China could be wasting enough hydroelectricity to power Britain and Germany for a year, depriving its smog-bound eastern regions of huge volumes of clean energy as a result of poor planning and weak grid infrastructure. A controversial dam-building program raised China's hydropower capacity to 300 ...
Environmentalists sue to protect fish amid California drought measures
California environmental groups have sued state and federal water managers, claiming that their drought-management plan for projects below the crucial Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is pushing some species of fish to the brink of extinction. The lawsuit marks the latest salvo in the battle over ...
Doomsday water cycle runs from California to the world
California is not unique in the world in experiencing a destructive feedback loop amid declining water resources.
EU presses for accountability, opening rift at U.N. climate talks in Lima
European Union insistence on a right to challenge nations about their plans for fighting climate change, in the run-up to a United Nations summit in 2015, has opened a rift at U.N. climate talks in Lima. Washington said a review of national pledges for curbing ...
Mountains northeast of Tokyo have become blighted by tons of toxic waste and industrial rubble dumped by unscrupulous contractors, including some hired to clear debris from areas hit by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. By the summer, more than 100 truckloads ...
Huge project to divert rivers to Beijing, at the expense of regions
China is about to realize a dream of communist leader Mao Zedong to redirect river flows to benefit Beijing and the dry north, but critics say the resource grab by the politically powerful capital will harm other regions. The $62 billion South-North Water Transfer Project ...
For 'dirty man of Asia,' Russian gas deal offers clean solution
"If I work in your Beijing, I would shorten my life at least five years," Premier Zhu Rongji, a career politician from Shanghai, quipped in 1999, referring to the notorious air pollution in China's northern capital. Research has confirmed life expectancy in northern China is ...
Water shortages leaving world high and dry
On Jan. 17, scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of NASA satellites and distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track the world's water reserves. At the University of California, Irvine, hydrologist James Famiglietti looked over the data from the ...
A glance at the world's major drought hot spots
1. California: The state's water resources are at critically low levels and a drought emergency has been declared. The health department says 17 rural areas are dangerously parched. 2. Sao Paulo, Brazil: The country's largest city is on the verge of water rationing because of ...
