In a news release issued on June 14, the USGS, in conjunction with NOAA, estimated that the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic ("dead") zone may end up being the largest ever, due in large part to excessive nitrogen contamination entering the Gulf accompanying this spring's Mississippi River flooding. The release states, in part, "The Gulf of Mexico's hypoxic zone is predicted to be larger than average this year, due to extreme flooding of the Mississippi River this spring, according to an annual forecast by a team of NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University and the University of Michigan. The forecast is based on Mississippi River nutrient inputs compiled annually by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
"Scientists are predicting the area could measure between 8,500 and 9,421 square miles, or an area roughly the size of New Hampshire. The largest hypoxic zone measured to date occurred in 2002 and encompassed more than 8,400 square miles."
A copy of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University report (PDF file) that underlies the USGS news release (entitled "2011 Forecast: Summer Hypoxic Zone Size, Northern Gulf of Mexico," prepared with support from the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, Coastal Ocean Program) can be viewed or downloaded here.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
UPDATED: Mississippi River-Basin Relevant Congressional Hearings and Meetings for the Week
Here are the US Congressional hearings and meetings scheduled for this week that are particularly relevant to Mississippi River Basin water resource issues (along with links to the relevant Committee hearing or meeting web site):
- House Rules Committee meeting on the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food & Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations bill; Monday, June 13, 5:30 PM, Room H313 US Capitol Building (prior to an anticipated House floor vote on June 15 - view streaming video here)
- House Appropriations Committee meeting to markup the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations bill; Wednesday, June 15, 9:30 AM, Room 2359 Rayburn House Office Building
- House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy markup of bill to prohibit EPA from designating coal ash as a hazardous substance; Thursday, June 16; 9 AM; room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Friday, June 10, 2011
Mekong River Commission Sets a Visionary Example of System-wide Watershed Management
Earlier this week, 14 delegates from the four member countries of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) visited the Mississippi River Basin and some of the people and organizations working on Mississippi River water resource issues. Later in the week they traveled to Washington, DC, where they will meet into next week with water resource experts from various agencies and organizations.
On Monday, I was privileged to meet with the visiting MRC delegates at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center in Alton, Illinois. There, and throughout the day at other places in the Alton area, we came to better know each other; discussing ideas on water resource management approaches in large aquatic systems such as the Mekong and Mississippi River watersheds.
As we listened to one another, and grew to better understand the MRC and its delegates, the issues they face and the comprehensive, systemic approach they are embracing, two things became strikingly apparent. First, the people in both river systems are facing many of the same problems and issues and concerns, and have much to learn from each other. Second, it is the people of the Mekong River valley who have most to teach and the communities of the Mississippi River basin the most to learn from this exchange. I offer this overview of the MRC, its issues and its visionary, comprehensive approach as a brief introduction into that learning process.
The MRC was formed in April 1995 when the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam signed an "Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin," in which they consented to jointly manage their shared water resources and the development of the Mekong River's resources. In 1996 China and Myanmar, the two other Mekong River countries, became "Dialogue Partners" with the four MRC member countries, and now work together with those countries within a cooperative framework.
The MRC has as its mission to "promote and coordinate sustainable management and development of water and related resources for the countries’ mutual benefit and the people’s well-being," working toward a vision of a Mekong River Basin that is "economically prosperous, socially just and environmentally sound."
Because of economic and environmental concerns over large dams, until recently mainstream Mekong River dam planning had effectively been tabled in Southeast Asia. However, MRC-member states became concerned over the impacts of in-place and planned dams in China within the upper Mekong River basin (specifically the recently-completed Xiaowan Dam and approved-for-construction Nuozhadu Dam). During flooding in 2008 and a 2010 drought, many in Thailand, and some in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, blamed flooding and drought impacts on China’s upstream water management actions.
In part because of those upstream dams, lower Mekong dam proposals are now moving forward. There are currently plans in various stages of development for up to eleven dams on the lower main stem of the Mekong River (the section of the Mekong River downstream of China). The proposed dams would be placed in sections of the River bordering or within three of the four MRC-member countries.
The impacts of both the upstream dams, outside of the MRC's direct purview, and the proposed lower Mekong River dams are now the central issues with which the MRC must contend. It has done so by putting into place a very ambitious, robust and comprehensive strategic plan (available here as a pdf file), which "suggests its role will be promoting the harmonisation of benefits shared among the Member Countries, monitoring the environmental health, and undertaking environmental and social impact assessments, and, where needed, strategic impact assessments."
The MRC strategic plan lays out two main goals for 2011-2015 period. Those goals are to:
1. Secretariat Administrative and Management Functions
2. River Basin Management Functions:
The 2009 agreement was crafted based upon a hope that both the MRC and Mississippi River Commission would "profit from a closer partnership" and "sharing." After listening to and learning from our Mekong River colleagues, I couldn't agree more.
On Monday, I was privileged to meet with the visiting MRC delegates at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center in Alton, Illinois. There, and throughout the day at other places in the Alton area, we came to better know each other; discussing ideas on water resource management approaches in large aquatic systems such as the Mekong and Mississippi River watersheds.
