Help Save Wildlife threatened by the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Hundreds of species of wildlife call the Gulf home. Dolphins, manatees, countless fish species as well as nesting birds and sea turtles - are at risk in the Gulf due to the oil spill. For many of these precious creatures, the threat is deadly. Your help is needed to save them. Please donate by texting "WILDLIFE" to 20222 & donate $10. You can also help threatened wildlife by sharing this message with your friends and followers.

To donate online: https://online.nwf.org/site/Donation2... 

You can read more about the How the Gulf Oil Spill Could Hurt Animals from sea turtles, birds, fish, dolphins and many other precious creatures here: http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines... 

When the oil stops gushing, the National Wildlife Federation will be there to help wildlife. Help us help them!

NationalWildlife  Text "WILDLIFE" to 20222 to donate $10 to Save Wildlife in the Gulf.

So many organic options, so little money. What's a conscious eater to do?

For starters, not all un-organic food has as high a pesticide contamination as others. What does that mean? It means that you don't have to buy everything organic. Phew! Thank goodness, because our wallets would be hurting--and empty--if we did that.

Here's are lists of the "dirtiest" and "cleanest" fruits and veggies out there, according to the Environmental Working Group:

Highest pesticide levels:
1. Peach
2. Apple
3. Sweet bell pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarine
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes--imported
11. Carrot
12. Pear
13. Collard Greens
14. Spinach
15. Potato 

Lowest pesticide levels:
47. Onion
46. Avocado
45. Sweet corn--frozen
44. Pineapple
43. Mango
42. Asparagus
41. Sweet peas--frozen
40. Kiwi
39. Cabbage
38. Eggplant
37. Papaya
36. Watermelon
35. Broccoli
34. Tomato
33. Sweet potato

In addition to produce, buying organic meat, milk and coffee is recommended. 

Author: Supriya Doshi

Via: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/practically-green/2009/08/top-15-organic-foods-to-buy-and-eat.html

The historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built in 1870 on a strip of sand more than a quarter mile from the water's edge. It was thought to be safe from the sea's force. For almost a century, it was. But by the 1970s, the slow rise of the ocean's waves threatened its foundation. The lighthouse was a mere 160 feet from the water's edge.

To preserve the landmark, the nation's tallest brick lighthouse, the National Park Service moved it more than half a mile inland—an engineering feat that took a decade to plan and cost taxpayers a whopping $10 million.

Beach-front owners on the Outer Banks are losing ground, too. People from all over visit the shores, which are now lined with beach houses, explains Doug Stover, cultural resource manager of Cape Hatteras National Sea Shore. "What's happening," says Stover, "is that they're losing more sand so they're trucking in more sand ... to preserve their homes."

How global warming raises sea levels

Higher seas are one of the most certain consequences of global warming. Why? For one, melting glaciers and polar ice sheets add water to our oceans. Glaciers store water on land. When these huge ice masses melt into the oceans, it adds volume and water levels rise. (The concept is simple to demonstrate. Add a bunch of ice cubes to a glass of water that's already full to the brim and it will overflow. That extra water is like the extra ocean water from melting glaciers.)

On top of that, water expands as it gets warmer. So as the temperature rises, the same amount of water takes up more space. This raises sea levels higher.

Risks multiply as sea levels rise

Rising sea levels are a double whammy for the coastline. Not only do they flood the land, but higher ocean waves also erode more coastline. Coastal residents face a constellation of concerns: higher flood risk, more property damage and higher insurance rates. (Higher insurance rates can also cost taxpayers, since the federal government subsidizes flood insurance for many coastal properties.)

The lighthouse's situation illustrates another way in which global warming puts coastal property owners in double jeopardy. When scientists from the National Academies of Science assessed the lighthouse's troubles, they found two main reasons for the eroding foundation: rising sea levels and hurricanes. Hurricanes are expected to get stronger as global warming worsens. (More about hurricanes and global warming.)

On the health front, rising seas also contaminate fresh water supplies with salty water in places like Philadelphia, New York City (its drought supply), and much of California's Central Valley.

