Watershed Report Card


Book Description




Texas Aquatic Science


Book Description

This classroom resource provides clear, concise scientific information in an understandable and enjoyable way about water and aquatic life. Spanning the hydrologic cycle from rain to watersheds, aquifers to springs, rivers to estuaries, ample illustrations promote understanding of important concepts and clarify major ideas. Aquatic science is covered comprehensively, with relevant principles of chemistry, physics, geology, geography, ecology, and biology included throughout the text. Emphasizing water sustainability and conservation, the book tells us what we can do personally to conserve for the future and presents job and volunteer opportunities in the hope that some students will pursue careers in aquatic science. Texas Aquatic Science, originally developed as part of a multi-faceted education project for middle and high school students, can also be used at the college level for non-science majors, in the home-school environment, and by anyone who educates kids about nature and water. To learn more about The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, sponsors of this book's series, please click here.







Watershed Discipleship


Book Description

This collection introduces and explores "watershed discipleship" as a critical, contextual, and constructive approach to ecological theology and practice, and features emerging voices from a generation that has grown up under the shadow of climate catastrophe. Watershed Discipleship is a "triple entendre" that recognizes we are in a watershed historical moment of crisis, focuses on our intrinsically bioregional locus as followers of Jesus, and urges us to become disciples of our watersheds. Bibliographic framing essays by Myers trace his journey into a bioregionalist Christian faith and practice and offer reflections on incarnational theology, hermeneutics, and ecclesiology. The essays feature more than a dozen activists, educators, and practitioners under the age of forty, whose work and witness attest to a growing movement of resistance and reimagination across North America. This anthology overviews the bioregional paradigm and its theological and political significance for local sustainability, restorative justice, and spiritual renewal. Contributors reread both biblical texts and churchly practices (such as mission, baptism, and liturgy) through the lens of "re-place-ment." Herein is a comprehensive and engaged call for a "Transition church" that can help turn our history around toward environmental resiliency and social justice, by passionate advocates on the front lines of watershed discipleship. CONTRIBUTORS: Sasha Adkins, Jay Beck, Tevyn East, Erinn Fahey, Katarina Friesen, Matt Humphrey, Vickie Machado, Jonathan McRay, Sarah Nolan, Reyna Ortega, Dave Pritchett, Erynn Smith, Sarah Thompson, Lydia Wylie-Kellermann







Climate Change Adaptation and Development


Book Description

Climate change is real and it is man-made. We have put so many greenhouse gas pollutants into the atmosphere that we will see significant and long-term change that we need to adapt and adjust to. It is important for development practitioners to understand these impacts and the challenge of how and when to adapt to climate change. There are plenty of grim presentations of what the extremes of the possible climate scenarios will throw at us over the next 100 years, but not all change will be disastrous; some change will be beneficial, but much of the change will happen at an unprecedented rate that will require the best possible analysis and understanding of how and when we should adapt to climate change. This is important for development practitioners as we invest in ensuring that poverty is reduced and eliminated and the well-being of everyone is improved. Many countries and communities around the world are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but developing economies may on one hand be less resilient to the impact, but could on the other hand be in a better position to make their development climate smart by making the most efficient use of their economic resources. The chapters in this book shine a light on the complexity and the multi-dimensional aspects of climate change adaptation. They gather some of the experiences of addressing climate change impacts in a development context. This book was previously published as a special issue of Development in Practice.




Renewing Local Waterhseds


Book Description




Climate-Resilient Development


Book Description

The concept of resilience currently infuses policy debates and public discourse, and is promoted as a normative concept in climate policy making by governments, non-governmental organizations, and think-tanks. This book critically discusses climate-resilient development in the context of current deficiencies of multilateral climate management strategies and processes. It analyses innovative climate policy options at national, (inter-)regional, and local levels from a mainly Southern perspective, thus contributing to the topical debate on alternative climate governance and resilient development models. Case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America give a ground-level view of how ideas from resilience could be used to inform and guide more radical development and particularly how these ideas might help to rethink the notion of 'progress' in the light of environmental, social, economic, and cultural changes at multiple scales, from local to global. It integrates theory and practice with the aim of providing practical solutions to improve, complement, or, where necessary, reasonably bypass the UNFCCC process through a bottom-up approach which can effectively tap unused climate-resilient development potentials at the local, national, and regional levels. This innovative book gives students and researchers in environmental and development studies as well as policy makers and practitioners a valuable analysis of climate change mitigation and adaptation options in the absence of effective multilateral provisions.




Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program


Book Description

New York City's municipal water supply system provides about 1 billion gallons of drinking water a day to over 8.5 million people in New York City and about 1 million people living in nearby Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Orange counties. The combined water supply system includes 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes with a total storage capacity of approximately 580 billion gallons. The city's Watershed Protection Program is intended to maintain and enhance the high quality of these surface water sources. Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program assesses the efficacy and future of New York City's watershed management activities. The report identifies program areas that may require future change or action, including continued efforts to address turbidity and responding to changes in reservoir water quality as a result of climate change.