As we listened to one another, and grew to better understand the MRC and its delegates, the issues they face and the comprehensive, systemic approach they are embracing, two things became strikingly apparent. First, the people in both river systems are facing many of the same problems and issues and concerns, and have much to learn from each other. Second, it is the people of the Mekong River valley who have most to teach and the communities of the Mississippi River basin the most to learn from this exchange. I offer this overview of the MRC, its issues and its visionary, comprehensive approach as a brief introduction into that learning process.The MRC was formed in April 1995 when the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam signed an "Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin," in which they consented to jointly manage their shared water resources and the development of the Mekong River's resources. In 1996 China and Myanmar, the two other Mekong River countries, became "Dialogue Partners" with the four MRC member countries, and now work together with those countries within a cooperative framework.
The MRC has as its mission to "promote and coordinate sustainable management and development of water and related resources for the countries’ mutual benefit and the people’s well-being," working toward a vision of a Mekong River Basin that is "economically prosperous, socially just and environmentally sound."
Because of economic and environmental concerns over large dams, until recently mainstream Mekong River dam planning had effectively been tabled in Southeast Asia. However, MRC-member states became concerned over the impacts of in-place and planned dams in China within the upper Mekong River basin (specifically the recently-completed Xiaowan Dam and approved-for-construction Nuozhadu Dam). During flooding in 2008 and a 2010 drought, many in Thailand, and some in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, blamed flooding and drought impacts on China’s upstream water management actions.
In part because of those upstream dams, lower Mekong dam proposals are now moving forward. There are currently plans in various stages of development for up to eleven dams on the lower main stem of the Mekong River (the section of the Mekong River downstream of China). The proposed dams would be placed in sections of the River bordering or within three of the four MRC-member countries.
The impacts of both the upstream dams, outside of the MRC's direct purview, and the proposed lower Mekong River dams are now the central issues with which the MRC must contend. It has done so by putting into place a very ambitious, robust and comprehensive strategic plan (available here as a pdf file), which "suggests its role will be promoting the harmonisation of benefits shared among the Member Countries, monitoring the environmental health, and undertaking environmental and social impact assessments, and, where needed, strategic impact assessments."
The MRC strategic plan lays out two main goals for 2011-2015 period. Those goals are to:
- Support the implementation of an Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)-based Basin Development Strategy to address the urgent needs and priorities for the integrated management of water and related resources of the Mekong River Basin towards 2030; and
- Transition toward implementation of the MRC four core functions and increased Member Country contributions to the delivery of these tasks.
1. Secretariat Administrative and Management Functions
2. River Basin Management Functions:
- Data acquisition, exchange and monitoring
- Analysis, modelling and assessment
- Planning support
- Forecasting, warning and emergency response
- Implementing MRC Procedures
- Promoting dialogue and communication
- Reporting and dissemination
3. Capacity Building and Tools Development Functions
4. Consulting and Advisory Services
Underlying the strategic plan and all of MRC's work are the truly visionary aspects of their plan. They are ten key values and principles of sustainable development that will guide all of MRC's work and they include:
4. Consulting and Advisory Services
Underlying the strategic plan and all of MRC's work are the truly visionary aspects of their plan. They are ten key values and principles of sustainable development that will guide all of MRC's work and they include:
- Continuing the comprehensive implementation of IWRM so that transboundary water governance becomes more integrated and responsive thus ensuring equitable sharing of benefits and minimizing risks associated with any development interventions.
- Stimulating pro-poor development.
- Protecting the environment.
- Dealing with climate change effects.
- Closing the different development levels and capacity gaps among the Member Countries by prioritizing funding and capacity building.
- Taking a “Whole of basin” approach.
- Enhancing stakeholder participation and gender mainstreaming, with inputs from and equal participation of both men and women at all levels, ensuring that MRC programs benefit both men and women equally.
- Promoting transparency and openness.
- Encouraging aid effectiveness and donor harmonization, and
- Building strategic partnerships with other regional initiatives and other international river basin organizations.
The 2009 agreement was crafted based upon a hope that both the MRC and Mississippi River Commission would "profit from a closer partnership" and "sharing." After listening to and learning from our Mekong River colleagues, I couldn't agree more.
Mississippi River Basin Water Resource News for the Week
Federal Budget Negotiations Inch Forward
Negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden continued during a two-hour meeting in the US Capitol on Thursday afternoon, where Congressional Republicans and Democrats discussed taxes and entitlements with White House representatives and Treasury Department officials. The sixth round of talks designed to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling were reported to have been "constructive and positive," and explored potential new revenue sources that Democrats say will be central to winning their support for any debt ceiling Congressional measure.
With about two to three more weeks of true negotiating time left before a looming August 2 debt ceiling deadline, the White House has said it wants three meetings a week with lawmakers for the remainder of the month to settle upon a deficit-reduction agreement before Congress recesses for a week over the July 4 holiday. That end-of-June target would allow time for President Barack Obama and Congressional GOP leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner to settle on any agreement that the negotiators hammer out, and would leave the remainder of July for Congress to write the complex bill raising the federal debt ceiling.
The Biden bipartisan negotiation sessions are set to resume next Tuesday. Republicans have said they want the deal to include spending cuts equal in size to the increase in the debt limit, and the Treasury Department has indicated that it would need a debt-ceiling increase of at least $2 trillion to allow the Federal government to operate through the end of the next Fiscal Year. A smaller debt-ceiling agreement allowing for a shorter spending time extension also remains a possibility, however, and Republicans are rumored to have signaled that they would agree to $1 trillion in spending cuts.
While the House has begun work on its Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations bills, similar activity on the Senate side has effectively been put on hold, as Senate leaders wait for a resolution of the debt-ceiling issue. The nature of that deal will undoubtedly influence the levels of spending that would be allowed under any Fiscal Year 2012 spending bills.
