Talking Green

H2O Conservation is the Next Big Thing

If big companies like Starbucks, Unilever, IBM, Coca Cola among others - started to track water footprint that tells you that this is the beginning of something big is about to come.

What is water footprint, via Water Footprint Network.

The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.

The world (including US) is projected to have water shortage sometime in the future, via WSJ.

Two-thirds of the world's population is projected to face water scarcity by 2025, according to the United Nations. In the U.S., water managers in 36 states anticipate shortages by 2013, a General Accounting Office report shows. Last year, Georgia lawmakers tried, unsuccessfully, to move the state's border north so that Georgia could claim part of the Tennessee River.

In addition to that, we've got these trends to deal with. The 5 trends that will affect the fresh water use, via World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

1. Population growth that is projected to reach over 8 billion in 2030 and level off at 9 billion by 2050. This is a wake up call.



2. Increasing affluence. The rate of poverty alleviation is increasingly within the two population giants of China and India. Increasing affluence inevitably means more water consumption from demanding water for gardens, car washing, etc.

3. Expansion of business activity from industrialization to services such as tourism and entertainment continues to expand rapidly.

4. Rapid urbanization. Urbanization requires significant investment in water infrastructure to deliver water to individuals and to process the concentration of wastewater - both from individuals and business.

5.Climate change

With these trends in mind, common sense approach for business pointed to start tracking water usage (directly or indirectly) to run and support the operation - in order to sustain the business.

We probably don't realize this: to produce one cup of coffee it needs 140 liters of water (think Starbucks operation). For the production of one kilogram of beef it requires 16 thousand liters of water. And so is the production of one liter of milk, it requires 1,000 liters of water! That much water? Yes, you got it right. This data is coming straight from the Water Footprint Network. 

So water conservation is the answer. It is the low hanging fruit.

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images: From Water Facts and Trends (WBCSD)

List of Senate Stimulus Cut

I don't think the Senators understand 'the severity' of the economic crisis we face, especially Republican Senators. These guys are so out of touch with the reality! They just don't get it. Some items are trimmed partially and some are completely toss out. For example, items that are completely tossed out: $40 bil state stabilization fund, $1.2 bil retrofitting project 8 housing, $2.25 bil neighborhood stabilization, $100 mil distance learning, $98 mil school nutrition, $16 bil school construction, etc.

Here's Paul Krugman saying it.

In particular, aid to state governments, which are in desperate straits, is both fast — because it prevents spending cuts rather than having to start up new projects — and effective, because it would in fact be spent; plus state and local governments are cutting back on essentials, so the social value of this spending would be high.

What's cut, via CNN.

Partially cut:

• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)

• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)

• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)

• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)

• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)

• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)

• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)

Fully eliminated

• $55 million for historic preservation

• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters

• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization

• $50 million for Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service

• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation

• $100 million for distance learning

• $98 million for school nutrition

• $50 million for aquaculture

• $2 billion for broadband

• $100 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology

• $50 million for detention trustee

• $25 million for Marshalls Construction

• $300 million for federal prisons

• $300 million for BYRNE Formula grant program

• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive grant program

• $10 million state and local law enforcement

• $50 million for NASA

• $50 million for aeronautics

• $50 million for exploration

• $50 million for Cross Agency Support

• $200 million for National Science Foundation

There's more here..

Va. Land Conservation Approves $4.3 mil Grants

I wanted to post this last week, but got 'inauguration' delay :)

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Virginia Land Conservation Foundation approved grants to 16 projects totaled $4.3 million. Grants are distributed across the state, including a purchase of 275 acres on the Potomac River in Loudoun County for public park and acquisition of 1,100 acres in addition to 1,700 acres of Crow's Nest natural area preserve's portfolio in Stafford.

According to Kaine's office, the grants will add 8,390 acres to Tim Kaine's goal of preserving 400k of land by 2010. Projects are divided into four preservation categories: 1) farmlands and forest, 2) historic area, 3) natural area, and 4) open spaces and parks.

Here is a partial list of the 16 'approved' projects, via Virginia:

Farmlands and Forest Preservation Category

Richardson Purchase of Development Rights (Northampton County):

The 268-acre conservation easement in Northampton County will be the first purchased under the county's new Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program. The property, farmed by the Richardson family since 1945, contains 104 acres of prime farmland soils, as well as 82 acres of forested migratory bird habitat and another 82 acres of marsh and wetland habitat. Grant Amount: $250,000.

Feedstone Hunt Club (Virginia Department of Forestry)

Purchase of a conservation easement on 1,072 acres of forestland in western Rockingham County owned by the Feedstone Hunt Club represents a significant inholding within the George Washington National Forest. Its protection will provide an unbroken expanse of managed forestland. This easement also will protect drinking water for the City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Grant Amount: $275,615.

