Author: Lakis Polycarpou7

Lakis Polycarpou is a professional author and freelance writer. His articles for State of the Planet have covered water scarcity, climate change, drought, flood, food security, supply chains, geopolitics and other topics. Between 2010 and 2016, Lakis worked with the Columbia Water Center to articulate and communicate innovative solutions to global water and climate challenges. He can be contacted at https://www.cleantechwriting.com/ Visit website »

Understanding the Crucial Connection Between Water and Energy

While awareness of the water-energy nexus is growing, in many parts of the world policy affecting both energy and water remains shortsighted at best and dangerously counterproductive at worst.
DIY Superfund Cleanup? Jerko the Water Vacuum Goes to Gowanus

Last Saturday, October 2nd saw the maiden voyage of “Jerko, the Gowanus Water Vacuum” in a classic expression of the burgeoning, grandly ambitious Do-it-Yourself environmental cleanup movement. Jerko is intended to move up and down the canal, cleaning water through biological filtration and reminding us of what have done to the earth—and what, in theory,…
Fear and Thirst in Las Vegas (and Phoenix, and Los Angeles . . .)

Unless the 11-year drought that has parched the southwestern United States suddenly ends, emergency water provisions may have to be put in place to reduce water deliveries to Nevada and Arizona.
Cyprus: A Case Study in Water Challenges

One tends to think of islands as wet places (surrounded as they are by water) but the island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean sea belies that characterization. Among many childhood memories I have of that place, some of the most vivid are of the wide-open, piercing blue of cloudless skies and the sun-scorched, dusty…
What is the Benefit of Privatizing Water?

A recent Wall Street Journal article reports on what seems to be an accelerating trend: cities privatizing their water supplies. According to the article, the Indianapolis city-county council voted last month to sell its water and sewer utilities to a charitable trust; San Jose and Pittsburgh are considering selling their water systems as well, while…
Rolling a 13: Global Warming and Regional Water Management in Pakistan and Russia

On July 28th in Peshawar, Pakistan, it rained more in one day than it had ever previously rained for the entire month. In the face of that kind of event, it’s hard not to think that we are entering unprecedented times. (It is still raining, with forecasts of more to come, with 1,600 people dead—at…
Privatizing Responsibility on Water Use

I would like to say congratulations to the Environmental Protection Agency for it’s recent “We’re for Water” campaign to promote responsible water use (after all, who can argue with low-flow toilets and efficient showerheads?) but I am seriously concerned about the campaign’s underlying message. “We’re for Water” features families competing with each other to see…
Safe Water or Abundant Energy? Take Your Pick

In the recent documentary Gasland, Josh Fox investigate the rapidly growing practice of hydraulic fracturing or “hydrofracking” that natural gas companies have developed to produce gas from underground shale deposits.
The World is Hemorrhaging Oil—The Oilpocalypse Continues

For several months now we’ve been hearing about the BP Deepwater Horzion catastrophe—which, in spite of some reports to the contrary, is far from over. But that’s not the only place bad things are happening with petroleum — in just the last couple of weeks the world has experienced at least three other major oil…

Understanding the Crucial Connection Between Water and Energy

While awareness of the water-energy nexus is growing, in many parts of the world policy affecting both energy and water remains shortsighted at best and dangerously counterproductive at worst.
DIY Superfund Cleanup? Jerko the Water Vacuum Goes to Gowanus

Last Saturday, October 2nd saw the maiden voyage of “Jerko, the Gowanus Water Vacuum” in a classic expression of the burgeoning, grandly ambitious Do-it-Yourself environmental cleanup movement. Jerko is intended to move up and down the canal, cleaning water through biological filtration and reminding us of what have done to the earth—and what, in theory,…
Fear and Thirst in Las Vegas (and Phoenix, and Los Angeles . . .)

Unless the 11-year drought that has parched the southwestern United States suddenly ends, emergency water provisions may have to be put in place to reduce water deliveries to Nevada and Arizona.
Cyprus: A Case Study in Water Challenges

One tends to think of islands as wet places (surrounded as they are by water) but the island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean sea belies that characterization. Among many childhood memories I have of that place, some of the most vivid are of the wide-open, piercing blue of cloudless skies and the sun-scorched, dusty…
What is the Benefit of Privatizing Water?

A recent Wall Street Journal article reports on what seems to be an accelerating trend: cities privatizing their water supplies. According to the article, the Indianapolis city-county council voted last month to sell its water and sewer utilities to a charitable trust; San Jose and Pittsburgh are considering selling their water systems as well, while…
Rolling a 13: Global Warming and Regional Water Management in Pakistan and Russia

On July 28th in Peshawar, Pakistan, it rained more in one day than it had ever previously rained for the entire month. In the face of that kind of event, it’s hard not to think that we are entering unprecedented times. (It is still raining, with forecasts of more to come, with 1,600 people dead—at…
Privatizing Responsibility on Water Use

I would like to say congratulations to the Environmental Protection Agency for it’s recent “We’re for Water” campaign to promote responsible water use (after all, who can argue with low-flow toilets and efficient showerheads?) but I am seriously concerned about the campaign’s underlying message. “We’re for Water” features families competing with each other to see…
Safe Water or Abundant Energy? Take Your Pick

In the recent documentary Gasland, Josh Fox investigate the rapidly growing practice of hydraulic fracturing or “hydrofracking” that natural gas companies have developed to produce gas from underground shale deposits.
The World is Hemorrhaging Oil—The Oilpocalypse Continues

For several months now we’ve been hearing about the BP Deepwater Horzion catastrophe—which, in spite of some reports to the contrary, is far from over. But that’s not the only place bad things are happening with petroleum — in just the last couple of weeks the world has experienced at least three other major oil…