Notable @UpperMiss Twitter Postings for the Week:
Floodplains, Dams and Navigation -
Negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden continued during a two-hour meeting in the US Capitol on Thursday afternoon, where Congressional Republicans and Democrats discussed taxes and entitlements with White House representatives and Treasury Department officials. The sixth round of talks designed to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling were reported to have been "constructive and positive," and explored potential new revenue sources that Democrats say will be central to winning their support for any debt ceiling Congressional measure.
With about two to three more weeks of true negotiating time left before a looming August 2 debt ceiling deadline, the White House has said it wants three meetings a week with lawmakers for the remainder of the month to settle upon a deficit-reduction agreement before Congress recesses for a week over the July 4 holiday. That end-of-June target would allow time for President Barack Obama and Congressional GOP leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner to settle on any agreement that the negotiators hammer out, and would leave the remainder of July for Congress to write the complex bill raising the federal debt ceiling.
The Biden bipartisan negotiation sessions are set to resume next Tuesday. Republicans have said they want the deal to include spending cuts equal in size to the increase in the debt limit, and the Treasury Department has indicated that it would need a debt-ceiling increase of at least $2 trillion to allow the Federal government to operate through the end of the next Fiscal Year. A smaller debt-ceiling agreement allowing for a shorter spending time extension also remains a possibility, however, and Republicans are rumored to have signaled that they would agree to $1 trillion in spending cuts.
While the House has begun work on its Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations bills, similar activity on the Senate side has effectively been put on hold, as Senate leaders wait for a resolution of the debt-ceiling issue. The nature of that deal will undoubtedly influence the levels of spending that would be allowed under any Fiscal Year 2012 spending bills.
Notable @UpperMiss Twitter Postings for the Week:
Floodplains, Dams and Navigation -
- GAO report: Management, organization among National Flood Insurance Program's many problems http://1.usa.gov/jhz0m3
- Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee holds hearing on bankrupt National Flood Insurance Program http://1.usa.gov/itXbgX
- As Missouri River rises, control efforts take shape http://tinyurl.com/3hntp2b
- Iowa Towns brace for flooding along Missouri River http://tinyurl.com/3r235rb
- Swollen Missouri River threatening to leave Iowa town under several feet of water http://wapo.st/mmV1tW
- Mississippi River Commission member: River flood control performed 'admirably' http://bit.ly/kSMi4E
- LA officials urge White House & Congress to fund Army Corps Mississippi River dredging http://bit.ly/lJ3I8H http://usat.ly/jurerA & http://bit.ly/m7naF2
- Chemicals in Farm Runoff Rattle States on the Mississippi River http://tinyurl.com/4xuf82j
- USDA announces "Watershed Condition Framework" for watershed evaluation, prioritization & protection http://1.usa.gov/m0VMyF
- 2011 Floods Raise a Question: What's in all that Flood Water? - U of MN River Life Blog http://bit.ly/iCGtrO
- CEQ Releases Draft Plan to Protect Water Quality & Availability from Climate Change Impacts ; comments due July 15 http://1.usa.gov/iVp23W
- Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District approves stricter water quality standards for Chicago River & tribs http://trib.in/kBR4Sa
- Slides and audio of briefing on Managing Nutrients to Protect Water Quality posted at http://bit.ly/luCJzc
- California conservation and fishing groups plan Clean Water Act suit over agricultural runoff http://bit.ly/ji9Afi
- NY Times: Temperature Rising: A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself http://nyti.ms/levu6W
- Sen Grassley's (R-IA) "Rural American Preservation Act" would cap USDA payments to farmers http://bit.ly/j6MYh0 & http://1.usa.gov/kdMDbK
- Full House could take up agricultural appropriations bill as early as next week http://bit.ly/k7nEFe
- Drought in some areas; heavy rain in others keeping world food prices near record levels http://bit.ly/iH1bjv
- DTN blog: demand for food at risk of outstripping supply-could get worse if not addressed comprehensively http://bit.ly/iq0vVX
- Wisconsin-based company creates new type of biofuel NOT derived from crops used as food sources http://bit.ly/lcAi9c
- Sen Coburn (R-OK) forces June 21 ethanol vote on amendment repealing tax incentives http://politi.co/krFJbT
- Summary of all USDA-selected proposals awarded 2011 Greenhouse Gas mitigation Conservation Innovation Grants http://1.usa.gov/j4iUp4
- Wet weather that delayed US corn planting may send global inventories to lowest in 37 years http://bloom.bg/myVAAd
- Federal forecasters: Low corn supplies are here to stay http://on.wsj.com/m1Ln7v
- New framework looks to integrate agroforestry into USDA's conservation & economic work http://1.usa.gov/mKntWs (top link)
- Agriculture’s most potent pesticides rapidly losing effectiveness as weeds evolve chemical resistance http://bit.ly/jeJUxR
- Illinois Pollution Control Board order: Chicago river cleanup required http://tinyurl.com/4295hoh
- Democratic chairman of the KY state House Natural Resources & Environment Committee: Feds declaring war on coal http://tinyurl.com/3temcp5
- US Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement: KY coal industry compliance drops http://bit.ly/jOSGCA
- Louisiana Land and Water Co. owner sentenced to 21 months jail time; fined $310,000 for Clean Water Act violations http://bit.ly/jCZ9CJ
