Thanks to guest blogger Schalk Cloete!
Check out this very cool animation about
water and think a bit about how much we take this precious resource for
granted.
Climate change has a massive impact on
water security in regions which are dependent on glacial runoff water in the
dry season. A large portion of China gets its dry season water from melting
glaciers in the Tibetan plateau. Various other countries in Asia, South America
and Africa are also dependent on glacial runoff. Unfortunately, due to global
warming, vitally important glaciers around the world have already shrunk by
20-80%.
Then there is the effect of our rapid
increases in consumption. Agriculture uses about 70% of the global freshwater
supply. A juicy 500 g steak, for example, needs a whopping 8000 litres of water
to produce. Due to the rapid increase in population and meat consumption,
global water demand is projected to exceed supply in two decades' time. Wonder
what we will do then…
There are some sound reasons why some doom
prophets project WWIII to break out over water. We should do our best to prove
them wrong.
