Tasha Eichenseher
of National Geographic
World Water Week—an annual conference in Stockholm dedicated to discussing the management of global water resources—opened Monday with a message about cleaning your plate.
Food waste, according to experts at the conference, accounts for significant water waste.
A third to a half of all food grown globally either sits untouched on our plates or rots before it even gets there. A new report from the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) states that 40 percent of food purchased in the U.S. is thrown away. And a new documentary called Taste the Waste highlights the problem. Watch the trailer.
Reports of bizarre Wizard of Oz-like weather over Lake Michigan are touching down all over the Internet.
This past weekend, up to nine twisters were sighted over the lake. But they weren’t traditional tornadoes; they were waterspouts.
The funnels form when large, cool, and moist air masses move in over warmer surface water and winds abruptly change directions. The warming trend that researchers and locals are seeing around the Great Lakes could mean more waterspouts.
If built, the Belo Monte dam in northern Brazil will be the third largest in the world.
But that is a big “if.” The Brazilian courts have suspended the $17-billion project once again, saying indigenous people whose lives would be affected by the enormous hydroelectric operation were not properly consulted.
Only if you are a young coho salmon, or similar aquatic species.
A new study published in the latest edition of Ecological Applications reports that small amounts of copper in water can deaden a salmon’s sense of smell, which normally alerts the fish to the presence of predators.
In Rocky Mountain Forests, More Fires and More People
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on June 28, 2012 
We asked Boulder-based author and journalist Michael Kodas to tell us what it’s like on the ground during this horrific fire season. Kodas, who has toiled as a firefighter and is currently working on a book for Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt about global wildfire management, recently wrote an investigative story for non-profit reporting agency I-News Network…
If you’ve read about World Water Day in today’s headlines and on your favorite blogs, and are thirsty for more stories and data on the planet’s H20 problems, check out the following books, all published within the last year or so: The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water By Charles Fishman…
Your celebration this season is, in part, brought to you by southern Florida, where almost 50 percent of the nation’s sugarcane crop comes from.
Going Without Clean Water
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on December 10, 2011 
When temperatures dropped to 1 degree Fahrenheit and my pipes froze this week, I was reminded of how lucky we are, under most circumstances, to be able to turn a valve and watch copious amounts of clean water flow into our sinks, showers, toilets, and washing machines.
A Surfer’s Journey From Source to Sea
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on October 15, 2011 
National Geographic Young Explorer, photographer, and surfer Shannon Switzer goes to adventurous extremes to help people make the often-ignored connection between rivers and the ocean.
The State of Cholera, and Water, in Haiti
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on August 6, 2011 Haiti’s cholera epidemic is much bigger and likely to be much longer lasting than initially expected.
Monster Catfish Found: NG’s Zeb Hogan Explains
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on July 6, 2011 
The recent capture of North America’s largest recorded Blue catfish–in Virgina in late June–has us thinking about this oversized species and its relatives (like the bagrid catfish seen here). We asked fish expert and National Geographic Fellow Zeb Hogan to put this giant discovery into perspective.
Fragile Páramo Ecosystem in Colombia Threatened by Coal and Gold Rush
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on April 26, 2011 A unique highland ecosystem of the Andes, páramos are considered “water factories,” storing rain and runoff for dry spells later in the year. Many of Colombia’s remaining páramos are under siege. The recent mining boom is threatening ecosystems that are critical for the well-being of hundreds of small towns and even a few big cities. Páramos represent only two percent of Colombia’s land, but provide water to 70 percent of its people.
The Chinese Alligator, A Species On The Brink
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on April 26, 2011 Pulitzer Center Photographer Sean Gallagher comes face to face with a toothy species on the brink extinction–the Chinese alligator.
Today the smiling Irish and those who imbibe with them will drink about 1 percent of the total amount of beer consumed annually, according to Consumer Reports and market research. How much beer is that exactly? Marketing firm Canadean has said that global beer consumption will top 2 billion hectoliters (52.8 billion gallons) by 2013.…
Worldwatch Institute released its annual State of the World report this week, with a clear message that the state of agriculture–both small- and large-scale, domestic and local–is a mirror from which we can gauge the health of the planet and the fate of our species. Traditional views toward hunger alleviation, for the more than 1…
Haiti’s Cycle of Calamity
Posted by Tasha Eichenseher of National Geographic on January 13, 2011 Reporter William Wheeler talks with Haitians and aid workers about the fear of storms and the disastrous connection between cholera, charcoal, deforestation, and floods. By William Wheeler in Haiti This post is part of a special National Geographic news series and initiative on global water issues. Parched and dust-choked, Gonaives is the kind of town…
Ninety-five percent of Americans say water delivery is more important than access to energy sources and internet and cell phone service, according to a survey released last week by ITT, a $10.9-billion company with a $3.5-billion water engineering and infrastructure business. ITT also asked survey participants* if they think federal, state, and local governments should…
Global water expert and National Geographic Fellow Sandra Postel outlines the world’s water challenges in a new book published this week by the Post Carbon Institute (PCI). “Our water problem turns out to be much more worrisome than our energy situation,” writes Postel , who is also a fellow with PCI. The Challenges Water, unlike…
Traces of eight illegal drugs have been detected in surface waters in Valencia, Spain, according to new research published last month in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. The study of wetland water from Valencia’s Natural Park of L’Albufera turned up evidence of cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy, and amphetamines. “The presence of these substances is a…
The 20th annual World Water Week came to an end last Friday in Stockholm. Among the roughly 2,500 people there were leading water experts from the fields of engineering, biology, ecology, education, hydrology, politics, chemistry, and negotiation. Are they optimistic? 2010 Stockholm Water Prize winner Rita Colwell summed it up for National Geographic News by…
Next time the person sitting across the table from me jokes about my tendency to finish every last bite, I will be able to defend my gut reaction to not waste food. (After I’m finished chewing, of course.) Recent studies now quantify the water and energy costs of discarded and spoiled produce, grains, meat, and…
Colin Chartres, director of the 25-year-old International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and co-author of the new book Out of Water: From Abundance to Scarcity and How to Solve the World’s Water Problems talks to National Geographic News about how the planet can steer clear of budding water and food crises. In your new book, you…
Local vegetable markets in Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Senegal, could be flush with produce, despite drought conditions, thanks to a new agricultural system that combines efficient irrigation with new varieties of plants, according to scientists speaking today at the African Green Revolution Forum in Accra, Ghana. (News via press release.) Drought has plagued…
Public hearings started today for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s (EPA) proposed rule on how to dispose of coal ash–the toxic byproduct of burning coal. In December, a billion gallons of coal ash spilled from the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee, poisoning a river and burying neighboring homes. The disaster, which occurred four months before…
By Jonathan Waterman During a recent discussion of water at the Aspen Institute’s Environment Forum In Colorado, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt told a packed house: “The American Southwest is not one of those regions where there is water scarcity. It’s hard to believe, given all the hyping in the national and local and regional…