- IA bill 'streamlining' DNR permit process for projects near streams draws criticism http://bit.ly/mftmZl
- IA state committee votes to cut land preservation fund by $26M a year http://bit.ly/j1ljLL
- MN DNR to fund Asian Carp eDNA testing this summer in upper Mississippi River http://bit.ly/kuETD6
- Biodiversity loss does not get the attention the problem deserves http://ow.ly/59a0p
- Protected and endangered fish & birds may benefit from flooding Missouri River http://yhoo.it/kyhsxT
- WI Asian carp harvesting/angling rules questioned as invasive enters state waters http://bit.ly/l2SaAB
- Opening Morganza & Bonnet Carre spillways may move Asian carp from Mississippi River into other Louisiana waters http://bit.ly/mOfGpL
- Republicans consider short-term debt-ceiling deal if Biden talks fail http://bit.ly/ireDZW
- GOP may push for two-year budget as price of debt deal http://bit.ly/jnYdCh
- Full House could take up agricultural appropriations bill as early as next week http://bit.ly/k7nEFe
- VP-led negotiators discuss taxes & entitlements in 6th round of talks to reach budget-debt ceiling deal http://bit.ly/mITuyJ
- New USGS study: Louisiana is losing a football field of coastal wetlands an hour http://tinyurl.com/3r34r86
- USGS map & analysis show Coastal Louisiana to be "fastest disappearing land mass on earth" http://bit.ly/lF3RGh
- Minnesota River basin documentary to be aired statewide Sunday (6 pm CDT) http://bit.ly/lyL6Oz
- June 21 webinar: Adaptation in a Changing Climate and its impact on National Security http://bit.ly/mNBsJV
- “America’s Grasslands: Status, Threats, & Opportunities” conference, Sioux Falls, SD; August 15-17 http://bit.ly/kmHLXV
- CIG Showcase in conjunction with Soil & Water Conservation Society International Conference; Washington, DC, July 17-20 http://bit.ly/lmsY2Z
- Mississippi River and Mekong River stakeholders exchange river conservation ideas and views http://bit.ly/jE6Iwv
- Essay on growth, development, sustainability, water resources & climate change http://bit.ly/iYQ7WX
- Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water blogs on "Waters of the US" jurisdiction issue http://1.usa.gov/kCvQAH
- President will create advisory council to recommend ways to boost US rural economy & quality of life http://wapo.st/mDyd0B
- Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D) will decide whether to enter WI US Senate contest by Labor Day http://tinyurl.com/4xty9el
- Poll: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) would beat her only declared Republican opponent in 2012 US Senate run http://bit.ly/lYDSJk
- House seat redistricting case in Louisiana seen as crucial test of Voting Rights Act http://tinyurl.com/44s5acf
- Republicans targeting Rep. Jerry Costello with TV ad set to air in newly redistricted IL House district http://bit.ly/imSZAP
- Unions occupy middle political ground on environmental policy issues http://nyti.ms/jaRBCY
- New poll: In KY governor race Gov. Beshear (D) has 21-point lead over Republican state Sen. Williams http://bit.ly/mQQTjJ
Friday, June 3, 2011
Essay on growth, development, sustainability, water resources and climate change
This essay on growth, development, sustainability and climate change was published in the May issue of the India Economy Review.
Last summer, as twenty percent of Pakistan lay beneath what once was a tamed Indus River, I recall reading a story of the plight of 40-year-old taxi driver Bakht Zada, who wondered aloud as he watched his livelihood, history and culture being washed downstream toward the Indian Ocean, "If this is not God’s wrath, what is?" The River he was watching flow through his town had, until then, been largely held in check by miles of levees and an upstream dam system that rivaled other modern engineering marvels around the world; in check, that is, until what United Nations officials are calling the worst natural disaster attributable to climate change drove the River beyond its banks, rendering the dams and levees meaningless, forcing thousands to flee and adding their desperation to the plight of millions in the region already in need of relief.
What we now know all too well is that the flooding, misery and desolation in Pakistan were not the wrath of a vengeful God but the direct result of frequently well-intentioned but typically misguided attempts to tame a River, and to put it to more “productive” use by exploiting its natural and human resources, and developing within its floodplains — all hampering the River valley’s natural resiliency and thwarting an innate human capacity to adapt and survive. And all perversely compounded by a climate run amuck at our own hands.
Pakistan was not alone in its misery while a fifth of its land drowned. At the same time, Russia’s drought-ridden landscape burned (and 700 people died there each day), China saw its worst flooding in decades, ice loss from Greenland’s ice sheet was expanding rapidly up its northwest coast, and Iowa in the United States was soaked by its wettest 36-month period in nearly 130 years of record-keeping.
Climatologists are now openly saying what laypeople have been wondering aloud for years. Last summer’s Pakistani flooding and Russian heat wave, and the other extreme weather events occurring to this day around the globe are linked to and exacerbated by climate change. As the Indus River overflowed, sixteen of Australia’s leading scientists, speaking through the Australian Academy of Science and across a range of disciplines, pointedly confronted climate change deniers in an effort to set the record straight on climate science in the middle of a national election in which the validity of climate change had been hotly contested. At the same time that Russian farms, prairies and forests were aflame, scientists at the World Meteorological Organization reported that “the sequence of current events matches . . . projections of more frequent and more intense extreme weather events due to global warming.”
