The Chinese middle class is already larger than the entire population of the United States. Africa is not too far behind with a third of its population – nearly 350 million people – having now joined its social middle ranks.
This is good news. The leap forward in quality of life for so many millions is something to celebrate. But, we still only have one planet to satisfy the demand of the growin ... read more >>

Brackish or brack water is water with a level of salinity between freshwater and seawater. Read more here. ... read more >>

The latest outlook released by the National Weather Service on Thursday forecasts increasingly dry conditions over much of the nation’s breadbasket, a development that could lead to higher food prices and shipping costs as well as reduced revenues in areas that count on summer tourism. About the only relief in sight was tropical activity in the Gulf of Mexico and the Southeast that could bring ra ... read more >>

The Texas Water Development Board is loaning the San Antonio Water System $50 million to help defray costs for a desalination plant project to turn salty water from the Wilcox aquifer into drinking water for consumers. ... read more >>

Energy is a vast and diverse field which spans several disciplines and is used in very many contexts. Such areas comprise, but are not limited to:
Conventional power generation (electricity)
Commodities such as fossil fuels, including natural gas, gasoline, diesel, coal, kerosene, ethanol
Renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar thermal, photovoltaics, wind and wave energy, etc
Nuclear po ... read more >>

A recent study reveals that biodiesel produces more emissions than regular diesel. As the urban transportation system switch more to biodiesel, it become important to identify the problems of biodiesel as a future alternative fuel. ... read more >>

More than half of the world’s population depends daily upon water resources shared by more than one country, both surface water of transboundary rivers and lakes or groundwater contained in aquifers extending over several countries. As the needs for this precious resource continue to increase, the imperative for cooperation between countries for better managing this resource has never been greate ... read more >>

Until the recent positive signs of cooperation between some of the Nile riparian states, disputes between the downstream and upper riparian states over rights to the waters of the Nile have been a contentious issue for centuries. The outcome of the Nile water negotiations could have profound consequences for the region and the African continent.
In May 2010, five upstream states signed a Cooper ... read more >>

The massive 2012 drought continued its slow retreat this week, though it continued to affect about five-eighths of the contiguous U.S. land mass, according to the latest weekly update from the U.S. Drought Monitor.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said it expects this trend to largely continue for the next several months.

National Highlights
The percentage of the contiguous 48 states in drou ... read more >>

On a visit to Turkmenistan earlier this month, Uzbek President Islam Karimov sought Ashgabat's support in his fight to block hydroelectric projects upstream in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It wasn’t the desiccated Aral Sea that keeps Karimov up at night. He fears the projects will give his neighbors too much control over this limited resource. Last month, he warned that tensions over diminishing wa ... read more >>