Blue Planet Links does not guarantee the accuracy or objectivity of the information presented on listed websites or publications. We have attempted to present a variety of perspectives on the issues in the hope that the more you know, the more likely you are to influence and make wise public and personal decisions to promote healthy oceans and fresh water.
© 2012 Blue Planet Links
Environment & climate change
Links to a zillion things you can learn about H2O
Amazing water! It's probably our most valuable natural resource. Nothing can live without it. As the world's population grows, we use more, poison more, and waste more H20 every day. Learn more:
CO2 eating away at marine life
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1021446/Acidic-oceans-caused-rising-C02-levels-eating-away-marine-wildlife.html Oceans absorb about 1/4 of our carbon dioxide emissions, and acidification of seawater is increasing. It's affecting marine life faster than expected, say researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Dry Spring: the Coming Water Crisis of North America
"Weather is changing. Get ready for it." Weather is felt most tangibly through water: rain, snow, flooding, drought, ice. In Dry Spring by Chris Woods, we learn how climate change is already affecting North American orchardists, fishers and people who live on the coast. Wood offers some suggestions about how to mitigate the worst effects.
Economist
With some sifting, you'll find in-depth articles on water and economics, politics, business, technology, pollution, climate change, resource extraction and more.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
http://www.epa.gov/watrhome/
American federal agency offers a wide variety of information from geography to "What You Can Do" to educational resources to specific regional water regulations. Safe Drinking Water regulations: http://www.epa.gov/safewater.
Human Activity and the Environment
http://www.statcan.ca/english/ads/enviro...
HAE 2000 by Statistics Canada took a comprehensive look at how Canadians influence the environment, and a new report has been published annually. Look back to HAE 2003, which focused on Fresh Water Resources in Canada, providing a statistical portrait of the availability, distribution, control, uses and quality of water.
Natural Resources Canada
http://adaptation.nrcan.gc.ca
Research and information on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations for Canada: risks, vulnerabilities and programs for adapting to the future.
University of Delaware Graduate College of Marine Studies
http://www.ocean.udel.edu
Based on the U.S. Atlantic coast, the school site offers on-line expeditions into the deep, educational resources, and research publications on a variety of ocean topics.
Quick Facts About Water
- Water covers 70% of Earth's surface. (That's why astronauts in space dubbed it "The Blue Planet".)
- Only 1% of this resource is drinkable. About 97% is ocean water: salty, unpotable and not usable for irrigation. The other 3% is fresh water, but nearly one-third of that is locked up in the form of glaciers and ice fields.
- The world's population more than tripled in the last century, but during the same time, our consumption of water increased six times. The U.S.A. and Canada, in that order, use the most water per capita.
- Agriculture is the largest user of water world-wide, consuming about 68%. Industry uses 22%.
- Water is life: we might survive a month without food, but less than a week without water.
- Water is weather: rain, snow, ice - and drought. It determines what we eat, what we grow, and what plants, animals and water life thrive.