 2012 (p.22). While I think there will be some grain production next year, Brown’s overall arguments/ predictions are what’s important. I wanted to share a couple of my opinions and I am even less optimistic than Brown seems to be, as his book mentions a plan to prevent the worst from happening. First, poverty around the world is growing and it is hitting countries whose ecosystems are already strained.
Saleh Pt.2
....Asia, India, parts of the Middle East, and Africa are already suffering and these regions will experience the greatest population booms in the next several decades. In fact, I already think that these regions are past the tipping point, in which the poorest, as Brown argues, are going to continue to experience turmoil and insurrections, which wealthier nations will purposely misreport as civil and political unrest, revolutionary movements, etc, in order to prevent their citizens from panicking, which would disrupt the economy and society. Consider why these countries are not already changing their habits or passing aggressive social policies to curb their future populations from causing water and food shortage from occurring. It’s not because they are oblivious to common sense. There is no room to conserve and save future generations, because their current populations are already in a battle to fight for their lives. Desperation is the reason why these countries continue to drill deeper and use the last of water from fossil aquifers, when it means that these countries will be entirely dependent on food exports in the near future. Desperation causes these regions’ populations to live in the now and deal with the inevitable when it finally comes. Believe me, the inevitable is a lot closer than most people seem to think. Already, people and politicians in the United States are supporting ending aid to foreign countries, which could have serious unintended consequences. I think this attitude will continue to become more popular in other powerful countries as well, as their own economies struggle with the increase costs for food and energy. I wish I had the same level of optimism that Brown seems to have, but I think the situation is much worse that what’s being reported.
Brown, Lester R. (2011). World on the Edge. Norton, NY: Earth Policy Institute.
Carrington, Damian. (2011). Water use in China and the Middle East is an environmental Ponzi scheme. 1-2. from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian- carrington-blog/2011/jun/27/water-shortage-china-middle-east.
I strongly agree to Hama’s comment about China. China is great example because they have enormous population who suffers from water shortage by large scales of irrigation. Because water is tightly related to the irrigating food, it could be massive negative effect on productivity if there is not enough water. Furthermore, China uses water too much on irrigation. People in China need water for drink but most of the water is used by farming. I agree with Hama’s comment of the water shortage but I disagree that the water is Limited resource. If people use water proper way then the water is recycling resource if we think in ecological scale.
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