This is just one post in the Odds and Ends Category

Bloggers react to dam deal, naked DWR, Delta exports, sustainable camping, Maldive’s options, and California’s mysterious “North Fork Polygon”

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 21, 2008 at 8:06 am

Lots to post today:

Bloggers weigh in on the dam deal: and under closer scrutiny, no one seems to be impressed. The Red, Green & Blue blog wrote “Bush wanted the deal to remove the dams, yet his administration has always backed farmers in the dispute over water rights, such as when irrigation was shut off to under the Endangered Species Act in 2001. Even after the Klamath dams’ removal deal was announced on November 13, 2008, Bush released a statement saying, “Together, we have produced an agreement that will greatly reduce the risk of future shutdowns of the irrigation system.“ The GOAT blog wrote “The linked dam and water deals are likely the last attempt by the Bush Administration to lock in its vision of how to end conflict over water in the Klamath River Basin. That vision would return those who get water from the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Project to the head of the line for Klamath water in exchange for a promise of dam removal in the future. It has been effective in splitting the coalition of tribes, environmental, river and fishing groups which previously stood together for restoration of the Klamath River and recovery of Klamath Salmon.” John Soares of the Northern California Hiking Trails blog is not sure either, and Tom Chandler of the Trout Underground says too much bad enviro news this week, so he’s headed out to the river to fish for BWO’s (whatever they are) …

Naked DWR? From the always interesting Aguanomics blog: Blogger David Zetland decries the absence of a mention of increasing prices as a response to climate change in DWR’s latest report in his post DWR has no clothes (Les, cover up please!), and a commentor suspects that something is ‘going on behind the scenes’…..

Delta exports only account for 15% of statewide water use, says Spreck Rosekranz of the Environmental Defense Fund. He writes “were the remainder more uniformly distributed, the urgency of maintaining those exports would be greatly diminished.” From the On the Waterfront blog, Delta Exports and Statewide Water Supply in California.

Go camping in sustainable style with the $129,000 Verdier Solar-Powered Camper! The RV is based on the classic VW camper style, and has a hybrid engine, solar panels, an on-board computer, a projector, 6 speaker surround sound, and a roll-down screen. But wait! That’s not all! It also comes with built-in trash containers, composting and recycling, and a refrigerator/freezer. Check it out from the Clean Technica blog by clicking here.

Maldivian citizens looking for new homeland on higher ground: The Economist looks at the options for the 370,000 citizens who face their homeland going under. Since the richer greenhouse-gas burning countries got them into this, isn’t it reasonable to think that maybe they’ll just be offered citizenship elsewhere? “Reasonable, but wrong. Australia’s government has already turned down a request to offer citizenship to the 12,000 people of Tuvalu, another small, drowning island; so a few hundred thousand Maldivians knocking on rich-country doors seem likely to get even shorter shrift. Anyway, they may not want to be absorbed into a larger nation. They might prefer to stay together to maintain their community spirit and traditions of folk-dancing and imprisoning political dissidents. So a solution as radical as Mr Nasheed’s may be the only answer.” Dark humor from the Economist: O give me a home…

The most interesting not-really-water related link to Aquafornia comes from the blog Rural Mysteries, which talks about the “North Fork Polygon” - a sort of Bermuda Triangle in Northern California. The website explains: “The “North Fork Polygon” is an irregular, non-triangle-shaped area encompassed by the northern California foothill communities of Colfax, Applegate, Foresthill, Iowa Hill, Weimar, Auburn, and Meadow Vista (aka the C.A.F.I.W.A.M. area). For some reason, all these mysteries are located within a few miles of the North Fork of the American River. This Web site documents the investigation of unsolved mysteries and local legends that occur in and around the “North Fork Polygon”. Oooooo, go check it out (if you dare) at www.ruralmysteries.com.