Latest / EnvironMental with Dandelion / The State of the Water March 2026 | EnvironMental Podcast
Transcript
- Aub Wallace: just for a second that you have finally managed to budget your life. You've cut the avocado toast, you're making your own organic laundry detergent, you know ⁓ you're local and you finally have a little nest egg in the bank. nice job you. ⁓ But you wake up, check your app, and you see a big, fat, red, insufficient funds But it's not your bank account. ⁓ no, no, no. It's the planet's faucet. And guess what? Bank of Mother Earth does not do overdraft protection. ⁓ That's what I'm talking about today on Environmental with Dandelion. If this is your first time tuning in, hi, hello, I'm Aub, your host and the chief cultivator here at Dandelion. My team and I spend our days making sustainability part of mainstream conversations ⁓ that actually matter. And you, ⁓ beautiful you, you're the eco-curious baddie who's been called an alarmist hippie your whole life and now that the world is literally burning, the I told you so doesn't really feel like the flex we thought it might be. That's a ugly one. Now hold on to your reusable water bottle because the planet is running out of safe, drinkable water. Governments are not moving fast enough and we are sifting through the information to find out how do we save the taps. ⁓ dive the deep end of the world's freshwater and maybe get trapped in a river full of microplastic please ⁓ tap the like like you're a little freshwater fishy and it's the only snack left in the stream not wrapped in three layers of microplastic. also want to say outside of my little catchy thing that there's a lot of content out there and I fully appreciate that you're here. ⁓ love sharing this information with you even when it sucks ⁓ it really does take hours to research, analyze, script and edit every single one of these episodes. ⁓ am a small content creator and on this channel it is challenging to be found in the digital world. especially with this subject matter, because it's not sexy, it's not at the height of scandal. So your comments, your likes, your subscribe, literally make every bit of difference when you do those little things to connect with me. Okay, enough with the snap. ⁓ Let's You know it's intense when we start with the good news, right? So savor this one like fine organic wine. White or red? What's your choice? Let me know in the comments. I'm a red girl myself. Anyway, this is a deep sea mining update. I know it's been a while, right? today's update comes from the South Taranaki Bight off of Bright Coast of New Zealand's North Island. Sorry about my pronunciation. For 13 years. Yeah. 13 years, local indigenous groups, environmentalists, and literal independent expert panel have been locked in a determined resistance against mining companies that want to tear up the seabed there. And as of early 2026, they've been rejected, finally. This is a massive victory for blue whales, ⁓ and the people who actually live there. It shows that when we refuse to shut up panels, actually do listen. Okay, that's your only saltwater update because today we're talking about fresh water. ⁓ It's a little bit more bankrupt. Okay, I mentioned this last month, but it really, really stuck with me over the past few weeks. So I decided to dive in fully. This month's story is all about freshwater. So according to a new report from the United Nations ⁓ world has officially entered the era of global water bankruptcy. Think about that term. We aren't just low on cash, we are insolvent. Only 3 % of Earth's water is fresh. And of that 3%, a massive chunk is locked in the glaciers that are currently melting into the Salty Sea. Or it's so polluted that you wouldn't want to wash your car with it, let alone drink it. The report says that droughts and shortages aren't temporary shocks anymore. They are literally the new baseline. We are moving from reacting to emergencies to bankruptcy management here. So where is all the water going? Who is spending our inheritance? Well, according to the UN report, roughly 70 % of global freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture. Groundwater, that stuff we pump out of the earth, provides 50 % of domestic use and 40 % of irrigation. And we aren't exactly being careful with what's left. Smart Water magazine reported last month, 42%. of municipal sewage is still being discharged into the environment left untreated. F*cking gross. In 2022, 22 % of the global population drinking water was contaminated with sewage. Densely populated regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are bearing the brunt of this. But if you're as privileged as I am in my little room, it's not time for us to get comfortable. because this is coming for everyone. Climate change is acting as the ultimate debt collector here because