Thinking Globally: ‘How Much Water is on Earth’

From The US Geological Survey:

The largest sphere represents all of Earth’s water, and its diameter is about 860 miles (the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Topeka, Kansas). It would have a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (mi³) (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km³)). The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, ice caps, lakes, and rivers, as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant.

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The blue sphere over Kentucky represents the world’s liquid fresh water (groundwater, lakes, swamp water, and rivers). The volume comes to about 2,551,100 mi³ (10,633,450 km³), of which 99 percent is groundwater, much of which is not accessible to humans. The diameter of this sphere is about 169.5 miles (272.8 kilometers).

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Do you notice that “tiny” bubble over Atlanta, Georgia? That one represents fresh water in all the lakes and rivers on the planet, and most of the water people and life of earth need every day comes from these surface-water sources. The volume of this sphere is about 22,339 mi³ (93,113 km³). The diameter of this sphere is about 34.9 miles (56.2 kilometers). Yes, Lake Michigan looks way bigger than this sphere, but you have to try to imagine a bubble almost 35 miles high—whereas the average depth of Lake Michigan is less than 300 feet (91 meters).

You can read more info and the methodology used to calculate the size of our global water supply here. 

(Photo source: US Geological Survey)

Thinking Globally: ‘Living Planet Report 2012’

From WWF:

The Living Planet Report is the world’s leading, science-based analysis on the health of our only planet and the impact of human activity. Its key finding? Humanity’s demands exceed our planet’s capacity to sustain us. That is, we ask for more than what we have.

Thinking Globally: ‘Living Planet Report 2012’ - Ecological Footprint Index

From WWF:

‎”The Living Planet Report is the world’s leading, science-based analysis on the health of our only planet and the impact of human activity. Its key finding? Humanity’s demands exceed our planet’s capacity to sustain us.” 

You can find your country and see how it compares to others using the interactive Eco Footprint calculator above. 

Related:

~ ‘How to be a conscious consumer’ (WWF)

~ ‘Earth’s environment getting worse, not better, says WWF ahead of Rio+20’ (The Guardian)

‘Fossils from the Anthropocene’

(Source: Planet Under Pressure 2012)

From The Province:

Karin Boriss is thrilled to be taking her Vancouver house apart instead of just knocking it down.

Boriss and her husband Alex Holmes are the first homeowners in the city to get a deconstruction permit instead of simply demolishing their 1940s-era home on West 18th Avenue.

They purchased the home in order to build a new house and tried to sell it to someone who would move it. They couldn’t even give it away, though, so it had to come down.

But they didn’t want to just send the house to the landfill.

“We were thrilled when we found out about the deconstruction process,” Boriss said Thursday during a city tour of her house being carefully torn apart to salvage anything of value.

“It cost us less to do than demolition,” she said.

The process takes longer, two to three weeks compared to two to three days for demolition, but that’s where the city steps into the process by speeding up the permitting process.

Sadhu Johnston, the deputy city manager, said a pilot program tested deconstruction on two homes.

“We found we could actually keep 93 per cent of the houses out of the landfill,” said Johnston.

He said that 80 tonnes of housing materials were diverted from the landfill with each house. With 800 house demolitions a year in Vancouver, the rough estimate of diverted material is 64,000 tonnes.

“We think we can create good green jobs, apply less pressure on the landfill and pursue our Greenest City goals,” said Johnston.

Check out the rest of the article here and TV news coverage of the story here. The Tyee article, ‘Building Jobs By Tearing Down Houses The Green Way’ is also worth a look if you’re interested in deconstruction.

(Photo credit: The Tyee)

Urbanization: ‘Thinking Cities, Networked Society’

From Ericsson via YouTube: 

The documentary ‘Thinking Cities’ deals with one of the most dramatic societal trends happening today: urbanization. The world population is expected to soar to more than 9 billion people by 2050, with roughly 70 percent living in cities. At the same time, information communications technology (ICT) is extending its reach.

These parallel trends are intersecting at a time in which the world faces serious economic, environmental, and social challenges in achieving a more sustainable development. Thinking Cities explores the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in the Networked Society.

More here.

(‘The World at 7 Billion - Urbanization’ Infographic’: Reuters)

Things to Build: The Green Economy 

. Here’s a short video of world leaders talking about the opportunities and importance of shifting to a green economy. The UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative defines a green economy as:

one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive.

More here.

Sustainability: ‘The Story of Bill Rees and the Ecological Footprint’

“Do you know your ecological footprint?”  You can measure it here.

(Graphic credit: Global Footprint Network)

From FastCoDesign:

Check out the article from which the infographic came here. You may also want to check out the ABC News article, ‘World running out of resources: UN’.

The infographic accompanies the Globe & Mail article, ‘Switch off the lights, here comes the sun’, which highlights a promising solution to increase the energy efficiency of buildings:

Technology being commercialized in British Columbia aims to transform building interiors — providing practical, affordable illumination by harnessing the natural light of the sun. It’s light that will be brighter, more attractive, less expensive and more sustainable than electric light, according to Tony Formby.

Mr. Formby is president of SunCentral Inc., a company developing technology based on breakthroughs made by University of British Columbia physics professor Lorne Whitehead. That technology uses computerized collector panels located on the sun-facing exterior walls of buildings to gather and concentrate sunlight, which is transported and dispersed inside the building by special light guides.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Infographic source: Globe & Mail)