EcoWorldly

An increase in rains along our eastern seaboard has eased the Australian drought over the past few months, however the Bureau of Meteorology has announced that steady rain for several years is needed before the drought finally breaks.

There are varying degrees of drought stricken country in Australia, due to two varieties of drought. The majority of the north and bits of the west have suffered from drought for almost two decades now, with agriculture suffering catastrophic losses.

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Spurred by shrinking freshwater supplies, U.S. states could begin “water wars” in the next years to claim rights to Great Lakes water, warned American and Canadian scientists at a water conference in Toronto last week.

Nations around the world, such as India and Australia, are already experiencing drought and its effects on access to clean water and increases in food prices–and states in the American South and West are bracing themselves for a time in the near future when water resources will be more scarce.

Scientist Milton Clark, a senior health and science adviser for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was quoted as saying at the conference, “We will in fact get into major water wars. You will see water wars coming in every way, shape or form.”

To prevent states from fighting over–or selling–water, the Great Lakes Compact was created in 2001 among the eight Great Lakes states, Ontario and Quebec.

Ontario and Quebec have signed the agreement, which bans long-distance water diversions to states not bordering the Great Lakes. Minnesota, New York, Indiana and Illinois have also signed the agreement, and Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania have not.

As one of the world’s largest reservoirs of drinking water, the five Great Lakes contain 18 percent of all fresh surface water on the planet. Conservationists continue to lobby to protect the lakes’ waters from mismanagement and environmental degradation.

Photo: NASA

Following, organized by region, are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 20 - 27. See an archive of top international environmental news here.

Asia

Working the land the natural way: Organic farming in China

It’s been almost four years since the project was launched, and of the nine households who have tried organic farming, only four are still at it. The others decided it just wasn’t worth it. Organic farming requires much more labor, the yield can be half or less of that of conventional farming, and besides, hardly anyone in Chengdu is eating organic. Our stock broker-turned-farmer estimates their customer base to be only 0.01% of Chengdu’s population.

Anlong farmer Gao Shengjian believes there’s a link between the use of pesticides and fertilizers on farms and the growing incidences of various diseases among the rural population.

Source: Crossroads China. Vote for this article in social media: StumbleUpon.

China down to 12 days worth of coal

China only has enough coal for 12 days of consumption, three days less than a month ago, state media reported Wednesday, sounding the alarm bells over the nation’s most important source of energy.

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Solar thermal energy plants focus the glare of the Sun’s rays on a central location to create heat, which is then turned into electricity. Various methods exist to concentrate the solar radiation, including parabolic troughs, power towers with mirrors that track the Sun (heliostats), parabolic dishes, and Fresnel reflectors. See a history of solar thermal energy.

For comparison with solar photovoltaics, see the world’s 13 biggest photovoltaic solar energy projects.

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In case you missed them the first time around, here are the top 10 international environmental headlines that made news in the blogosphere for the week of March 31 - April 6.

1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok

“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.

‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.

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If I were to travel north-north-west for a few hours, I would exit Melbourne-proper within about an hour (the traffic can be hell!). After that I would slowly make my way up through country-suburbia and enter towns which would like to consider themselves ‘good old fashioned country towns’. I would eventually hit Mildura, where a new solar plant will soon begin to emerge from the ground.

This story was kicked off by this one here at ForeignPolicy.com, where they list several new solar projects going up around the world. Considering that there was one close to home, I decided to focus in on that one.

Expected to cost some $420 million AUD ($270 million USD) the project is being constructed by Hong Kong-owned TRUenergy. The plant – which is planned to begin generating power by 2010, and be completed 2013 – is looking to provide solar power to some 45,000 homes.

The project will avoid an approximate 437,000 tons of annual greenhouse-gas emissions that would have been produced by a coal-fired plant of the same output. But despite the seeming size of this project, the total output will only account for .1 percent of Australia’s electricity generation (according to statistics from 2006).

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Following in the steps of the EU and their Emission Trading Scheme, Australia will be implementing a their own by 2010. Announced Monday by the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, the national scheme would “constitute the most significant economic and structural reform undertaken in Australia since the trade liberalization of the 1980s.”

Often it is hard to understand just what a trading scheme is all about, but I finally found it explained simply and clearly. The AFP wrote; ‘Emissions trading schemes place a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas pollution which companies can produce, forcing heavy polluters to buy credits from companies that pollute less — thereby creating financial incentives to fight global warming.’

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International demand for solar energy has been steadily growing by 20-25% a year for the past two decades. In the United states, solar energy growth is about 60% a year. Looking at how fast solar energy plants are growing and how large they’re becoming year by year is reveals that the future for solar is shining bright.

World’s Largest Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Power Plants (Proposed and Operational)

By 2011, Deming, New Mexico, USA will be the home of the world’s largest solar power plant. This 300 Megawatt solar facility will be 15 times the size of the current largest solar plant on the planet. New Solar Ventures and Solar Torx are the companies behind the project. The solar energy plant will cover as many as 1,300 hectares and employ between 300 and 400 people. The project’s planners estimate that the plant will supply enough energy to power 240,000 homes. (Photo: Flickr. Source: Reuters.)

The Solana solar plant, 70 miles from Pheonix, near Gila Bend, Arizona, USA, will compliment the Deming plant when both begin operations in 2011. It will produce 280 megawatts of energy, provide 1,500 jobs, and cover an area of 769 hectares. The solar power facility will be the child of Abengoa Solar and Arizona Public Service Company. However, the project depends on the United States Congress to renew clean energy tax credits, which would otherwise expire at the end of 2008. (Photo: APS. Source: Newlaunches via EcoFuss.)

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Speaking to a friend the other day, our conversation wound its way to the Australian drought. My side of the conversation consisted of imparting facts regarding the Indian Ocean Dipole’s effect on the La Nina, subsequently creating or worsening Australian drought conditions. Dave’s side of the conversation was to inform me that there are kids throughout the country – particularly on the eastern seaboard – that are for the first time in their lives seeing rain.

And these just aren’t 8-month old babies. Kids as old as 16 years old are witnessing rain fall on their very heads.

That rain, according to the National Climate Center (NCC), is an indicator of what might be called the end of our drought. And for this, the entire nation is beyond thankful. We’ve moved all the way through in to … well, whatever is past thankful!

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“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together.” This phrase, from an activist Aboriginal group in Queensland, Australia, seems to sum up perfectly a solar energy movement led by women a world away from Queensland.

Barefoot College, in India, is training middle-aged women from rural villages in Bolivia, Afghanistan, Gambia, Ethiopia, Mali, Cameroon, and Sierra Lione to be solar engineers. After training, the women return to their homes to install solar electricity units with the support of the communities.

Via: Green Girls Global