4 Recommended Books About Water Insecurity

Posted by ASHLEY
Published on Sat, Nov 10 2012




Have you've just found out about water scarcity and feeling overwhelmed, shocked, and hopeless? Yet are you still hunger for knowledge, but don't know where to start? Then pick up these 4 books I recommend for learning more about water insecurity.

No particular order, but my diverse selection offers photography that captures the effects of water scarcity, organizations and individuals campaigning for water, and statistics on the amount of water we use. If you're well versed in this issue I hope these suggestions supplement your understanding.

1.World Changing: A User's Guide for the 21st Century 

There are two editions of book, one produced in 2008 and the other in 2011. Both editions are comprehensive in covering environmental challenges faced by communities, cities, and businesses. In the first edition flip to page 186 for facts on water usage and page 286 on the water conditions of slums. Also the books are part of a online network that wants to improve the living standards of 5 billion people through sustainable, innovative design. Check out this post on the World Wildlife Federation's 2010 Living Planet Report that studied humanity's demand on natural resources.

2. Climate Refugees by Collectif Argos
The Collectif Argos consists of 10 photographers, journalists, and writers who document on the changes happening in our world. In Climate Refugees they document with captivating photography and thoughtful reporting the people who are uprooted by flooding and desertification or the depletion of plant life and loss of top soil in a once fertile area. I recommend the "Bangladesh: Sundarbans, the great overflow" chapter since it shows the effect of flooding and rising sea level, soil salination or the increase of salts in the soil, and lack of fresh water on humanity.

3. Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit by Vandana Shiva 
Vandana Shiva is a scientist and environmentalist who has written several books on corporate globalization's consequences on food supply, water, and women. In Water Wars she explores how  corporations are privatizing water and shrinking the communal right to water. In this interview on the Voices of the Sacred Feminine podcast at 8:33 she recalls how in 2004 a group of women in India shut down a Coke Cola plant that was mining and polluting local water.

4. Waterkeeper Alliance Magazine
Ok, this isn't a book, but this magazine chronicles the current water campaigns of the Waterkeeper Alliance. Waterkeepers are the guys who are fighting for your right to clean water. On the blog I've followed their trial against Perdue and a Berlin, Maryland farm for allegedly polluting a ditch that leds to the Chesapeake Bay. The lastest issue celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act which is a law that prohibits any discharge of pollutants without a permit and allows citizens to have the right to enforce this as private Attorney Generals. Organizations cite that legislation often when suing corporations for polluting bodies of water.

Now that you're armed with knowledge, join the fight for clean water for all. For those learned in this topic, which books do you recommend for learning about water insecurity? Leave a comment below or tweet your response to @watertruckmica.