research out of Germany shows that rising temperatures are driving agricultural use ⁓ through the in Asia. Meanwhile, a joint research center report says in Europe, ⁓ irrigation is the largest... contributor to freshwater appropriation, especially in the stressed basins and that livestock demands are up at the same time which is like, yeah, man, everything is thirsty. ⁓ the EU South is baking in heat ⁓ while still being a major food contributor. Let's bring it to North America though. ⁓ The Great Lakes ⁓ St. Lawrence River watershed accounts for about 84 % of North America's water. It is crown jewel of the fresh water on the entire continent. And our government decided that January, ⁓ 2026, was a great time to just put that at risk. Enter HJres140. HJres140. ⁓ ⁓ January 21st in 2026, the US House passed a resolution to nullify a year ban on mining ⁓ in Minnesota's Superior National Forest. ⁓ We talking about the Rainy River ⁓ This area feeds directly into ⁓ boundary canoe area wilderness and flows Lake Superior. The Biden administration had put a ban on mineral leasing here in 2023 because shocker, copper, nickel mining leads to sulfide mining pollution and acid mine draining into the ecosystem, i.e. the drinking water and like everything around us. Hello. As of this recording, the Senate has not voted on the resolution. But if this resolution clears the Senate, we are risking the water supply for millions of people and damaging habitats in the Voyager's National Park just to get at some minerals. My home state, or I guess I should call it my voting state, is Michigan. Now, I've already emailed Senator Elisa Slotkin about this, but the National Parks Conservation Association makes it so easy a toddler could do this. I put the links in the show notes, which you can always find down there on my resource page. This isn't just a Minnesota problem. This isn't just a Minnesota problem. This is a Great Lakes problem, which means it is a USA problem, a North American problem, a global problem. And if we let them overturn this, it sets a precedent. In the US, if there's a precedent here, it can literally mean that no public land in the country is safe. That's already a risk we're taking. Besides, this gives us the chance to set the other... precedent, which is that when we the people say no, we mean no. ⁓ yeah, while we're here, send a letter to the representatives about the Endangerment Act that literally cannot be overturned by the EPA. I mean, it's been overturned by the EPA, but it needs to be settled in courts. It's dangerous as hell. I also linked that in the show notes. And while we're on the topic of the Great Lakes, Can we talk about Bridgegate? Just for a moment. Pun intended there. Did you see this? ⁓ It's like the stupidest fight ever ⁓ the new bridge connecting Detroit, and Windsor, Ontario, which is in It's called the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Now, as a Michigander, ⁓ I remember taking the tunnel to Canada. as a kid. And we've also got the ambassador bridge. So at first I was kind of like, why do we need to build a third one? So I looked and after looking into it, I'm like, We need a new one. We need a new one. For one, the Ambassador Bridge is nearly 100 years old. It is privately owned by the Maroon family. I will not apologize for butchering that name. It handles hundreds of millions of dollars in trade, and it is, to put it mildly, a fucking dump. It is poorly maintained, and it is a massive bottleneck. And if you watched my last Unhoshable session, You know how I feel about bottlenecks, okay? Also, exciting, the Gordie Howell Bridge is actually a pretty big win for sustainability. It's LEED certified, which is harder than you're probably imagining to obtain. It offers way more efficiency in the movement across the bridge itself, and it's jointly owned by the public in the US and Canada. Plus, you can actually walk or bike across it. Not to mention that the people want the bridge, which is totally enough for me. Because the billionaires, they don't. The billionaires don't. The Maroon family publicly lobbied against it. They donated $600k to the Trump campaign and it's been cozying up to Howard Lutnick. Yes, that fucking Lutnick, Yes, that fucking Lutnick, friend and neighbor of Epstein, listed many times in the files, ⁓ visited the island, and who still, as of this recording, has not been under investigation. And look, I'm not saying that there is a direct line between bridge lobbying and the unredacted Epstein files or Fox Island speculation in Michigan. But ⁓ I am saying that billionaires start fighting public infrastructure that helps the environment, you should check who's in their pockets. ⁓ it's relevant. It's all connected. ⁓ call me a conspiracy moth, boy you ain't know. I dedicate my life working to solve the climate crisis because I think