Researcher, writer and university professor Wolfgang Sachs once noted that “Nothing is ultimately as irrational as rushing with maximum efficiency in the wrong direction.” From where I sit, Professor Sachs has captured the human condition very well, as we heedlessly stroll down a road toward catastrophe at an all-too-efficient pace; wanting more, producing more and consuming more along the way. And all the while — as we want, produce and consume — the tempo at which we constrain and exploit nature ecosystems while pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere continues to increase, while evidence mounts daily that following such a path is folly.
The degree to which the Pakistani flooding and other extreme weather events are due to climate change layered upon more typical climatic cycles (or, even as Mr. Zada suggests, the wrath of God) is certainly debatable. However, that climate change is occurring at all can no longer be questioned by people of good conscious. Nor can we continue to rationally deny humanity’s historic and continued contributions to climate change. Yet, some still question and debate the latter point and still deny the former; fiddling, in effect, while the world — sometimes all too literally — burns.
Pakistan was not alone in its misery while a fifth of its land drowned. At the same time, Russia’s drought-ridden landscape burned (and 700 people died there each day), China saw its worst flooding in decades, ice loss from Greenland’s ice sheet was expanding rapidly up its northwest coast, and Iowa in the United States was soaked by its wettest 36-month period in nearly 130 years of record-keeping.
Climatologists are now openly saying what laypeople have been wondering aloud for years. Last summer’s Pakistani flooding and Russian heat wave, and the other extreme weather events occurring to this day around the globe are linked to and exacerbated by climate change. As the Indus River overflowed, sixteen of Australia’s leading scientists, speaking through the Australian Academy of Science and across a range of disciplines, pointedly confronted climate change deniers in an effort to set the record straight on climate science in the middle of a national election in which the validity of climate change had been hotly contested. At the same time that Russian farms, prairies and forests were aflame, scientists at the World Meteorological Organization reported that “the sequence of current events matches . . . projections of more frequent and more intense extreme weather events due to global warming.”Researcher, writer and university professor Wolfgang Sachs once noted that “Nothing is ultimately as irrational as rushing with maximum efficiency in the wrong direction.” From where I sit, Professor Sachs has captured the human condition very well, as we heedlessly stroll down a road toward catastrophe at an all-too-efficient pace; wanting more, producing more and consuming more along the way. And all the while — as we want, produce and consume — the tempo at which we constrain and exploit nature ecosystems while pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere continues to increase, while evidence mounts daily that following such a path is folly.
The degree to which the Pakistani flooding and other extreme weather events are due to climate change layered upon more typical climatic cycles (or, even as Mr. Zada suggests, the wrath of God) is certainly debatable. However, that climate change is occurring at all can no longer be questioned by people of good conscious. Nor can we continue to rationally deny humanity’s historic and continued contributions to climate change. Yet, some still question and debate the latter point and still deny the former; fiddling, in effect, while the world — sometimes all too literally — burns.
The Idol of Productivity
That some still question (or concede but ignore) the human influence on climate change is ironic, to say the least, since the underlying cultural basis for rising greenhouse gas production — the perceived need for continuous economic growth built upon an ethos of ever-increasing production and ever-improving efficiency — goes largely unquestioned. In fact, the need for continuous growth and increased productivity is not only an unchallenged truism, but growth and productivity have been deified, particularly in western culture, where people take sophomoric pride in being proficiently productive. The more productive and efficient a people are, the cultural myth goes, the more likely we are to prosper as a nation, to survive as a culture and to be individually comfortable while doing so. We reach, yearn and strive for higher productivity; trying our utmost to do more, make more and consume more with less effort, less money, less guilt. And all the while we never even deign to question the precept that doing, producing and consuming more for less — all iconic measures of efficiency — are undoubtedly virtuous.
Many of our parents in Western society used to teach us as children that “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Today, we can add “productive” and “efficient” to the list of qualities that raise us closer to the divine.
And while we continue to bow to the god of economic growth, scientists warn that the entire ice mass of Greenland will disappear if the earth's temperature rises by as little as two degrees Celsius; a group of nine Nobel laureates announce that unless the world starts reducing greenhouse gas emissions within six years, we face devastation; the U.S. Geological Survey reports that many of Asia’s glaciers are retreating as a result of climate change; China's state news agency declares that rising sea levels caused by climate change contribute to a growing number of coastal disasters; climate legislation has been officially pronounced “dead” in the United States; Canada has decided that it will delay greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts for at least another five years; officials in India assert that the nation will not agree to binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions; and Chinese analysts conclude that Western carbon dioxide emission reduction plans are inadequate and inconsequential.
Rachel Carson once observed that we live in a time “in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom challenged;” seldom challenged, because we have elevated efficiency and productivity to a godlike status. Increasing factory productivity goes unquestioned, even if it means sacking workers who have dedicated themselves to a company for decades. Efficiently producing and employing ever-improved weapons of destruction go unquestioned, even when it results in shifting all-to-limited resources from life-giving endeavors to the killing of tens of thousands of fellow humans; civilian and military alike. Proficiently pumping pollutants into the air we breathe and water we drink is rewarded, so long as we are comfortable while productively poisoning the planet and one other.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent,” Albert Einstein warned, “It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” What we need now is a little less intelligent foolishness and a lot more people of courage to question our blind devotion to the god of productivity: to ask “why,” when output is deemed sacrosanct; to question power, when the idol of unbridled growth goes unchallenged; and to speak truth in the face of torrents of misinformation. As we look forward toward a potential future steeped in growth and productivity, I humbly suggest that we reframe the ingrained perspectives and policy and preferences that suck our economies, cultures and lives down that untenable path toward oblivion; that we envision and then follow a different, sustainable course.
