Daily Quick Read - August 7, 2019

Water, Water - Not Everywhere Anymore

A quarter of the world’s population is either in a water crisis or facing an impending crisis in the next 30 years.  There are a vast array of mechanisms that could reduce this risk, but they have significant up-front costs.  Cost many poor countries can’t afford and costs that wealthy countries like the US appear unwilling to pay. There is a vast array of mechanisms that could reduce this risk, but they have significant up-front costs.  Cost many poor countries can’t afford and costs that wealthy countries like the US appear unwilling to pay.

Today, among cities with more than 3 million people, World Resources Institute researchers concluded that 33 of them, with a combined population of over 255 million, face extremely high water stress, with repercussions for public health and social unrest.

By 2030, the number of cities in the extremely high stress category is expected to rise to 45 and include nearly 470 million people.

Climate change heightens the risk. As rainfall becomes more erratic, the water supply becomes less reliable. At the same time, as the days grow hotter, more water evaporates from reservoirs just as demand for water increases.

Water-stressed places are sometimes cursed by two extremes. São Paulo was ravaged by floods a year after its taps nearly ran dry. Chennai suffered fatal floods four years ago, and now its reservoirs are almost empty.

Climate Changes Makes Duluth Desirable?

Miami might be underwater, but we will always have Duluth.  Some cities are looking to rebrand themselves as “climate refuges”. 

As extreme storms, flooding rains and devastating wildfires make some parts of the U.S. more challenging to live in, what Americans consider a nice place to call home is shifting — and with that some Americans are moving, too.

That's why cities like Duluth, Minnesota, Buffalo, New York and Cincinnati, Ohio, are launching efforts to brand themselves as enticing relocation destinations for those seeking to escape the brunt of a warming climate.

"These cities are well-positioned, as they have a cool climate that will remain relatively mild even as temperatures increase and easy freshwater access via the Great Lakes – and also face minimum risk of wildfires and coastal storms," he said.

What’s in Your Guacamole?

Counterfeit guacamole is now a thing.  Right now it seems to be more demand related, but you never know what Trump will do.  Oh, and climate change.

…some of the guacamole dished out in Mexican restaurants, or in hipster cafes, is not made from avocados alone. Now that prices for the fruit are soaring, restaurants have found wily ways to cut costs.

Avocado prices spiked this month because of the laws of the market, David Magaña, an analyst with RaboResearch in California, recently told NPR’s The Salt: “We have the highest or the strongest demand for avocados in the US, probably ever. At the same time, production of avocados has been down.”

Midsize avocados from Mexico, the kind most commonly consumed in the US, were priced at $66, wholesale, on July 19, when he spoke to the radio station. That was 91% higher than 2018 prices.

It's Always About the Money

Thanks to the results of a lawsuit filed in 2013 twelve widely used neonicotinoid pesticides will be pulled from the market in 2020.  The question is how long will it take to mitigate the damage done by these chemicals.  There ban  is a major victory for science, but other neonicotinoids will still be in use.  It took 2013 years and a lawsuit to stop the use of these chemicals.  Profits come first to these chemical companies.

America’s agricultural landscape is now 48 times more toxic to honeybees, and likely other insects, than it was 25 years ago, almost entirely due to widespread use of so-called neonicotinoid pesticides, according to a new study published today in the journal PLOS One.

This enormous rise in toxicity matches the sharp declines in bees, butterflies, and other pollinators as well as birds, says co-author Kendra Klein, senior staff scientist at Friends of the Earth US.

“This is the second Silent Spring. Neonics are like a new DDT, except they are a thousand times more toxic to bees than DDT was,” Klein says in an interview.

In 2018, the European Union banned neonicotinoids for field use based on their harm to pollinators. In 2019, Canada also passed restrictions on the use of the most widely used neonicotinoids. 

No Trophy Hunters Need Apply

The Raincoast Conservation Foundation owns the permit to escort foreign hunters on trophy hunts in a small part of the British Colombia rainforest.  However, their hunts don’t include any actual hunting, unless you include hunting for the best photo opportunity.

Brian Falconer is more than happy to admit that he and his colleagues at Raincoast Conservation Foundation have dismal records as guide outfitters.

In fact, in the 33,500 square kilometres of B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest where Raincoast holds the commercial hunting licence — which gives the organization the right to escort foreign hunters into the area to shoot black bears, cougars, mountain goats and wolverines — the success rate has been zero.

Unless, that is, you count the wildlife photos.

“The only ones that can take anyone in for trophy hunting is Raincoast and we take a different type of hunter,” said Ross Dixon, Raincoast communications director.

Guide outfitters have exclusive rights in the area of their licence to take non-B.C. residents on hunting trips. Hunting for food by B.C. residents does not come under the purview of guide outfitters.

The Foundation needs your help to purchase an additional licence that will remove additional forest area from trophy hunters.