234
instance, means that no water was used in water-scarce California to produce
that tomato, while all the benefits of consuming it (including its embodied
water) accrue to someone in California rather than Canada. Use government
data to ascertain how many soybeans the US exports in a year, and how much
water each unit of soybeans takes to produce (soybeans’ “water intensity”). Use
a spreadsheet program to chart the change in soybean exports and their
associated “virtual water” amounts over the past 10 years.
11. Using what you understand about the interdependence among food, energy, and
water, create a poster or a comic strip that will communicate these connections
to people in your community. You may use images from the Internet (with
proper citation), or you might wish to sketch them by hand.
12. Using the same two biofuels crops you used in Question 3, research the prior
land use on the majority of the acreage is now growing those biofuels. What
consequences might change the land use to cropping biofuels have for food and
water resources in those areas? Remember, all farmland is not created equal;
whereas some areas might require significant inputs of water and fertilizer, others might be far more fertile naturally. Therefore, be sure to specify your
assumptions about where each croup was grown and the type of farmland most
prevalent there.
13. The debate over who should regulate natural resources is intimately tied to the
struggle between states’ rights and federal authority. For each resource—Food,
Water, and Energy—discuss at least two benefits of allowing states to regulate
the development of the resource and two benefits of allowing the federal
government to regulate the development of the resource. If you can, find some
examples from recent public debates over oil and gas development, water use,
or food production to illustrate your points.
14. The debate over hydraulic fracturing and, to a lesser extent, gas pipelines has
been quite heated in states such as Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, and
West Virginia. Some have characterized it as a “rural versus urban” debate,
where urban dwellers were largely against leasing rural lands to gas drilling and
rural people, particularly farmers living on very slim margins, were in favor of
being allowed to lease their lands to oil and gas companies. Pick one of the four
states listed above and research the food, energy, and water implications of
allowing the development of unconventional shale gas through hydraulic
fracturing in that state. Use peer-reviewed or government agency sources. Write
a 300-word summary of your findings.
References
Ackerman, F., & Fisher, J. (2013). Is there a water-energy nexus in electricity generation?
Long-term scenarios for the western United States. Energy Policy, 59, 235–241. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.03.027.
Berkman, M. (2015). The electricity-water nexus: Is a crisis imminent? Water Policy, 17(6), 1163–
1175. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2015.060.
B. Kinne and D. Magee
instance, means that no water was used in water-scarce California to produce
that tomato, while all the benefits of consuming it (including its embodied
water) accrue to someone in California rather than Canada. Use government
data to ascertain how many soybeans the US exports in a year, and how much
water each unit of soybeans takes to produce (soybeans’ “water intensity”). Use
a spreadsheet program to chart the change in soybean exports and their
associated “virtual water” amounts over the past 10 years.
11. Using what you understand about the interdependence among food, energy, and
water, create a poster or a comic strip that will communicate these connections
to people in your community. You may use images from the Internet (with
proper citation), or you might wish to sketch them by hand.
12. Using the same two biofuels crops you used in Question 3, research the prior
land use on the majority of the acreage is now growing those biofuels. What
consequences might change the land use to cropping biofuels have for food and
water resources in those areas? Remember, all farmland is not created equal;
whereas some areas might require significant inputs of water and fertilizer, others might be far more fertile naturally. Therefore, be sure to specify your
assumptions about where each croup was grown and the type of farmland most
prevalent there.
13. The debate over who should regulate natural resources is intimately tied to the
struggle between states’ rights and federal authority. For each resource—Food,
Water, and Energy—discuss at least two benefits of allowing states to regulate
the development of the resource and two benefits of allowing the federal
government to regulate the development of the resource. If you can, find some
examples from recent public debates over oil and gas development, water use,
or food production to illustrate your points.
14. The debate over hydraulic fracturing and, to a lesser extent, gas pipelines has
been quite heated in states such as Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, and
West Virginia. Some have characterized it as a “rural versus urban” debate,
where urban dwellers were largely against leasing rural lands to gas drilling and
rural people, particularly farmers living on very slim margins, were in favor of
being allowed to lease their lands to oil and gas companies. Pick one of the four
states listed above and research the food, energy, and water implications of
allowing the development of unconventional shale gas through hydraulic
fracturing in that state. Use peer-reviewed or government agency sources. Write
a 300-word summary of your findings.
References
Ackerman, F., & Fisher, J. (2013). Is there a water-energy nexus in electricity generation?
Long-term scenarios for the western United States. Energy Policy, 59, 235–241. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.03.027.
Berkman, M. (2015). The electricity-water nexus: Is a crisis imminent? Water Policy, 17(6), 1163–
1175. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2015.060.
B. Kinne and D. Magee