That some still question (or concede but ignore) the human influence on climate change is ironic, to say the least, since the underlying cultural basis for rising greenhouse gas production — the perceived need for continuous economic growth built upon an ethos of ever-increasing production and ever-improving efficiency — goes largely unquestioned. In fact, the need for continuous growth and increased productivity is not only an unchallenged truism, but growth and productivity have been deified, particularly in western culture, where people take sophomoric pride in being proficiently productive. The more productive and efficient a people are, the cultural myth goes, the more likely we are to prosper as a nation, to survive as a culture and to be individually comfortable while doing so. We reach, yearn and strive for higher productivity; trying our utmost to do more, make more and consume more with less effort, less money, less guilt. And all the while we never even deign to question the precept that doing, producing and consuming more for less — all iconic measures of efficiency — are undoubtedly virtuous.
Many of our parents in Western society used to teach us as children that “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Today, we can add “productive” and “efficient” to the list of qualities that raise us closer to the divine.
And while we continue to bow to the god of economic growth, scientists warn that the entire ice mass of Greenland will disappear if the earth's temperature rises by as little as two degrees Celsius; a group of nine Nobel laureates announce that unless the world starts reducing greenhouse gas emissions within six years, we face devastation; the U.S. Geological Survey reports that many of Asia’s glaciers are retreating as a result of climate change; China's state news agency declares that rising sea levels caused by climate change contribute to a growing number of coastal disasters; climate legislation has been officially pronounced “dead” in the United States; Canada has decided that it will delay greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts for at least another five years; officials in India assert that the nation will not agree to binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions; and Chinese analysts conclude that Western carbon dioxide emission reduction plans are inadequate and inconsequential.Rachel Carson once observed that we live in a time “in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom challenged;” seldom challenged, because we have elevated efficiency and productivity to a godlike status. Increasing factory productivity goes unquestioned, even if it means sacking workers who have dedicated themselves to a company for decades. Efficiently producing and employing ever-improved weapons of destruction go unquestioned, even when it results in shifting all-to-limited resources from life-giving endeavors to the killing of tens of thousands of fellow humans; civilian and military alike. Proficiently pumping pollutants into the air we breathe and water we drink is rewarded, so long as we are comfortable while productively poisoning the planet and one other.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent,” Albert Einstein warned, “It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” What we need now is a little less intelligent foolishness and a lot more people of courage to question our blind devotion to the god of productivity: to ask “why,” when output is deemed sacrosanct; to question power, when the idol of unbridled growth goes unchallenged; and to speak truth in the face of torrents of misinformation. As we look forward toward a potential future steeped in growth and productivity, I humbly suggest that we reframe the ingrained perspectives and policy and preferences that suck our economies, cultures and lives down that untenable path toward oblivion; that we envision and then follow a different, sustainable course.
A Path Forward
Here’s what I believe is happening that directly and increasingly contributes to catastrophes like those in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world; while at the same time making it increasingly difficult to find a path forward toward economic and environmental sustainability — happening not just in the Indus River valley, but everywhere. We are divided into two camps. Put most simply, they are “yours” and “mine.” You may have heard them referred to in other terms: east and west, urban and rural, farm and city, business and environmental, young or elderly, immigrant or resident, liberal and conservative, rich and poor. The specific labels matter little, really; because, in the end, this vision of the world always comes down to “yours” and “mine.” That perspective must change before we can ever hope to let go of our need for control based on a principle of limitless production and growth. Before moving on to transform our deification of growth at the expense of others, in other words, we must ultimately transform our very notion of “otherness.”
Radical transformation is never easy; and change appears most threatening to those in institutional power; however, speaking from the figurative epicenter of global power in Washington, DC, I would offer that such reframing is necessary if we are to collectively move from an invalid model of infinite growth within a finite world, and toward a balanced, sustainable and equitable paradigm of society and its connections with the natural world.
The Bakiga people inhabit the mountains and valleys around Lake Victoria in what is today Uganda — at the very headwaters of another river as great as the Indus — the Nile. Over hundreds of generations, their ties to the land and water and each other have informed an ancient wisdom strikingly opposed to the “yours and mine” mentality sweeping much of the world: “united jaws crush the bone.” That wisdom teaches that it has never really been a world of “yours and mine.” There’s is not a world vision based upon “you and me;” but upon “ours” and “us.” The Bakiga teach that all are connected. Everything is connected. Everywhere there are connections.
This wisdom from the Bakiga is a lesson for us all. What the people of the Nile River valley learned so many generations ago is that neither you nor I are right or wrong; good or bad; evil or moral; friend or enemy. We are simply different. In each place we speak different languages, hold to different customs, connect differently, interact with government differently, relate to nature differently. This is just who we are and what we do as blessedly assorted human beings. And the solutions that may work very well in one river town or on one farm or in one city might not work so well in another. And the only way to really determine how to live sustainably together — to determine what will work and what might not — is to listen to people where they live and work and play: along the banks of the Indus River; in the steppes of Eurasia; within the cities of Europe; among the islands of Micronesia; and in every home and shop and hamlet around the world.
What we will discover if we truly listen to one another is that we have everything to learn and nothing to fear from each other. We will find that diversity of opinion, when embraced honestly, is what animates thinking and provokes imagination. We will discover that the irrational fears keeping us apart — keeping us from solving difficult but very solvable problems — are, in the end, simply fear of losing control — control over things we really cannot control to begin with. Just ask the people of Pakistan who tried in vain to hold back the rising waters of the Indus River.