Clarke County Dairy Farm (Clarke County Conservation Easement Authority)

Purchase of a conservation easement on a 216-acre working dairy farm in Clarke County. The farm includes 2,800 feet of frontage on Opequon Creek, an impaired waterway, and a 1910 farm house determined by the Clarke County Historic Preservation Commission to be eligible for the National Register. Grant Amount: $146,000.

Big Woods (Department of Game and Inland Fisheries)

Will acquire 610 acres of the Big Woods tract in Sussex County, where DGIF intends to establish a new wildlife management area. DGIF has secured $550,000 in matching funds for this parcel as habitat for the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Acquisition of the property will provide for sustainable wildlife and forest management and public access. Grant Amount: $550,000.

Frank C. Ott Farm (Fauquier County Purchase of Development Rights Program)

Purchase of a conservation easement on approximately 280 acres of farmland in Fauquier County, creating a contiguous block of nearly 900 acres of preserved farmland. This fourth generation working farm grows hay, soybeans, and corn with conservation practices including cover crops, minimum tillage and a nutrient management plan. The family also plans to fence livestock from streams and provide alternative watering facilities. Grant Amount: $198,400.

Historic Area Preservation Category

Adam Thoroughgood House (The City of Virginia Beach)

Reimbursement for the 2007 purchase of 2.5-acres next to the Adam Thoroughgood House property, a National Historic Landmark as one of the earliest documented structures in the nation. Currently undeveloped, the Virginia Beach property holds potential for significant archaeological resources and would be available for light passive recreational use. Grant Amount: $425,000.

Pamplin Pipe Factory (The Archaeological Conservancy)

Purchase of the 2.96 acre Pamplin Pipe Factory property in Appomattox County. The factory is listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places for the archaeological remains of two centuries of clay pipe manufacturing. The property will be placed under a historic preservation easement with the Department of Historic Resources. Ownership would be transferred to the Appomattox Historical Society and opened as a museum. Grant Amount: $61,000.

B. Williams and Co. Store (Mathews County Land Conservancy)

For acquisition of the B. Williams and Co. Store property adjacent to the four-acre Williams Wharf in Mathews. The property is eligible for listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register. The Mathews County Land Conservancy will combine the two properties for use as a museum. Grant Amount: $345,000.

Cool Spring Farm (Clarke County Easement Authority)

An easement purchase on 204-acre Cool Spring Farm in the Shenandoah Valley National Historic and Cool Spring Civil War Battlefield Historic Districts listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Owned by the Community of Cistercians, the property includes a historic farm house. The monks have worked with the Natural Resource Conservation Service to develop a nutrient management plan and use conservation best management practices. Grant Amount: $123,625

Read more

$500k for Va. Farmland Preservation

The Guv distributes $500,000 to 11 localities for farmland preservation. Here's the email in its entirety. (there's no link, link).

Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced the distribution of $500,000 to eleven Virginia localities to preserve farmland within their boundaries through local Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs. PDR programs compensate landowners who permanently preserve their land by voluntarily placing a perpetual conservation easement on it.

 

“Farmland preservation remains a priority for Virginia at both the state and local level,” Governor Kaine said. “Even with our budgetary restraints, we will continue to support PDR programs in every way we can. My Renew Virginia plan includes initiatives to protect our environment, and these PDR programs do exactly that.”

 

Twenty-one local PDR programs exist in Virginia, seventeen of which have some level of local funding currently available. This is the second time that the Commonwealth of Virginia has provided state matching funds for certified local PDR programs.

 

Ten localities received $49,900 each: The counties of Albemarle, Clark, Fauquier, Goochland, Isle of Wight, James City, Northampton, Rappahannock, and Spotsylvania plus the City of Virginia Beach. Cumberland County received $1,000.  Grant applicants had to report how much funding was available for their local PDR programs as of October 17, 2008, and the state funds matched that amount up to $49,900 per locality. Currently, localities report more than $43 million in non-state funding available for PDR programs, but state matching funds in 2009 are limited to $500,000 total.

 

“One of the key components of preserving working farmland is the role played by local governments,” said Todd P. Haymore, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), the agency that administers the state’s farmland preservation program.  “This year state matching funds were reduced because of the depressed economic situation, but local governments continued to give high priority to this important task. The range of matching funds ran from $16.6 million all the way down to $1,000, which illustrates that even small and under-funded localities can set aside resources to be matched by the state.”

 

Localities interested in future rounds of grant applications for PDR matching funds should contact the Office of Farmland Preservation, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 102 Governor St., Richmond VA 23219 or call 804/786-1346. Or they may e-mail Kevin Schmidt, the Program Coordinator, at kevin.schmidt@vdacs.virginia.gov.