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Water

water conservation keeps rivers and lakes cleanThe average American uses approximately 126 gallons of water per day, making us the largest water consumers per capita in the world. Canadians are a close second, while many European countries use half as much water we do, and most developing countries use less than 15 gallons each day.

When you are living out of a canoe or kayak, you haul your own water from the rivers and lakes you travel on and quickly realize how little water you really need. Amy and I can easily get by on 3 gallons of water per day for washing, cooking, and drinking.

Now I am not suggesting that you tell the utility company to turn off your water, because you are going to start hauling it from the nearest stream.  But there are plenty of ways to conserve water, which in the end is good for the environment and your wallet.

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Miners Call Off Protests for Talks; Six Killed in Clashes

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Inter Press Service: In response to a government promise to negotiate, small-scale gold miners in southern Peru temporarily called off protests Wednesday in which six people were killed and as many as 30 injured when the police attempted to clear a roadblock. The New York-based Human Rights Watch demanded on Tuesday a swift investigation into the deaths, which it blamed on the police. Some 6,000 unlicensed miners were blocking the Pan-American highway and two bridges near Chala in the southern ...

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About 18,000 gallons of crude spill in La. refuge

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Associated Press: Authorities say a pipeline has spilled 18,000 gallons of crude oil into a canal in a wildlife refuge about 60 miles southeast of New Orleans. There was no immediate word about the extent of damage at the Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The Coast Guard says Chevron Pipe Line Co. has closed off the leaking section and investigators are evaluating the spill from a plane. The Coast Guard says it learned about the spill about 1 a.m. Tuesday and is investigating the ...

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Chevron oil line leaks oil into Louisiana refuge

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Reuters: An oil pipeline operated by Chevron Pipe Line Co leaked at least 18,000 gallons of oil into the Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Tuesday. The leak discovered by a contractor shortly after midnight discharged into a canal 10 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, and investigative and cleanup teams were on scene, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

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Arctic thaw frees overlooked greenhouse gas: study

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Reuters: Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday. The report in the journal Nature Geoscience indicated that emissions of the gas surged under certain conditions from melting permafrost that underlies about 25 percent of land in the Northern Hemisphere. Emissions of the gas measured from thawing wetlands in Zackenberg in eastern Greenland leapt 20 ...

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NASA slated to receive billions to study Earth

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National Public Radio: NASA, the agency known for exploring space, will be spending a lot more time studying Earth in the next few years. The Obama administration has proposed a budget for NASA that includes billions of dollars for satellites and other tools to help scientists investigate Earth-bound problems, especially climate change. That represents a major turnaround for NASA's Earth Science Division, which had been allowed to languish during much of the 1990s. Back then, the division had ...

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China rejects Mekong dam claims

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BBC: China has rejected claims that its dams on the Mekong River are to blame for record low water levels in downstream nations. Speaking at a summit in Thailand, China's vice foreign minister said drought and not hydropower was to blame for the reduced river flow. More than 60m people from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam depend on the Mekong River for their livelihoods. Parts of the river are at their lowest levels in 50 years. Further downstream drought, salt ...

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BP fights to limit controls on shale gas drilling

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Guardian: BP is lobbying on Capitol Hill against a federal US environmental agency being given jurisdiction over the use of a controversial method of extracting gas from shale deposits, ahead of an important meeting this week. The London-based oil company wants decisions on drilling techniques such as hydraulic fracturing – which uses high-pressure liquids to force fissures – to be taken at state level, rather than being left to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), whose specialist ...

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