Water is such a basic human need that it takes real ingenuity to find new ways to control, retrieve, and share this critical resource. We meet some of the wizards of water—the engineers who are helping communities handle acute water challenges and plan for the future. Click on the link below to listen to the individual segments, which are now airing on public radio stations across the United States, and check this page frequently to see if and when a show will air on a public radio station in your area.

Contamination of China's fresh water resources from industrial pollution and inadequate sewage treatment is seen by Chinese residents as the nation's most critical environmental priority, according to a new public opinion survey. The survey by Circle of Blue, an American multi-media news and science organization, and GlobeScan, a global public opinion polling firm, also found that people are hungry for more information.

The year 2008 was the best yet for renewables. Even though the global economic downturn affected renewables in many ways starting in late 2008, the year was still one to remember. As Table 1, on page 22, shows, in just one year, the capacity of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) plants (larger than 200 kW) tripled to 3 GW. All forms of grid-tied solar PV grew by 70%. Wind power grew by 29% and solar hot water increased by 15%. Annual ethanol and biodiesel production both expanded by 34%.

Scientists, led by Professor Martin Parry, the former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are set to warn that the UN negotiations aimed at combating climate change are based on unachievable low costs. The real costs are likely to be 2-3 times greater than estimates set out by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, according to a new report published by the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London.