Trouble throughout the country

Over the twentieth century, the seas rose between four and eight inches, ten times the average rate of the last 3,000 years. This alarming trend threatens all of the nation's coastal communities, where more than half the U.S. population lives. Other parts of the globe are vulnerable, too. More frequent and extreme flooding due to sea-level rise threatens low-lying areas near the mouths of the Nile in Egypt, the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia, and Ganges and Brahmaputra in Bangladesh and other rivers around the world. Italy's famous sinking city of Venice, which is surrounded by water and whose ground underneath is subsiding like Louisiana's, is also particularly vulnerable.

Scientists project that sea levels will continue to rise as a result of human-produced greenhouse gas pollution and could reach an additional 3.5 inches to 3 feet by the end of the century, with the possibility of even larger rises should the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica disintegrate. A foot of higher waters could destroy anywhere from 50 to 1,000 feet of horizontal shoreline in many parts of the U.S., depending on the slope of the coastline and other factors. Here is a snapshot of different areas suffering from rising seas.

• One-third of the marsh at the Chesapeake Bay's Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is now submerged.

• The edges of mangrove forests in Bermuda are lined with recently drowned trees.

• The loss of wetlands, Mother Nature's first defense against storms, put Louisiana's coastline and New Orleans in a precarious position. About every thirty minutes an area of land the size of a football field in the Mississippi Delta vanishes and is replaced by open water. (While global warming is contributing to rising sea levels, part of Louisiana's land loss is due to subsidence from both natural and man-made causes.)

• On the West Coast, flat, low-lying coastal areas such as the San Francisco Bay area and parts of the L.A. area also vulnerable.

• If sea level continues to rise, thousands of square miles of land in densely populated areas such as the eastern U.S. may be lost in a century or two, and flooding during storm surges will worsen. Construction of physical barriers such as seawalls would be expensive and in some cases infeasible.

2009 DOWNTOWN FILM FESTIVAL–L.A. Announces 4th Annual ‘SUSTAINABLE L.A.’

An All-Day ‘Green’ Event on August 20th Free To Public

Featuring Authors/Experts, Product Expo and Notable Films

July 17, 2009 (LOS ANGELES) - Downtown Film Festival–Los Angeles has announced its fourth annual SUSTAINABLE L.A. event, co-presented by arts>Brookfield Properties, on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 7+FIG at Ernst and Young Plaza.
This special event will be located at 7+FIG at Ernst and Young Plaza in downtown Los Angeles located at the corner of 7th and Figueroa Streets. A farmer’s market and product expo take place on the main level, while the speakers and films will take place at the 7+FIG Art Space on the second level of the center. A reception at the Festival Lounge at the AT&T Center will follow the event, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
According to event director David Andrusia, “After four years, Sustainable L.A. is not only an important part of our Festival, but an anticipated event for environmentally conscious residents from all over the Southland. In the past, our mission has been to educate people about the value of sustainable lifestyles; this year, our goal was to make the event as do-it-yourself as possible so that people can learn exactly how to do so in ways that are rewarding, easy, and—yes—fun.”
The list of vendors and celebrated speaker/authors spans a wide range of sustainable topics, from sustainable gardening and cooking to going green with spirit and style:
11 a.m. Susan Gottlieb is an environmentalist, water conservation expert, and holds position on boards of influential environmental organizations such as Friends of the Ballona Wetlands and the Theodore Payne Foundation. She owns the "Eco-Conscience" G2 Gallery with her husband, where she showcases work of the world’s most renowned nature and wildlife photographers, donating 100% of the proceeds to environmental charities. Drawing on her extensive experience with gardening and wildlife, Susan shows us how to go green in our backyards by planting native plants which require little or no water.

12 p.m. JoAnn Cianculli, author of the highly acclaimed L.A.'s Original Farmer's Market Cookbook: Meet Me at 3rd and Fairfax, is a widely published food writer and Food Network producer who has also been a guest panelist on Bravo Network's hit show "Top Chef". She’ll share lore and anecdotes of what is arguably L.A.’s oldest sustainable market, as well as best-loved recipes of yesterday and today.

1 p.m. Corinne Trang has been called the “Julia Child of Asian Cuisine". An award-winning cookbook author, she contributes to Food & Wine, Cooking Light, and Saveur and is author of the just-published Noodles Every Day. She’ll show us why Asia boasts the world’s original sustainable cuisine—entirely based on local ingredients and regional climates and cultures.

