The Week in Water brings you interesting articles from around the web to help with blue living.
Maldives may move to Australia due to rising sea levels. Via Planetsave, we hear that the entire population of the Maldives is considering a move to Australia. The Maldives is a group of roughly 1200 low-lying islands off the southwestern coast of India. Rising sea levels could easily swamp the small country, which has set high standards for carbon emission reductions. In preparation, the Maldives have saved money to buy land somewhere in order to move their people. They’re not the only tiny island nation at risk from rising sea levels.
Pacific island nations aren’t the only ones worried about rising sea levels. Amsterdam has been looking at ways to hold back the sea while increasing the amount of usable space they have. Green Prophet discusses the feasibility of building underground in Amsterdam. An architect has come up with an idea for a multi-level parking garage and entertainment area underneath the canals. Floating islands might still be a better option.
WaveRoller arrives in Portugal for long-awaited tests. The WaveRoller is unique among generators using wave energy because it relies on the surge close to the ocean bottom, rather than surface waves. It was inspired by a door in a shipwreck moving back and forth in the currents.
Salazar imposes a twenty year ban on canyon mining. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar banned new mines on about one million acres of public lands near the Grand Canyon. Mining operations there have the potential to impact millions of people who depend on the Colorado River for drinking water as well as the $687 million tourist industry. The ban won’t affect current mining operations.
Among many ideas for saving the whales comes a cap-and-trade solution. Researchers estimate the profits from whaling are $31 million, while environmental groups spend $25 million per year campaigning against whaling. Spending that $25 million buying up permits from whalers would reduce the number of whales killed each year. Critics point out that prices for whales might increase, due to the drop in supply, which might encourage illegal whaling.
Maldives photo via Shutterstock.
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