To solve what seem to be intractable problems allied with the unrealistic vision of perpetual growth, we will need to provide the room and carve out the time desperately needed to listen to each other. To listen to store owners who cannot maintain their businesses; listen to city officials whose tax bases are eroding and to farmers whose soils and livelihoods are washing away; listen to the scientists who tell us the earth’s natural places are unique treasures; listen to the workers and their families who can’t make ends meet; meet with artists, talk to politicians, speak to industry leaders, join with teachers, pay attention to the children and the poor and our elders, because everyone is a member of the economic and ecological quilt that forms our rich human tapestry, and all have a part to play in its protection.
All of us, together — not “you;” not “I” — had better make sure that this listening and understanding and cooperation and innovation come to pass; before 40-year-old taxi drivers and 22-year-old mothers and five-year-old children and 60-year-old shopkeepers, just like Bakht Zada, watch as our livelihoods, and histories and cultures wash figuratively, if not literally, downstream.
If we do not — if we fail to cooperate as a global community; if we do not move from glorifying the mythic god of growth to bowing toward and respecting one another — then I fear that Pakistani taxi driver Bakht Zada will have been correct all along. And that humanity’s demise, in the end, will be the result of a god’s wrath, albeit a god of our own making. If that is not God’s wrath, what is?
Here’s what I believe is happening that directly and increasingly contributes to catastrophes like those in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world; while at the same time making it increasingly difficult to find a path forward toward economic and environmental sustainability — happening not just in the Indus River valley, but everywhere. We are divided into two camps. Put most simply, they are “yours” and “mine.” You may have heard them referred to in other terms: east and west, urban and rural, farm and city, business and environmental, young or elderly, immigrant or resident, liberal and conservative, rich and poor. The specific labels matter little, really; because, in the end, this vision of the world always comes down to “yours” and “mine.” That perspective must change before we can ever hope to let go of our need for control based on a principle of limitless production and growth. Before moving on to transform our deification of growth at the expense of others, in other words, we must ultimately transform our very notion of “otherness.”
Radical transformation is never easy; and change appears most threatening to those in institutional power; however, speaking from the figurative epicenter of global power in Washington, DC, I would offer that such reframing is necessary if we are to collectively move from an invalid model of infinite growth within a finite world, and toward a balanced, sustainable and equitable paradigm of society and its connections with the natural world.
The Bakiga people inhabit the mountains and valleys around Lake Victoria in what is today Uganda — at the very headwaters of another river as great as the Indus — the Nile. Over hundreds of generations, their ties to the land and water and each other have informed an ancient wisdom strikingly opposed to the “yours and mine” mentality sweeping much of the world: “united jaws crush the bone.” That wisdom teaches that it has never really been a world of “yours and mine.” There’s is not a world vision based upon “you and me;” but upon “ours” and “us.” The Bakiga teach that all are connected. Everything is connected. Everywhere there are connections.
This wisdom from the Bakiga is a lesson for us all. What the people of the Nile River valley learned so many generations ago is that neither you nor I are right or wrong; good or bad; evil or moral; friend or enemy. We are simply different. In each place we speak different languages, hold to different customs, connect differently, interact with government differently, relate to nature differently. This is just who we are and what we do as blessedly assorted human beings. And the solutions that may work very well in one river town or on one farm or in one city might not work so well in another. And the only way to really determine how to live sustainably together — to determine what will work and what might not — is to listen to people where they live and work and play: along the banks of the Indus River; in the steppes of Eurasia; within the cities of Europe; among the islands of Micronesia; and in every home and shop and hamlet around the world.
What we will discover if we truly listen to one another is that we have everything to learn and nothing to fear from each other. We will find that diversity of opinion, when embraced honestly, is what animates thinking and provokes imagination. We will discover that the irrational fears keeping us apart — keeping us from solving difficult but very solvable problems — are, in the end, simply fear of losing control — control over things we really cannot control to begin with. Just ask the people of Pakistan who tried in vain to hold back the rising waters of the Indus River.To solve what seem to be intractable problems allied with the unrealistic vision of perpetual growth, we will need to provide the room and carve out the time desperately needed to listen to each other. To listen to store owners who cannot maintain their businesses; listen to city officials whose tax bases are eroding and to farmers whose soils and livelihoods are washing away; listen to the scientists who tell us the earth’s natural places are unique treasures; listen to the workers and their families who can’t make ends meet; meet with artists, talk to politicians, speak to industry leaders, join with teachers, pay attention to the children and the poor and our elders, because everyone is a member of the economic and ecological quilt that forms our rich human tapestry, and all have a part to play in its protection.
All of us, together — not “you;” not “I” — had better make sure that this listening and understanding and cooperation and innovation come to pass; before 40-year-old taxi drivers and 22-year-old mothers and five-year-old children and 60-year-old shopkeepers, just like Bakht Zada, watch as our livelihoods, and histories and cultures wash figuratively, if not literally, downstream.
If we do not — if we fail to cooperate as a global community; if we do not move from glorifying the mythic god of growth to bowing toward and respecting one another — then I fear that Pakistani taxi driver Bakht Zada will have been correct all along. And that humanity’s demise, in the end, will be the result of a god’s wrath, albeit a god of our own making. If that is not God’s wrath, what is?