it's solvable. This shit, this keeps me up at night and it should keep you up too. and speaking of things billionaires don't wanna pay for, lead pipes. pipes. And ⁓ this one close to home 10 years after the water crisis. You'd think be like sprinting to replace every lead pipe the country. If you don't know why, Here's the short version. Flint changed their water supply from the Detroit River to the Flint River. It was not the same. The lead pipes had this mineral buildup and that buildup shed and the old lead pipes poisoned an entire generation of children. We know this. That is not hyperbole, guys. They still suffer today from higher levels of learning, behavioral and health issues. But you know what? Flint is poor and Mineral mining is going to poison the water supply anyways, so I whatever. Because in February, the US utilities lobby successfully forced a funding cut for lead pipe replacement in Congress, which the Guardian says will hit Michigan, Illinois, and New York the hardest. They are literally choosing utility over the brains of children. It is the definition of water bankruptcy, morally and physically. But this is a global crisis. And I know I a lot about the and and that's because I'm American Dutch, and I'm sharing where I know. This is a global bankruptcy, though. Half of the world's largest cities are in high water stress areas. 38 of them are in extremely high stress regions. In Iran, the president is literally talking about moving the capital because of six years of drought, like nasty drought. Even with the US setting up fire jets and threatening regime change, the drought may be a bigger threat here. Also, there's no real reason for the Iran thing that the administration is talking about, but in the past week or so, it has turned into the weapons of mass destruction argument that we used last time. Obviously, I'm not privy to global security issues, but is this another oil grab? Venezuela 2.0? Well, more on that in a future episode, I'm sure. Okay, I hear you saying like drought in the desert. Okay, come on. But to me, a city that is as old as Tehran that flourishes in an oasis on the edge of a desert is like the place we should watch for water conservation efforts, right? Anyways, if that doesn't work for you, let's look at the rainforest because this is happening in Brazil too. Brazil's 2026 climate adaptation report shows water shortages in every single region. Why? Deforestation, land use changes, and massive agricultural use. And it doesn't end there. Because we aren't just looking at water scarcity today. No, no, no, no, no. We're looking at global polluters reducing access to safe, fresh water. Because whether there's no water or water that can kill you, it's all bad. It's all bad. Back on the other side of the world in China, a study published in Nature this month looked at river sediments in the Shenfu coal field. I will apologize when I mess up these names. They found 94 % of water samples exceeded safe levels for heavy metals like nickel and mercury. This water is currently used for irrigation and drinking in and around Beijing. The irony is that China knows how to fix this. just February, ⁓ Inside Climate reported that the Yangtze River Protection Law has been successful in reversing biodiversity loss over the past five years, which should probably be in my good news section. ⁓ We know ⁓ what to do. We just doing it. We know what to do. just aren't doing it. And bringing it back to we need to avoid this, and we can, ⁓ if the Senate votes no. on HJ Res 140. And when it isn't drying up or being polluted by outdated patriarchal extractive industries, the safe water is being flippantly overused. And now for the elephant in the room, the one answering your questions, creating random three-handed people and images, and that's even helping me code my low carbon website. AI and the data centers it calls home. It's nasty. And yeah, I feel like a hypocrite for using it. But I live in 2026. with you. I work on the computer and I have to adapt or die just like every other small business owner. AI data centers are the space race of this age and we've been reporting on this for a year now that the US EPA is basically rolling back a ton of protections because their priority is to be a global power in AI control. That right there should alert us because it's clear that instead of considering sustainability in the new or future built environment, they're only thinking about money and power, which is never a good sign. So begrudgingly, I looked into it and I hate what I found. I hate it. At first I read that Microsoft, which is a leader in this space race, was recently caught in the Netherlands using four times the amount of water it promised to keep servers cool. But there's actually a deeper story here. so they had made all these goals back before chat GPT came