Here are a couple of good books that I have not yet had the pleasure of reading. So how do I know they're good? Well, I have a friend who knows a guy whose Canadian priest says...
Anyway, they're both on order. Can't wait.
1) Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis by Christiana Z. Peppard.
Theology, ethics, water, water crisis, women, and more! What else could you want in a water book?
Read the prelude.
Here is what her WWW site says:
Just Water is a rigorous, interdisciplinary analysis of the meaning and
significance of fresh water in the twenty-first century. Drawing on hydrology, ecology, economics, theology, religion and science, social theory, and history, Just Water portrays key aspects of the global fresh water crisis and proffers principled, ethical approaches to these complex issues. Ultimately, the book is an invitation to expand global discourse about the value of fresh water—a vital, non-substitutable, planetary substance.
Table of Contents:
1) Theology and Ethics for the New
Millennium
2) A Primer on the Global Fresh Water Crisis
3) Water: Human Right or Economic Commodity?
4) A Right-to-Life Issue for the Twenty-First Century
5) The Agriculture/Water Nexus
6) The Jordan River
7) Climate Change and Water in the Anthropocene
8) Water from Rock: Hydraulic Fracturing
9) Women, Wells, and Living Water
Coda: Lessons in Liquidity
This looks to be an extraordinary treatise. My colleague Aaron Wolf is using it for an upcoming course and I am planning to do the same.
It is nice to see more focus on water ethics and related issues instead SOS on water as an economic good, commodity, blah, blah...,etc. The latter view is nescessary and has merit, but it's time to broaden the discourse.
2) Canada's Groundwater Resources by Alfonso Rivera
Alfonso is a friend, hydrogeologist extraordinaire, and the chief hydrogeologist of the Geological Survey of Canada. This will be an extremely useful book for Canadian hydrogeologists and like-minded individuals.
Here is a flyer: Download Canada Groundwater Resources
From the book's WWW site:
Groundwater is essential for life in arid and semiarid regions. It is also important in humid regions, and is one of the fundamental requirements for maintenance of natural landscapes and aquatic ecosystems. Many of Canada’s most sensitive ecosystems are dependent on groundwater. Yet, groundwater remains a relatively unknown resource, one which is difficult for Canadian public and for decision makers to recognize and/or understand.
Most fresh water—other than that frozen in glaciers—is found underground. In fact, all of Earth’s water found in lakes and rivers (surface water) accounts for only a tiny fraction of the world’s available freshwater resources (less than one percent). Ninety-nine percent of the Earth’s freshwater supply is groundwater found in aquifers. These numbers are for the world as a total entity. Here in Canada, we do not know the ratio between available surface freshwater resource (all rivers and lakes), and groundwater in aquifers, although we believe there is more groundwater than surface water, as with the rest of the world. Should this hypothesis be confirmed, the consequences would be enormous, making groundwater a strategic resource in coping with climate change, droughts, and pollution.
Enjoy both; I'm sure I will.
"It's time to think well about water." - Christiana Z. Peppard
Well, then, you'll be pleased with my new book, as it punts (firmly) those social/ethical issues into Part II. Part I is the SOS that no politicians or water managers seem to be able to grasp. Win win.
Posted by: Account Deleted | Friday, 31 January 2014 at 05:16 PM