(The views expressed in the article are personal and do not reflect the official policy or position of the organisation.)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Mississippi River Basin Water Resource News for the Week
Notable @UpperMiss Twitter Postings for the Week:
Current Flooding-
Current Flooding-
- FEMA's "Mississippi Flooding" information, resource and update page: http://1.usa.gov/jNPVjK
- Army Corps to increase releases from Missouri River reservoirs in response to snowmelt and rain http://bit.ly/lRqJTh & http://reut.rs/k0HfIv
- NWS 28-day forecast: Mississippi River to remain at or near 17-foot flood stage until at least June 17 at New Orleans http://bit.ly/jN1ShM
- Guest Column: Time to invest in a sustainable Mississippi River system http://bit.ly/m0b4vt
- New York Times editorial re: flooding & revisions of Federal water resource planning Principles & Guidelines http://nyti.ms/j1LcI4
- American Rivers & CNT Guide to Recognizing Green Infrastructure's Economic, Social & Environmental Benefits http://bit.ly/jLPeL9
- House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Leaders Introduce EPA-Limiting Legislation http://bit.ly/mwlLz5
- 35 Senators send letter to appropriators asking that Clean & Drinking Water State Revolving Funds be preserved http://1.usa.gov/kmfuIn
- Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act introduced in Senate http://1.usa.gov/lQDCVv & House http://1.usa.gov/iYnQgQ
- UN World Meteorological Organization: Extreme weather will upset global food output during next decade http://bloom.bg/mhXd8p
- Sen. Stabenow, D-MI, Agriculture Committee chair, holding committee's 1st farm bill field hearing today at MI State U http://bit.ly/j0yO3G
- House appropriations comm votes to cut $ for farm subsidy; conservation programs http://tinyurl.com/3hxfqxh & http://tinyurl.com/3ql8ryo
- South Dakota farmer in Op-Ed: “It’s time to declare federal farm subsidies a success and begin phasing them out” http://tinyurl.com/43trjcg
- National Farmers Union President: Farm Bill safety net critical to farm operations after disasters http://tinyurl.com/6gsxq6s
- Op-ed: Tile drainage does good, not harm http://tinyurl.com/3ezu742
- Op-ed: Alterations to natural hydrology are the primary factor in higher river pollution http://tinyurl.com/3c9hpko
- Sierra Club sues coal company over Selenium contamination in Kentucky waters http://bit.ly/k5K2zZ
- Missouri Judge Imposes Maximum Fine in Zebra Mussel Case http://bit.ly/lVj5ld and http://bit.ly/lVj5ld
- Minnesota Governor Dayton Signs Bill to Help Fight Aquatic Invasive Species http://tinyurl.com/3m8bwao
- House Appropriations Committee Cuts USDA Farm Subsidies and Conservation Funding http://tinyurl.com/3r7xrwe
- House Republicans release FY 2012 Energy and Water spending bill http://tinyurl.com/454t4o8 (pdf file) Committee markup Thursday
- Energy & Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee passes FY 2012 DOE & Army Corps funding bill http://tinyurl.com/454t4o8 (pdf)
- Neither side showing willingness to give ground in White House -GOP budget discussions http://tinyurl.com/43yg5ju
- Businessman Brad Schneider (D) will challenge potential IL US House redistricting target, Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL-10) http://bit.ly/lFvBFM
- Iowa-1st state to finish redistricting & pass new Congressional map-will see several competitive 2012 House races http://bit.ly/kqhnyo
- IL state House on Monday passed aggressive new congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Democrats http://bit.ly/mKouC0
- At least six US House seats now considered in play thanks to Illinois redistricting http://tinyurl.com/3qc3rsb
- "Louisiana is an ultra-red state" even after US House district redistricting http://bit.ly/jZooGI
- Mississippi River flooding worsens Gulf of Mexico environment http://bit.ly/k9ZyGJ
- NY Times: Largest-Ever Dead Zone "Disaster in the Making" for Gulf Coastal seafood industry http://nyti.ms/lo7UjR
- Louisiana pancake batfish on Top 10 list of new species discovered in 2010 http://bit.ly/j30HrX
- At House subcommittee hearing Scientists urge renewal of algal bloom, dead zone research; statements here: http://tinyurl.com/4yx2am7
- White House releases draft National Ocean's policy http://tinyurl.com/3fwjh3l
- New American Rivers climate-water report: "Weathering Change: Policy Reforms that Save Money & Make Communities Safer" http://bit.ly/la9gAm
House Appropriations Committee Cuts USDA Farm Subsidies and Conservation Funding
In a surprise move, the full House Appropriations Committee voted during a lengthy Tuesday (May 31) mark-up session to cut farm subsidies to help reduce the Federal budget deficit and to help pay for other budget items in the bill. The marathon session featured 12 approved amendments, including an unanticipated vote to cut off crop subsidies to growers with more than $250,000 a year in adjusted gross income. Here is the Committee's press release concerning the approved bill, along with its full text (pdf file) and an accompanying committee report (also a pdf file).
The bill also made significant cuts to mandatory spending for conservation programs, including a cut of $171 million to the Conservation Stewardship Program, $350 million to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and reductions in eligible acreage for sign up to the Wetlands Reserve Program and Grasslands Reserve Program by 64,200 acres and 96,000 acres, respectively.
Another amendment adopted by the Committee would restore $147 million to the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food assistance program, which had otherwise been cut by $832 million, or 12 percent in the Appropriations subcommittee-approved bill.
The Committee's press release describes each of the twelve adopted amendments.
The $17.25 billion USDA and FDA funding bill will now go to the full House for a vote.
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