Growing Returns

Arizonans have spoken: It’s time to protect rural groundwater.

By Rachel O'Connor / Bio / Published: January 7, 2022

Across roughly 80% of Arizona, there are virtually no groundwater regulations, meaning that anyone can drill a well and pump groundwater, even if it dries up neighboring drinking wells or depletes flows in nearby rivers and streams. It’s the land of “the deepest well wins,” putting livelihoods, communities, agriculture and ecosystems at risk.

To help address this risk, state Rep. Regina Cobb introduced legislation two years in a row that would safeguard critical groundwater supplies by providing at-risk groundwater basins or subbasins in rural Arizona the opportunity to opt in to Rural Management Areas (RMAs). Doing so would trigger the creation of a local advisory board that can leverage a suite of tools to develop a groundwater management plan that considers local needs and context.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged Arizona, Arizona groundwater, arizona legislature, rural grundwater, rural water, water security, western water | Comments are closed

2021 began with a Texas-sized water crisis. In 2022, Texas needs solutions.

By Vanessa Puig-Williams / Bio / Published: January 6, 2022

Last February, Texans got a terribly clear view of the fragility of their state’s water infrastructure, as a statewide freeze left millions of Texans without heat or electricity and almost half of the state’s population lost water.

This event provided a stark reminder of what’s at stake. The state’s 2022 water plan estimates that more than $80 billion in projects are needed to meet future water demands and build resilience across Texas.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged aquifers, texas aquifers, texas blackout, texas groundwater, texas infrastructure, texas legislature, texas water freezing, western water | Read 1 Response

Nearly 1 million Virginians are at risk of flooding by 2080. The state just released a plan to address that risk.

By Emily Steinhilber / Published: December 20, 2021

Last week, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam released the commonwealth’s first Coastal Resilience Master Plan, the result of a multiyear effort to guide action to address flood risk to better protect communities, businesses and vital natural resources against sea level rise and climate change.

Here are four ways the plan provides a foundation and path forward for Virginia to comprehensively meet the urgency of its flood crisis in a coordinated, equitable way.

Posted in Climate Resilience / Tagged ecosystems, virginia coast, virginia coastal flooding, virginia flooding, virginia infrastructure | Comments are closed

New EDF video helps Texans visualize and protect the groundwater they cannot see

By Vanessa Puig-Williams / Bio / Published: December 16, 2021

Protecting Texas’ vulnerable groundwater supplies raises a challenging dilemma: How can you motivate people to stand up for an underground resource they cannot see?

So we made a video to bring this vital resource to life.

This year, EDF released “Beneath the Surface and Above: The Journey of Groundwater.” The video combines beautiful natural footage from filmmaker Ben Masters and others with computer-generated animation to illuminate the connection between Texas’ groundwater supplies and iconic rivers and springs — and to show how they all need to be protected to safeguard the state’s people, economy and environment.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged agriculture, conservation, drinking water, groundwater, rivers, Texas, western water | Comments are closed

Virginia Beach’s new flood bond can be a model for other cities. Here’s how.

By Emily Steinhilber / Published: December 10, 2021

Virginia Beach, the most populous city in the commonwealth with 38 miles of shoreline, faces increasing flood risk due to rising sea levels and more intense storms. Recurrent flooding hurts critical sectors including the military and tourism, both major contributors to the local economy.

Fortunately, Virginia Beach voters took an important step to reduce flood risk in their community by passing a historic $567.5 million flood mitigation bond last month. This funding will not only reduce the city’s flood risk — it will also boost the economy and create thousands of jobs.

As other cities across the country grapple with how to pay for the increasing costs of flood protection projects, here are four ways this bond serves as a model for success. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged Coasts, flood bond, floodplain restoration, virginia beach coast, virginia coast, virginia flood | Comments are closed

Wells and springs are drying up in Texas. Here is what leaders can do about it.

By Vanessa Puig-Williams / Bio / Published: December 8, 2021

Millions of Texans are in danger of seeing their water supplies dry up as groundwater is being pumped out of aquifers across the state at an unsustainable pace.

Fortunately, there is still time for Texas to turn the tide and preserve groundwater for future generations.

Those are the conclusions of a new pair of reports released by EDF and the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University.