2 p.m. Michele Carbone is the Santa Barbara-based author of Friday Evening: Creating La Dolce Vita, One Bite at a Time—in which she offers readers a year’s worth of culinary inspiration for less than the cost of a Friday night out. A knowledgeable advocate of Italian cuisine in the Old World and new, Michele will share all the best ways to grow food for and cook a traditional Mediterranean, food-based lifestyle—and the health and well-being it brings.

3 p.m Bridgett Fernandez created the Bridgett Artise Originals line in 2000 as an inspired mix of trends, vintage apparel, and edgy designs to appeal to the most fashion conscious of the day. She has been nominated for several fashion awards and featured in Lucky magazine, and her designs have graced the shoulders of fashionistas Vivica A. Fox, Sheryl Crow, and more. The author of Born Again Vintage, she’ll show us how to recreate, revamp, and recycle average vintage pieces through on-site demonstrations of her much sought-after technique.

4 p.m. Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, authors of The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City and the blog www.homegrownrevolution.com, describe their unique outlook on farming and gardening in an urban setting. Step-by-step projects include harvesting your own vegetables, raising city chickens, and converting to solar energy; the authors’ practical information encourages us to participate in sustainability every day.

5 p.m. Rubin Naiman, PhD, director of Circadian Health Associates and recognized sleep and dream medicine leader, also lays claim to groundbreaking books that include Healing Night and Healthy Sleep (co-authored with Dr. Andrew Weil). He will present his heralded blend of sleep science and alternative medicine methods—a sustainable and holistic Deep Green Sleep that all will want to adopt.

6 p.m. Florence Reed, a noted expert on ecotourism and honorary doctorate holder, has been involved in the sustainability movement since her days as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The Founder and President of Sustainable Harvest International, Florence shows us how traveling green can be rewarding, respectful, and, of course, fun, including a review of the hottest ecotourism destinations of today.

Films have been curated to reflect the most pressing sustainable issues of the day, as well as the organizational missions of the Festival’s partners—Live Earth, Environment California, and Current TV. They will be screened from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and on the half hour through 7 p.m. The centerpiece film of the program is the Los Angeles premiere of “A Sea Change,” a new documentary about ocean acidification directed by Barbara Ettinger, to show at the Festival’s main screening venue at the AT&T Center Theater at 7:30 p.m. A late night party after the screening will take place at the Blue Velvet Restaurant|Lounge – www.bluevelvetrestaurant.com from 10pm - 2am.

Downtown Film Festival–L.A. is scheduled for August 12-22 at venues throughout downtown L.A. More information: www.dffla.com
#####

About Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles
Downtown Film Festival-Los Angeles is a nonprofit arts organization established to celebrate the current renaissance of downtown Los Angeles through the medium of motion pictures. The festival is dedicated to showcasing the diversity of the downtown L.A. communities by the presentation of independent films and related arts activities. The festival also pays home to the unique role that downtown L.A. played in the development of American cinema, as evidenced today by the early 20th century movie palaces that continue to grace its avenues and streets.

About arts>Brookfield Properties
The 2009 Downtown Film Festival - L.A. is co-presented by arts>Brookfield Properties, which brings life to its public spaces through an internationally acclaimed visual and performing arts program. Local, national and international artists present a wide variety of art forms in new and unusual spaces that provide cultural experiences for tenants and visitors alike.

Indoor air pollution is a common problem in today's world. Even in the cleanest homes and offices, numerous synthetic toxins can be released from paints, carpeting, furniture, and even cleaning products, and they can actually pose a great threat to you and your family's health.

Though the options for purifying your indoor air are numerous, one of the greenest ways to rid your home or office of indoor air pollutants is by placing various houseplants every 100 sqare feet. Be sure to keep some of these living greens around to limit the benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene you're breathing in every day.

1. Keep it local
   Many college students want an "away from home" experience. Just don't make it a "shipping tons of stuff all over the country" experience. If it's your first year at school, try to obtain your furnishings locally when you get to school (See tips 2 and 3). If you're a returning student, think about local storage—many schools offer storage options.
   
   
2. Use the used
   Sure, this may be your first home away from home, and we understand the urge to decorate with all the coolest new stuff from Target or WalMart. Just consider, for a second, how much waste that would mean, assuming most freshmen get relatively new stuff every year of school. See what we mean? Instead, why not check out great used sources of stuff, like local resale shops, eBay Local, and Craigslist. You'll be guaranteed to have a really unique room décor (see tip 10 to max this out), and you'll have money left over to throw wild parties (Um, we mean library study snacks).
   
