Conserve Water
Bolster the Foundations
Climate change will persist until we heal the water cycles.
The large & small water cycles on land.
The water cycle regulates the climate, influencing heat dynamics.
We took abundant freshwater for granted for 10,000 years, but no longer.
A new water paradigm sits at the heart of restoring the global ecosystem.
Repairing the small water cycle is conceptually simple & affordable
© Alisdair Ferrie 2020 Source Richard Widows Kravcik et al Walter Jehne
The small water cycle regulates the climate, influencing the majority of the heat dynamics.
Source: Walter Jehne © Alisdair Ferrie 2020
The small water cycle cooling process.
Transpiration and evaporation from plants, oceans and rivers takes water vapour plus salts and bio-aerosols (bacteria & pollen) into the atmosphere.
The salts and bio-aerosols are hydroscopic – attracting and soaking up water. These bond with more water vapour, forming droplets. Clouds form from these droplets and cool earth by reflecting the heat from the sun. Once large enough, these droplets become rain, which clears carbon & haze in the air and replenishes water in the soil sponge.
The combination of water and photosynthesis allows more green growth and carbon absorption across millions of different types of plants.
More green cover including trees, plants and grasses, cools the earth’s surface and reduces the amount of heat sent back (re-radiated) into the atmosphere. This is way more important than CO2.
Eventually, this cycle results in colder nights and even more heat escapes into to space.
A positive, continually cooling cycle.
We took water for granted for 10,000 years, but no longer have that luxury.
The invention of agriculture enabled cities to evolve and populations to grow explosively.
Converting natural to farmed land altered waterways, accelerated runoff and heightened erosion. Urbanisation created hot zones.
Water was wasted, undervalued and engineered away. Ancient civilisations and geographies suffered: we are not the first age to potentially destroy our own food cycle.
Now freshwater tables are critically low and sea levels are rising non-linearly.
Weather extremes are now increasingly common. Today, over 800m people suffer water insecurity.
“Water is a treasure when stored within a living thing.”
© Alisdair Ferrie 2020
Repairing the water cycle is conceptually simple & affordable…
Simple repairs…
Conserve rainwater which falls to the ground to rebuild aquifers and stop accelerated run-off.
Preserve surface water so it either infiltrates soil, or evaporates locally.
Use greening to enhance water retention and lower air temperatures.
Reduce erosion to increase the watershed’s carrying capacity and save soil.
Don’t drain low-lying land, especially floodplains and mangroves.
… Affordable
Scientists estimate that 0.1% of GDP p.a. or ~$8bn over 10-15 years must be invested in water and soil conservation, plus revised agricultural practices.
However, to be effective almost every country will need to participate: global weather stability returns only when adjacent small water cycles are repaired.
Poorer countries will require financial aid. Unless local peoples commit to the entire process, failure is the likely result: Education is vital.
