Water!

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on March 2, 2008 at 6:39pm

Hi Melissa Moon Goddess!
Just finished reading, Fight Global Warming Now by Bill McKibben and The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers & Thomas Kostigen. I did not hear of Maude Barlow's book but I'll look it up. Thanks for bringing facts to the forum. I find it sad that there isn't enough water in other countries & that children are dying because of tainted, polluted water when here in America people use water excessively, to water their lawns or wash their cars. I've been trying to be more conscious of everything I use, or, dispose of! 8.8 billion bottles of water adds alot to our landfills which isn't good.

Your class sounds terrific. Making others aware and conscious of our earth will help them make changes we need to fight global warming.

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Permalink Reply by Denise on March 2, 2008 at 6:50pm

Hi Melissa Moon Goddess,

I regret I didn't hear Maude Barlow either - but I have heard 'water is the next oil' in recognizing the demand and limited availability (by the means we have known till now.) Homes and gardens will increasingly move towards 'catchment' systems. I was very encouraged by a DVD series by Bill Mollison called _The Global Gardener_ - because through catchment and permaculture techniques, food and water are far more accessible to villages and communities. I don't know where you are located, but it's very interesting to visit The Greater Earthship Community and see how homes are built that effectively interface with nature.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MoonGoddess on March 2, 2008 at 8:00pm

If anyone wants to hear Maude Barlow's talk, you can go to the Democracy Now website, download the whole show (about 27MB) in MP3 format, or stream the show in audio or video format. You may be able to find her earlier book, Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water, (c) 2002, The New Press, at your local library.

In terms of other resources, I can't highly enough recommend Alice Outwater's book Water, A Natural History (c) 1996, Basic Books, ISBN 0465037798. It came out twelve years ago, but it is the most readable AND comprehensive historical look at how surface water (i.e. wetlands, streams and rivers) came to be the way they are today. You will be amazed! I will be teaching heavily from this book in my upcoming class.

Oh, and in terms of facts: The average N. American uses fresh water resources equal to 100 gallons/day. The average person in the developing world: two.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on March 2, 2008 at 10:10pm

Melissa Moon Goddess,
Just finished reading Maude Barlow's interview on Democracy Now. Wow, Dow Chemical is a major player in this. Not surprising. What really is unbelievable is that China is searching for water and has destroyed its water table and they’ve diverted their water from watersheds and are planning on building a great big pipeline up to the Tibetan Himalayas and take the water that belongs to the rivers that feed all of Asia. This is an eye opener. Can't wait to see the film: Flow: For Love of Water. It hasn't reached California, yet.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/27/maude_barlow_on_the_global_mo...

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MoonGoddess on March 3, 2008 at 11:31am

Yes, China is courting a massive eco-disaster with their water diversions and depletion of their paleo-water AND water table resources.

And if you're up for a suspense eco-thriller novel that's not too far off from the water reality we face, there's Water Inc. by Varda Burstyn, (c) 2005 by Verso, ISBN 1859845967. I read it in a few days. It starts slow but then grabs you by the throat, and you can't put it down. The book, to put it simply, is about corporate greed, their venality, and the plan for a massive diversion of water resources from Quebec to a parched, drying and dying, globally heated southwestern United States.

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Permalink Reply by NaTasha Shastan Bertrand on August 16, 2008 at 2:20am

The eco-disaster will not just be China's. Check out the watershed map. Most of Asia Major is downstream:

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/world/china-tibet-and-the-str...

“At least 500 million people in Asia and 250 million people in China are at risk from declining glacial flows on the Tibetan Plateau,” said Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, in an interview with Circle of Blue. “This is one of the great concerns – a staggering number of people will be affected in the near future. There aren’t too many researchers who have looked at this water situation and its far-reaching impacts.”

Scary.
NSB

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Permalink Reply by NaTasha Shastan Bertrand on August 16, 2008 at 2:10am

Thanks for the link, Brenda!

So how can we convince the Chinese to change their ways? The Chinese gov't seems to have no respect for even their own citizens. South Africa, Cuba, etc prove that trade sanctions don't work. For years I've woken from dreams and had to go through the realization that we live in a world/time when India is not at war with China. I fear that if China continues with this pattern of behaviour, this war will be the result.

NSB

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Permalink Reply by NaTasha Shastan Bertrand on August 16, 2008 at 1:55am

Hi Melissa,
thank-you for this discussion.

I am reading Outwater's book, now. I completely agree with you. I live in the French Alps, and safe water here is usually plentiful, and there are efforts to improve it. I have come across a number of imitation beaver dams forming ponds and meadows. As I've been here only 18 months, I have had little time to explore the intent behind this. After reading Outwater's explanation of what beavers do in the environment, even if the intent was "only" to add visual interest or to provide a fishing pond, the effect is environmentally beneficial.

I will look for Barlow's talk, and book, thank-you.

How is your class going?

Water is the first medicine.
Blessings,
NaTasha

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Permalink Reply by Julie on March 3, 2008 at 10:55am

i heard her on the radio--very powerful.

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Permalink Reply by Afriendof B on March 10, 2008 at 5:29am

Thought I would share a blog I've been following. It covers the installation of a rain catchment system to replace the failing well that had provided water for the home. This is not theory, it's real people trying to solve the water issue for themselves. The rain catchment posts are a great read if you are interested. (the other stuff is pretty good too.) http://selfsufficientsteward.com/

We all need to start exploring ways to use less water and to make better use of the the water available to us as "waste".

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Permalink Reply by Denise on March 10, 2008 at 7:42am

Yes, the Greater Earthship Community uses water three times before it is 'waste'. It goes from the roof to cisterns, to the sinks with purification for drinking, all laundry, dish water, bath water, etc. goes into deep indoor planters to be purified for the toilet - and to be used to water indoor banana trees, tomatoes, or whatever else is growing in the greenhouse area, then the toilet 'black water' goes out to the outdoor gardens. You can check their system on http://earthshipbiotecture.com These homes interface with natural like no other. I hope to move to NM for that reason. They can be financed without design compromises because the institutions understand the concept. They've been around for 30 years and continue to improve every generation.

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Permalink Reply by NaTasha Shastan Bertrand on August 16, 2008 at 2:28am

Thanks for this Denise,
I did not know about them. The book "Water from the sky," in their books section, looks good, too.

Blessings,
NSB

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