This remains a very real concern, with much of the world suffering from increasing water scarcity, land erosion, drought intensity, stalled progress on crop productivity, declining groundwater aquifers, over-grazing of pasturelands, tropical deforestation, massive species extinction, over-fishing, and anthropogenic climate-change.

ECONOMIST: Phoenix flying high

Mr. KAISER: Well, Ike is moved off-shore of south of Cuba, into the Caribbean, and back over water which means perhaps a little bit of intensity increase as it again joins that source of energy over those warm waters.

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Rebecca Mark, the head of Azurix, an offshoot of Enron, an energy company, believes that the increased variability in temperatures, the rising intensity of storms and especially falling water levels across the country are prompting Americans to press their politicians to reform water subsidies.

ECONOMIST: Water

This works by injecting water into a reaction chamber, where it achieves plasma state through a high-intensity electrical field.

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