Today's Top 5 - Spotlight On World Water Day

One In Four Children Will Live With Water Scarcity By 2050

Within two decades, 600 million children will be in regions enduring extreme water stress, with a great deal of competition for the available supply. The poorest and most disadvantaged will suffer most, according to research published by the children’s agency, Unicef, to mark World Water Day on Wednesday. - The Guardian

Five Water Warriors Defending Rights From North Dakota to Chile

Activists and environmentalists lead the struggle to protect water sources across the planet, from the top of the continents of the Americas in Alaska all the way down to Argentina. Often, their activism is dangerous work. Resistance movements against unwanted hydroelectric dam projects, in particular, have seen a violent crackdown, with more than 40 activists killed in recent years in Mexico, Central America and Colombia, according to GeoComunes. - TeleSur

The Business of Wastewater

On this year's World Water Day, the UN has called for much more wastewater to be treated and recycled. The organization also emphasized that wastewater is an "essential component of a circular economy." - Deutsche Welle

Water Wars? Experts Urge Rethink of Our Relationship With Water

The United Nations has already warned that water shortages will hit a record high in 2030, while some experts caution that water — arguably human beings' most valuable resource after air — could become the next commodity over which communities and nations will wage bitter fights, and even start wars. While climate change and global warming are some of the main causes behind deepening water problems, other less discussed factors are also playing a major part in the crisis, with the main issue being mismanagement and extraction of underground water sources. - TeleSur

Farm Policy In Age of Climate Change Creating Another Dust Bowl

Over the past decade, farmers in the Great Southern Plains have suffered the worst drought conditions since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. They've battled heat, dust storms and in recent weeks, fires that devoured more than 900,000 acres and killed thousands of cattle.These extreme conditions are being fueled by climate change. But a new report from an environmental advocacy group says they're also being driven by federal crop insurance policy that encourages farmers to continue planting crops on compromised land, year after year. - InsideClimate News

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How Are Hospitals Trashing the Planet? Ask a MacArthur Genius.

It’s not every day that an environmental activist becomes a leading voice in health care, but that’s what happened to Gary Cohen, a new MacArthur fellow. By looking under the hood of hospitals, he’s discovered a few nasty secrets — and inspired big changes for a community of scientists and practitioners whose healing practices were actually hurting the world around them. -- Washington Post

In 2050 There Will Be 9 Billion People on Earth. How Will We Feed Them?

There are 805 million malnourished people on the planet and the global population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. Climate change could make half the world’s current farmland unsuitable; agriculture, ironically, produces a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We are, argues Bourne, farming ourselves out of food. -- The Guardian

Democrats Compete Over Climate Change

In the past, climate change has barely rated more than a passing mention from candidates of either party. At best, it's been presented as part of a laundry list of issues facing America and the world. But now the Democratic candidates have at long last internalized it as a central part of their platforms, and that came through on Tuesday night. -- The New Republic

A Megacity Without a War: Sao Paulo's Drought

The biggest city in the Western hemisphere is facing its greatest water crisis in over 80 years — and climate change is only part of the problem. -- Time

Toyota Aims to Nearly Eliminate Gasoline Cars By 2050

Toyota, under ambitious environmental targets, is aiming to sell hardly any regular gasoline vehicles by 2050, only hybrids and fuel cells, to radically reduce emissions. -- Associated Press

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Report: Pesticide Exposure Linked to Childhood Cancer, Low IQ

The researchers concluded that children who had been exposed to insecticides indoors were 47% more likely to have leukemia and 43% more likely to have lymphoma. Although leukemia and lymphoma are rare -- leukemia affects about five in 100,000 children in the United States -- they are among the common types of childhood cancers. -- CNN

Court Sparks Debate By Rebuking EPA on Bee-Killing Pesticide

The court in Pollinator Stewardship Council v. EPA ordered the agency to dial back its registration of sulfoxaflor, which is used mostly on cotton in the Mississippi Delta. Sulfoxaflor and other chemicals in the neonicotinoid pesticide class have been implicated in the decline of honeybees and other pollinators. -- Greenwire

25 Fast Food Chains Ranked on Antibiotic Use

The paper, authored by several public interest groups, gave each chain a letter grade based on their use of antibiotics—and their transparency about it. Only two chains got an "A." -- Time

Commentary: Despite Spin, Bad News Keeps Sticking to Teflon

EPA records show that the broken and outdated Toxic Substances Control Act has let DuPont and other companies market alternative non-stick chemicals without ever proving that they’re safe. The limited animal studies that have been done show that the new generation of PFCs may be little safer than the chemicals they’re replacing. -- Environmental Health News

California Drought Leads to Lowest Snow Pack in 500 Years

The study, published the journal Nature Climate Change, concluded that the snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains was only 5 percent of its historic average this past spring.

-- The Hill