   
3. Capture the free
   Of course, while cheap used stuff is good, there is something better: Free used stuff. If you're a new freshman, check out Craigslist or Freecycle in your area to see if there are any items like beds, desks, or lamps that you can score for free. If you stayed at school over the summer for research or whatnot, your university may have a coordinated furniture recycling day. Or, you might just hang around during move-out and see what you can collect.
   
   
4. Condition yourself, not your air
   One of the most eco-friendly things you can do as a student is to give up air conditioning. Many universities make it really easy for you to do by banning AC units in dorms. But that doesn't stop some crafty students from sneaking them in. The trouble is, there are millions of students all over the world, which means the potential for hundreds of thousands of energy-sucking AC units. Instead of AC, why not try opening a window, turning on a fan, taking a cold shower before bed, or studying outside. Of course, if you have to have AC for allergies or some other reason, be sure to get an Energy-Star rated low-energy unit.
   
   
5. Be sure your fridge is cool
   Another big energy-sucker of dorms is the ol' microfridge. Of course, the best thing you can do is go fridgeless or check into a shared larger fridge (many dorms have shared kitchens with fridges). But if you must have a fridge to yourself, make sure it's energy-star or other low-energy certified. This can save you 50 percent of the energy use of regular appliances.
   
   
6. Cook it right
   You may scoff at the microwave/toaster oven combo, but by combining these two cooking appliances with a cheap rice cooker, you've got nearly the perfect eco-kitchen. All three of these appliances boast high energy efficiencies relative to their big-kitchen counterparts (see the Getting Techie section). Take a look at the end of this article for some great cookbooks using just these mini-cooker powerhouses.
   
   
7. Paper please
   Sure, it's not the sexiest of materials, but there are plenty of paper options for dorm decor that can be recycled when you out-grow them in a few years. Check out paper wall tiles from MioCulture, paper window treatments from Redi Shade, or make your own paper lampshades.
   
   
8. See the light
   Halogen torchiere lamps are all the rage right now. They're super cheap, put out tons of light, and fit in a corner with ease. Unfortunately, some of them use hundreds of watts of electricity, and they've been known to cause fires. Stick with compact fluorescent light bulbs. The newer ones put out great light, use just a trickle of electricity, and last almost forever. This is one thing worth buying again every time you move; by leaving them for your next tenant, you'll be spreading the green love with every new apartment.
   
   
9. Don't let the sheets hit the fan
   Linens for your new room will make up the bulk of the rest of your buying. When you look for sheets, curtains, or towels, go for organic cotton, if possible. It's still the same cottony goodness, but you'll rest easy knowing it's grown without nasty pesticides.
   
   
10. Re-used doesn't have to mean re-pulsive
    Just because you got used stuff, doesn’t mean it has to be old and moldy. This is college. You're supposed to be wild and experimental. So go crazy. Why not try sewing some cushion covers, or pillows for that old couch. Or invite some of your new friends over for a painting party on that old dresser and table. Unleash your inner crafter with great magazines like Make, Craft, or Readymade.

Via: Planetgreen.com

Head to your kitchen sink, turn on the tap and fill a glass with water. Now drink it. Did you have any reservations before taking that first sip? If you worry about water, you might find yourself wondering if you need a whole-house filtration system, or will a Brita filter suffice? Or will you end up going through so many Brita filters that a whole-house system is justified? Which is the greener choice? If you're concerned about the quality of your tap water, but are also concerned about the eco-impact of filtration systems, we have some answers for you.

Greenwashing is when businesses label their products as green or eco-friendly when the products don’t actually meet these standards. It is about people being fooled into buying products that are not really good for them, or for the environment.

Consumers today should be savvy enough to navigate through advertising hype. How many people really think that sugary cereals are nutritious? Yet TV commercials and cereal box labels still want us to believe that sugary frosted cereals are “part of a nutritious breakfast.”

There are of course many more examples of advertising hype as we all well know, so shouldn’t the same hold true for eco-friendly products? After all, today’s consumer is demanding more and more of these products and so of course corporations want to package their goods to meet market demands.

Of course regulations and certification labels are helpful in identifying which products meet our green demands, just as any other product should follow the truth in advertising rules.

