[FRIAM] Maude Barlow: The Growing Battle for the Right to Water (fwd)

[Raymond Parks]

Richard Lowenberg wrote:
> I mentioned this reference to Paul Paryski this morning, but mis-stated
> Maude's last name.   Here you are, Paul.   I couldn't find your personal
> email address.
> Richard
> --------
> 
> Maude Barlow: The Growing Battle for the Right to Water
> By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
> Posted on February 14, 2008, Printed on February 19, 2008
> <http://www.alternet.org/story/76819/>
> 
>  From Chile to the Philippines to South Africa to her home country of
> Canada, Maude Barlow is one of a few people who truly understands the
> scope of the world's water woes. Her newest book, Blue Covenant: The
> Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water,
> details her discoveries around the globe about our diminishing water
> resources, the increasing privatization trend and the grassroots
> groups that are fighting back against corporate theft, government
> mismanagement and a changing climate.

   This kind of thing fascinates me as an example of how poorly Sandia 
gets the word out and as an example of how society accepts bad news.

   Mike Hightower and the folks in our Energy Assurance group have been 
predicting water problems for at least thirteen years (that I know 
about).  They've built and run computer models predicting which 
countries will run out and when (including predicting the Southeast US' 
water woes).  For at least the last two years, he's been presenting to 
whoever would listen (including Congress) not only the shortage of water 
but how that interacts with energy production and population.  Yet we 
have a hard time funding this work because no-one seems to want to hear 
about it.

   A non-technical progressive who started writing that water is a 
scarce resource no more than eight years ago writes sensational books 
and gets listened to by at least the progressive community and some of 
the general public.

   It's as if the public doesn't want to hear bad news from scientists 
and engineers but doesn't mind it from those already labeled radical.

-- 
Ray Parks                   rcparks at sandia.gov
Consilient Heuristician     Voice:505-844-4024
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