on the scene and broke the ⁓ internet. Remember that was like two years ago. Where were you ⁓ when they build chat bot to.. sorry. ⁓ I was sitting my dining room table with my husband and the GM of our D &D game. both named Tom, ⁓ both by the way, we live in a simulation. ⁓ Anyway, they were talking about GPT and we were trying to log on, but literally the servers weren't working because too many people were on it. And thus the data centers. ⁓ Anyway. Back to the story. Priscilla Johnson, beauty, was ⁓ Microsoft's of Water Strategy from 2017 to 2020, came forward and told the New York that they just didn't build with water in mind, largely because water isn't expensive enough ⁓ for them plan for. ⁓ It's cheaper for them to waste water and keep electricity costs down than to build infrastructures that maintain safe water. Those infrastructures do exist by the way. And sure, water is always on the agenda, but it's like at the end, the thing that can be dropped off when the meeting goes too long. Anyway, I know, and now you do too, that data centers, quench their thirst with our fresh water. The Environmental Energy Study Institute reported that a large data center can consume five million gallons of water a day. the same usage as a town of like up to 50,000 people. This is a hyper local problem. These data centers are often placed communities that are less affluent, read less white, which are like the sacrifice zones we talked about in my last episode with Babette and Paul, which you should definitely. To top it off, Microsoft says that they aren't replenishing water fast enough because there aren't enough initiatives to work with. Boy, no, okay? The UN Global Compact Water Action Hub has 158 projects with 435 locations. I found that in a 30-second brutal Google. You are looking. You're just thirsty, okay? And this feels big and loud and unmanageable. What do we do? Should you stop using AI? I mean, maybe but like, you know, I use it too. We all do. It's not going ⁓ away. ⁓ we need to do what we to that these companies use closed loop cooling or immersion cooling that doesn't evaporate our drinking water. ⁓ Should you take your two minute cold shower instead of your 10 regular shower? Sure, every bit helps, but not really the water is going, despite what some people will tell you. Here's what I think you can do, ⁓ ⁓ when comes to protecting freshwater Stop watering your lawn. Plant native. Plant climate friendly. Because while local grass and gardens aren't the biggest problems, if your local municipality feels like their residents care about the water cycle, you'll have a standing to suggest larger water-based initiatives like from local agriculture or industry. agriculture. This is the big one. 70 % of water usage is here. but when we demand change on a political level, the farmers get fucked. we talk to farmers and they make a shift, they end up footing the bill. Eating less meat, switching to a native seasonal plant-based diet and reducing food waste is a big part of it, but we can't make the change as independent people. That's a myth, just like those shorter showers. It's helpful, but it fully shifts the responsibility onto the individual rather than the collective or a wealthy elite. So yes, know your farmers, shop at local farmers market, join a CSA. Yes, that makes a difference. But we also need policy to underpin the necessary transition. We need simple, specific, subsidized transitions for farmers. And this is going to be based on local or regional action. Is there a local council meeting you can sit in on? Is there an organization you can join that advocates for empowering farmers through sustainable change? If not, can you create one? at the highest level, lobby the lobbyists. Find out who is influencing your reps, write to them. Lobbyists are paid by outside actors to influence people high up. So yeah, you can actually find them just talk to them. If nothing else, they know who the players are in the game, which is just good place to start. Last year, the International Court of Justice did say that governments are legally obligated to take climate action. ⁓ Use that. Hold them to it. Tell me your latest water saving. is we a green roof and we decoupled the roof from the sewer. So now all of the rainwater goes from the green roof directly into the groundwater, which is great. Whoa. Was that as intense for you as it was for me? I feel like I speed through these. If you want to see what happens when the government treats land as expendable, go listen to my episode with Babette Hogan and Paul Corbett Brown about their documentary, Running for the Mountains. I'll put that on the screen here. now along with a little circle with my face in it so you can subscribe. no one told you today, thank for being eco-curious and caring about the world and I will ⁓ see you next time.