Currently the Federal Trade Commission Act requires that all advertising:
•    Be truthful and non-deceptive
•    Must have evidence to back up their claims
•    Cannot be unfair

Businesses can be forced to pay stiff fines and face penalties for not adhering to these guidelines.
Then there are cases where labels are technically truthful about their certification but the product may not actually meet the standards we may personally think they should.

A good example is the organic label. Many foods are labeled as organic but they are only organic in the strictest sense of the word. Many farms follow organic practices with their soil standards and so are able to be USDA certified as organic, yet they really follow factory farm practices in everything but their soil (the Cornucopia Institute is but one organization that follows organic farming claims and has great material about which organic products do not utilize humane farming conditions and are actually large factory farms).

These are cases where a certified label doesn’t really mean as much as we might hope it would.

In addition, greenwashing may not be a completely bad thing, but rather a symptom of the growing demand of consumers for products that are safe for our health and the health of the planet.

Many companies that have heretofore created toxic chemicals and products are now producing and advertising their green products. There are so many “green” products on the shelves of mainstream grocery stores, we don’t have to make that extra trip to the co-op or Whole Foods to buy laundry soap. It should only get better from here!

As with any product, we should be smart and savvy and we should read our labels, and we should also know what the many green advertising terms on labels mean.

Via: http://www.ecomii.com/blogs/business/2009/04/27/the-hype-about-greenwashing/

ecomii.com

You're not going to upturn your life over night, you need to pick and choose.

Wa$ted! spent some quality time with a fantastic pair of sisters who ran a salon north of New York City, and we came upon the thorny issue of what to do when what you MUST do goes against what you WANT to do, in terms of the environment.

Jackie and Maria run a business, the Selah Salon, so they cannot just stop using certain products or change their ways. Their customers might leave, or they might not be able to achieve the same results. Annabelle and I were challenged to figure out inventive ways to help them lower their carbon footprint.

Luckily, we did, and Jackie and Maria did a great job as a result. With options from oil-spill mats made from human waste-hair to setting them up with a Mindardi Eco-Light system that not only saves them money and energy, but also makes their workspaces significantly better, we managed to lower their footprint while keeping their business model strong.

But there's another issue here, and that is one of balance. As we learned with the salon, you cannot just abandon everything you have been doing and switch to a fully green lifestyle overnight. Along with being expensive, it is impractical.

It is at this point that I would like to admit—a little proudly—that I am the owner of a 1978 Ford Bronco (image above) with engine and chassis upgrades that make it a real brute. Not the greenest car on earth, yes?

I out myself here as a gearhead to show that everyone—even green-lifestyle show hosts—needs to understand and find balance in their lives. And I will use my rip-snorting 351 Midland V8 to help explain.

My grandfather bought the Bronco new in 1978. He got it serviced, or did it himself—I come from good genes—with admirable punctuality for decades. Maintenance and upkeep will make a car a generational purchase, and that's one of the best ways to turn back the carbon-belching momentum of our disposable culture.

My grandfather lives in the mountainous west, where 5-foot snowdrifts on unplowed roads aren't so much a hazard as just a signal that winter's coming.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved that Bronco. I am pretty sure that by the early Eighties I was asking him if I could have it, easily half a decade before I would be legal to drive it.

And one fine day in 2000, he called me and said 'Make an offer.' He didn't just give it away—I come from good genes—but he let me know that he was honoring the promise that he made a hyper ten-year-old to let him have first crack at the Bronco when he himself was done with it.

So we settled on a fair price, and I spent some of my hard-earned money taking a well-cared-for but stock vehicle and making it a powerhouse and a head-turner.

Not sounding too green, are we? Granted. But here's my point: you have to find your balance, and it is personal to everyone.

My grandfather used that one vehicle for 23 years, which is the ultimate form of recycling: don't get rid of it in the first place. No environment-ruining manufacturing and shipping processes were made getting a new car to him every 5 years.

And when he was finally done with it, he didn't junk it or let it rot and rust. He passed it on: recycling within the family, mulching the family tree.

The upgrades I made actually increased the mileage. Yes, I made it rumble and cruise, and the thrust from 70 mph to 100—not that I've ever done that, heh heh heh—is insane. But under normal driving conditions, which is 95% of the time, I've gotten 10% to 15% better mileage out of it.

