A Few Facts About Water and Climate Change That You May Not Have Known

In relation to the events that Global Solutions Pittsburgh is participating in this year in honor of World Environment Day, I thought I would showcase some interesting facts from a couple of articles I came across recently. For some reason when I'm reading about climate change numbers and statistics seem to make a bigger impression on me, so here we go...

"Farming accounts for 70% of [water] withdrawals."

"...over 60% of the world’s population lives in a river basin shared by two or more countries, the scope for squabbles [for water] is plain."

"Desalination... is still expensive, especially in terms of energy use, which is why at present it provides only 0.4% of the world’s fresh water."

"About 1 billion people are still without access to a decent water supply, while others suffer from flooding, pollution and poor sanitation."

"...about 80 or 90 percent of the extra heat absorbed by the planet is absorbed into the oceans."

"A century ago sea level was rising at about one millimeter per year. Fifty years ago it was two. And now it's rising at three millimeters per year."

Now that you've seen some of the facts surrounding climate change, especially in regards to water, you should definitely be sure to check out Water Matters! Global Water Conference! If you can't make that, no worries, there's always the Liquid Knowledge: The NPC Debrief on How Water Matters! and What Yo... to recap anything you might have missed.

If you're interested in either of these events or have any questions be sure to get in contact with Buky Williams, our Program Associate here at Global Solutions Pittsburgh. Hope to see you there!


P.S. The aforementioned articles are from The Economist and Time.