The first report Five Gallons in a Ten Gallon Hat: Groundwater Sustainability in Texas by Robert Mace, executive director of the Meadows Center, shows Texas is losing groundwater at nearly twice the maximum sustainable rate. Moreover, according to long-term management plans approved by local groundwater agencies, overpumping is likely to increase in coming years unless officials change course.

A second report co-authored by EDF, Advancing Groundwater Sustainability in Texas: A Guide to Existing Authorities and Management Tools for Groundwater Conservation Districts and Communities, lays out a path for addressing the looming groundwater crisis utilizing existing law.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged groundwater agencies, Ogallala, texas drought, texas groundwater, texas springs, texas streams, texas water, texas wells, western water | Read 1 Response

New program sheds light on cover crop financials with big data

By Vincent Gauthier / Bio / Published: November 10, 2021

This post was co-authored by Katherine Wilts Johnson, extension economist at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Farm Financial Management.

Farmers’ interest in cover crops is growing rapidly along with increased focus on soil health. But one of the most important questions farmers continue to ask is how cover crops will impact their finances.

A new program launched by Environmental Defense Fund and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Farm Financial Management (CFFM) aims to answer the economic questions farmers have about cover crops by developing a new farm financial benchmarking program within the FINBIN database — the largest publicly available farm financial database in the country.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged cover crops, farm finance, FINBIN, soil health, sustainable agriculture | Comments are closed

The Grand Canyon Protection Act would advance water security and environmental justice at critical time

By Christopher Kuzdas / Bio / Published: November 9, 2021

Climate change and drought are bringing home the urgent need to protect the Grand Canyon and secure clean water supplies for all communities in the Colorado River Basin. With the compounding threat of uranium mining, the stakes are high in the Grand Canyon — a global treasure, economic driver for Arizona, and place of great cultural and spiritual importance to at least 12 sovereign indigenous nations.

If passed, the Grand Canyon Protection Act would make permanent the 20-year temporary ban (enacted in 2012) on new uranium and other hard rock mining on about 1 million acres of public land around Grand Canyon National Park. The bill was introduced earlier this year by Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Tom O’Halleran and Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, all Arizona Democrats. It has passed out of the House but has not yet received a vote in the Senate.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged colorado groundwater, grand canyon water, uranium mining, western water | Comments are closed

Banks take major step to turn climate commitments into action for global agriculture sector

By Maggie Monast / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: November 8, 2021

Today at COP26, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development announced the Banking for Impact on Climate in Agriculture (B4ICA) initiative in partnership with EDF, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials.

Banks representing over 40% of global banking assets have already committed to aligning their portfolios with net zero emissions by 2050.

A major theme of this COP — the international climate change conference — is the urgent need to transition from commitments to action.

Action is needed to protect the agriculture sector from climate change, as farmers around the world are exposed to increasingly volatile weather that threatens global food security and rural livelihoods. At the same time, the sector must reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions, particularly potent methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

Fortunately, farms have the potential to reduce emissions, sequester carbon and build resilience — but farmers need support to make change at the scale and pace required to avoid major losses. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged agricultural banks, agricultural finance, COP26, Farm Credit, farm credit system, sustainable agriculture | Comments are closed

Natural infrastructure can address growing climate impacts and save hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the process

By Eric Schwaab / Bio / Published: November 5, 2021

Across the world, more communities are experiencing significant impacts from our changing climate, with severe weather events becoming “the new norm” according to the recently released State of the Climate report. Without action, these disasters could require $20 billion in annual humanitarian aid according to the International Federation of Red Cross.

As world leaders meet this week in Scotland for COP26, they must do everything in their power to reduce emissions and avoid worsening climate scenarios. It is great to see critical attention to natural climate solutions like avoided tropical forest loss front and center at the COP.

At the same time, we must also invest in solutions that can save lives and property from those climate impacts that are already unavoidable. Fortunately, there are solutions that both reduce climate pollution and protect against impacts already being felt. A new report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) provides insight into how to do that, showing that natural infrastructure can save hundreds of billions of dollars annually in climate adaptation costs, while delivering the same or better outcomes as traditional, hardened infrastructure.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged climate spending, coastal flooding, coastal resilience master plan, Coasts, natural infrastructure | Comments are closed