{"id":67417,"date":"2024-04-20T17:44:04","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T22:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67417"},"modified":"2024-04-20T17:44:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T22:44:04","slug":"draining-the-world-of-fresh-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=67417","title":{"rendered":"Draining the World of Fresh Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"article__header\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"organisms\/article\/article__header\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid\">\n<h3 data-bind=\"title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/Analysis\/2024\/04\/11\/Draining-World-Fresh-Water\/\">Draining the World of Fresh Water<\/a><\/h3>\n<p data-bind=\"teaser\"><strong>Two recent studies show human activity is drying up the planet\u2019s lakes, rivers and aquifers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"featured-media\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"02-organisms\/article\/featured-media\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid\">\n<figure class=\"figure \" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-img\" src=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/Analysis\/2024\/04\/10\/EarthTap.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of the Earth, the top half dry and brown, the bottom half green with blue oceans, and a dripping water tap sticking out the side.\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption\">Efficient irrigation systems have not conserved water but encouraged the expansion of irrigated land, resulting in more havoc with the global water system.\u00a0<span class=\"caption__media--credit\">Image via Shutterstock.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<article class=\"article__body main-col-container\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"organisms\/article\/article__body\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\"><iframe id=\"ad-auris-iframe\" src=\"https:\/\/narrations.ad-auris.com\/widget\/tyee\/draining-the-world-of-fresh-water\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-org=\"9e544f185f852b113496053868f05de0.e2c21a\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"container-fluid clearfix \">\n<p><em>\u201cWhen you drink the water, remember the spring.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n\u2014 Ancient Chinese proverb<\/p>\n<p>The thirst of humans and our technology for water, according to two important studies, is bottomless and accelerating, even if the precious liquid itself is finite on this planet.<\/p>\n<p>One study shows that human activity has massively altered the world\u2019s flow of surface water and imperilled water cycles critical for life as varied as fish and forests.<\/p>\n<p>The other confirms that in many places on Earth aquifers and groundwater wells are being pumped and mined faster than they can be replenished.<\/p>\n<p>The concept of the technosphere helps to explain the forces in play. U.S. geologist Peter Haff has described the technosphere as a parasitic offshoot of the living Earth, or biosphere. This largely autonomous force, committed to endless consumption, wields a \u201cmatrix of technology\u201d that directs the flows of energy, materials, water and waste across the globe. It leaves in its wake enormous streams of pollution: plastic, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and the foulest of water.<\/p>\n<p>Haff\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pne.people.si.umich.edu\/PDF\/Haff%202013%20Technology%20as%20a%20Geological%20Phenomenon.pdf\">observes<\/a>\u00a0that \u201chumans have become entrained within the matrix of technology and are now borne along by a supervening dynamics from which they cannot simultaneously escape and survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the technosphere grinds on, damming, pumping, mining, harvesting and supporting all manner of artificial environments supposedly on behalf of the world\u2019s eight billion people, who remain largely blind to the vast amounts of water needed to sustain it all&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Draining the World of Fresh Water Two recent studies show human activity is drying up the planet\u2019s lakes, rivers and aquifers. Efficient irrigation systems have not conserved water but encouraged the expansion of irrigated land, resulting in more havoc with the global water system.\u00a0Image via Shutterstock. \u201cWhen you drink the water, remember the spring.\u201d \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[5549,8754,34290,34153,3699,786,5499],"class_list":["post-67417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-survival-2","tag-andrew-nikiforuk","tag-fresh-water","tag-global-water-system","tag-hydrological-cycle","tag-irrigation","tag-technology","tag-the-tyee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67418,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67417\/revisions\/67418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}