Monday, October 15, 2007

A world of water

Today is Blog Action Day, when bloggers everywhere are asked to tackle environmental issues. So here we go:

Oil is over $84 a barrel. Farms are being crammed with corn, at the expense of wheat and soybeans, to feed the ethanol craze that picks up with every election cycle in recent years. And nuclear power has become a topic of energy-centric conversations again — locally, thanks to Calvert Cliffs—and nationally. Don’t forget about wind, solar, biomass and on and on and on…

All are relevant resources in one way or another, and all make good news fodder and talking points for the talking heads that just seem to add more hot air to a supposedly “warming” climate. But to Marylanders, particularly those in the central part of the state and on the Eastern Shore, there’s a resource shortage that trumps all those concerns right now: H2O.

With a large part of our state under an official “drought watch,” we all should watch our water consumption a lot more closely. No, I don’t expect a Nobel prize for pointing this out, but I do wonder what people are doing to conserve this precious resource. Let us hear from you.

-FRANCIS SMITH, Assistant Special Publications Editor

No comments: