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
Rivers & dams
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:
Managing watersheds: Murray Creek
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=e5b5f387-2638-4863-9463-77d817bd6058 Rivers have been compared to the blood system in a human body. Here's a story that stresses the importance of watersheds through the rehab of Murray Creek in northern BC.
River links
http://www.cgee.hamline.edu/rivers
Links to a wide variety of informative and/or educational river web sites through Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education.
River World
http://www.riverworld.bcit.ca
A good place to learn about the Mekong and other great international waterways, Canada as a nation of rivers, and the plights and success stories of rivers world-wide. Renowned "riverologist" Mark Angelo of the British Columbia Institute of Technology's Rivers Institute provides the stories and stunning photography.
Rivers Day Sept. 30, 2012
Watch the Rivers Day website for programs, educational materials and information on this year's event, as people in more than 60 nations celebrate the world's rivers. Spearheaded as always by Mark Angelo of BCIT's Rivers Institute.
Thames flood barriers
www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/117704.aspx A rather stilted animation shows how a new system of barriers will protect London, UK against floods from an overflowing Thames River. Site also includes general information on floods.
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.