And I only drive it every once in a while, often when using the kinds of roads or terrain for which is was designed. This is not a commuter car. And when I am not in the Bronco, I am often on my motorcycle, getting around 50-mpg.

So that's one example of my balance. You can have it, too. Consider it a baby step on the road to more sustainable living:

• If you can't upgrade to lower-flow faucets, buy soap from this guy, justsoap.com, who uses recycled packaging, rides a bike to power his mixers, and has a tiny carbon impact in his manufacturing.
  
• If you can't buy a hybrid or heat your house with biodiesel, drive smoothly to lower your fuel usage and turn the thermostat down three degrees in winter—or better yet, get new digital thermostats that let you program more specifically and save energy throughout the season.

Jackie and Maria still bleach hair when they have to. It is, after all, their business. And for balance, they sweep the clippings, send them to an oil spill, and save the sea gulls and otters with recycled hair mats.

Balance. Get on board.

By Holter Graham
New York, NY, USA | Thu Jul 16 12:00:00 EDT 2009

WASHINGTON – The flow of water in the world's largest rivers has declined over the past half-century, with significant changes found in about a third of the big rivers. An analysis of 925 major rivers from 1948 to 2004 showed an overall decline in total discharge.

The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River, according to the new study appearing in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.

The only area showing a significant increase in flow was the Arctic, where warming conditions are increasing the snow and ice melt, said researchers led by Aiguo Dai of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

"Freshwater resources will likely decline in the coming decades over many densely populated areas at mid- to low latitudes, largely due to climate changes, Dai said. "Rapid disappearing mountain glaciers in the Tibetan plateau and other places will make matters worse."

Added co-author Kevin Trenberth, "As climate change inevitably continues in coming decades, we are likely to see greater impacts on many rivers and water resources that society has come to rely on."

While Dai cited climate change as a major factor in the changes, the paper noted that other factors are also involved, including dams and the diversion of water for agriculture and industry.

Nonetheless, he said, "long-term changes in streamflow should be a major concern under global warming."

Indeed, the researchers wrote that "for many of the world's large rivers the effects of human activities on yearly streamflow are likely small compared with that of climate variations during 1948-2004."

"This is an important paper with new findings that are relevant to the health of river ecosystems and the people who live near or rely upon rivers to meet water needs," said Margaret A. Palmer, director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

"What is important from this study is these authors show that these decreases are due to a changing climate, not human activities like extractions or dam building, yet these changes will have impacts on humans and ecosystems because many of these regions have large populations and drought-stressed ecosystems," said Palmer, who was not part of the research team.

Among the rivers showing declines in flow, several serve large populations. These include the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa and the Colorado in the southwestern United States.

On the other hand, areas with rising streamflow near the Arctic Ocean tend to have small populations.

There was considerable year-to-year variation in the flow of many rivers, but the overall trend over the period showed annual freshwater discharge into the Pacific Ocean fell by about 6 percent, or 526 cubic kilometers of water. That's close to the 552-cubic kilometer average annual flow of the Mississippi, the researchers reported.

The annual flow into the Indian Ocean dropped by about 3 percent, or 140 cubic kilometers. In contrast, annual river discharge into the Arctic Ocean rose about 10 percent, or 460 cubic kilometers. There was little change in inflow to the Atlantic Ocean, where increases in the Mississippi and Parana rivers were balanced out by decreases in the Amazon River.

A cubic kilometer is a cube one kilometer on each side. A kilometer is about six-tenths of a mile.

Discharge of river water into the oceans deposits sediment near the river mouth and also affects worldwide ocean circulation patterns, which are driven by variations in water temperature and salinity.

In the United States, the flow of the Mississippi River increased by 22 percent over the period because of increased precipitation across the Midwest. On the other hand, the Columbia River's flow declined by about 14 percent, mainly because of reduced precipitation and higher water usage.

Major rivers showing declines in flow included the Amazon, Congo, Changjiang (Yangtze), Mekong, Ganges, Irrawaddy, Amur, Mackenzie, Xijiang, Columbia and Niger.

Declines in the Niger River in the 1970s and 1980s in particular reflected the Sahel Drought, the paper said. In addition, the periodic El Nino cooling of sea surface waters in the tropical Pacific led to lower flows in the Amazon and higher ones in the Mississippi when the phenomenon was in effect.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Via:http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=400&Itemid=64