The Monday Links: Water, Fracking, Big Ag, Big Oil and Better Ways

Link to A 2,500 Square-Mile Methane Plume Is Silently Hovering over Western US below

[Monday is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.]

Water issues (always at the top of the list):

The Water of the West (Use this tool to see just how bad our water situation is by tracking reservoir levels in the west.)

Water shortages are coming. It's time for us to act.


In Dry California, Thirsty Oil and Big-Ag Industries Exempt from Water Regulations

California's Mandatory Water Reductions: Why Exempt the Corporate Farmers?

Transition - Water to Fracking:

A $600-Million Fracking Company Just Sued This Tiny Ohio Town for Its Water

Nebraska Farmer Invites Pro-Fracking Commission Members to Drink Contaminated Water

Fracking:

Big oil is pressuring scientists not to link fracking to earthquakes in Oklahoma

A 2,500 Square-Mile Methane Plume Is Silently Hovering over Western US:

Legacy of fossil fuel drilling is "giant cloud" of powerful greenhouse gas now visible from space

Alternatives:

Texas City Opts for 100% Renewable Energy - to Save Cash, Not the Planet

This amazing gadget is the best technology we have for trapping CO2

America’s Most Walkable Suburb Offers Lessons for Towns Everywhere

The Monday Links: World Wetlands Day, Bottled Water and Why Greg Abbott is an Idiot

[Monday is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.] 

Today is World Wetlands Day. Although it is late in the day, it is always good to understand wetlands and their importance to us, our health, and the sustainability of water.

UNESCO's Wetlands take care of water

Why are Wetlands So Important to Preserve?

Why are Wetlands Important?

Environmental Defense Fund petition

Another water issue: bottled water 

American Dream's resources about bottled water

Take Back the Tap

The Story of Bottled Water (an Annie Leonard video)


Better Communities/Better Living:

Office tenants choose mixed-use centers

Walking is Going Places

Tiny House Living, Off the Grid? Here's How to Do It in Style


Climate Change

Mourning Our Planet: Climate Scientists Share Their Grieving Process

(Keep an eye out for this Friday's video.)


Politics and Government 

Abbott Targets Local Bans

Gov.-elect Abbott: End local bans on bags, fracking, tree-cutting

(I can't let this one go without some comment. 2 points: 1. Word from Senator Rodriguez's office is that this ban on banning has a good chance of passing. So much for the good old-fashioned conservative value of local control. 2. Great! Since private property is so sacrosanct in Texas, I'm going to open up a whore house in my home and also drill for water which I will then mine and bottle as Franklin Mountain Water and sell all over the world (through WalMart of course). Hell, it's my property! I'll do whatever I want. Never mind sucking the Hueco Bolson dry.)


Bookmark and surf these sites:

Food & Water Watch

Shareable

Buy Nothing

The Friday Video: Dr. Jackson on the Built Environment

We talk a lot about doing something about obesity and diabetes here in El Paso. We set goals and say that we want to be a healthier community. A huge step in that direction would be to start immediately to implement Plan El Paso and to pass smart code and the drainage design manual. Instead, we obey the building sprawlers whose vision for El Paso was forged in the 1950s with interstate highways, V-8 automobiles, and twenty-five cent per gallon gasoline. Walking, riding a bike and other recreations are just not freedoms these big guys don't want us to have. It threatens even each farthing (one-fourth of a penny) in their treasure chests.

Here's why having more building and transportation freedom and less sprawl would be healthier for us: