Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3829250 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-06
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Synopsis
Attempts to show how important is the world's fresh water supply, and how vulnerable. Addresses Australia, Africa, England and the US.

Customer Reviews

A Simple Look at the Issues Concerning Better Use of Water
Television by its nature usually focuses on a low education level and works fast, before interest fades. Translated into a book, that means all the facts are there . . . but in highly summarized form.

If you follow water at all, you know that we have a severe shortage of clean water in many of the most populous parts of the world. Rapid growth in population means that the pressure is increasing, and that we have to put more effort and innovation into solutions. The ways we use water can stand some reforming along the way. In other areas, too much water causes horrible problems related to floods. Our past conservation efforts have often been misguided and caused new problems.

The book does a nice job of briefly alluding to the most common issues -- people in water-rich areas treating water wastefully, the lack of capabilities to clean up rivers that millions use like the Ganges, and the tremendous problems of desert areas. You also will find a section on the most important part of the rain forest in Ecuador, which is the home of the most biodiverse jungle population on the planet (because it was spared in the last Ice Age).

Some of the technologies are very interesting because they mimic nature (dew nets), the practices of aboriginal ancestors (for farming), and common sense (reuse water where there is no downside). Advanced technologies are also described.

I have not seen the show, but the appearance of worldwide celebrities in the book will certainly help make the message more meaningful to teenagers and young adults. It was nice these people made themselves available for the program.

Mikhail Gorbachev's foreword is brief, but nicely summarizes where we are. "Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people." "But we stand today on the brink of a global water crisis." In thinking about this he urges us to see that "access to clean water is a universal human right . . . ." He also calls us to action, "Just as we are moved by water, we must now move in order to save it." His comments about the geo-political effects of water were sobering, that no nation can have security without an adequate supply of pure water for all of its inhabitants.

The book has many beautiful photographs, but almost all of them are reproduced in very small sizes that diminish the enjoyment and benefit you can gain from them.

Rather than making the book as a simple companion to the television show (which I have not yet seen), it would have been better to have made this more seamlessly into a book. Now, it seems to "jump" from one sound bite and quick pan to the next in a scrapbook-like way.

I think this book would make an excellent gift to a young person who has not yet had much chance to travel and learn about global water issues.

What can you do to make more appropriate use of water in your life, household, community, and nation?

May you always have all the clean water that good health requires!