By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org. As the U.S. west and southwest endures extremely high temperatures and record-breaking drought, the issue of providing water to still growing cities and regions should be at the top of the agenda. Tuscon has sweltered through 100 degree temperatures the entire month of June.  Las Vegas hit 117 degrees, tying its
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Another day, another warning by scientists that human beings are pushing the planet to a tipping point. At the “Water in the Anthropocene” conference last week in Germany, 500 leading water scientists declared that water is becoming one of the most serious factors that could limit human development this century, with
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org With over 7 billion people on the planet, demand for water for household, agricultural, and industrial use is increasing even faster than population growth.  Many areas, such as the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, are already experiencing competing demands on water in a region heavily reliant on this most precious of
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org As we celebrate Earth Day this year, it is a good time to think about how we can improve not just the environment but also peoples’ lives.  In the face of globalization and the push for endless economic growth, our societies need to determine the best way to grow and where and when it’s needed.
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org It’s pretty obvious that summer 2012 has been one of the hottest summers in decades in the U.S., even after much of the country endured a scorching 2011. Last year Dallas,Texas had had 40 consecutive days over 100 degrees, and Oklahoma had 63 days with 100+ degree highs. This year has
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One of the biggest water issues in the state of California concerns the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary (Bay Delta), the largest estuary on the west coast. The pressure is on California to effectively balance demands on its water supplies from the competing interests of environmentalists, cities, agriculture and our growing population. The San Francisco
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, December 20, 201 Recently I came across a list of the world’s fastest growing cities and urban areas, as reported by the City Mayors Foundation, a U.K. think tank which encourages innovative and sustainable solutions to urban issues. I was rather shocked that the arid city of Sana’a, Yemen was third
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By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, November 17, 2011 This week was the local premiere of the documentary film Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth. I have been anticipating this movie for awhile now, having been researching and writing on the world’s obsession with endless economic growth on a planet with finite resources. Growthbusters did a good job of
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 By Suzanne York, HowMany.org, October 27, 2011 Demographers predict the 7 billionth child will likely be born on October 31st in India or China. No one really knows, of course, but the odds are in favor of the birth happening in one of those two countries, which between them have 2.5 billion people, or 1/3rd
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  We came across this post by Kathy Zhang for the Earth Institute at Columbia College:   Children wait in a line to receive medical treatment from the UN Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dec. 25, 2008. UN Photo/Marco Dormino Post written by Kathy Zhang Interested in learning more about the world’s population? Here are
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