On Tuesday April 5, 2011, Maude Barlow came to Hendrick’s Chapel to present “The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.” Ms. Barlow is an environmental activist and is considered to be one of the world’s leaders on the water crisis. Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is also an executive member of the San Francisco-based International Forum on Globalization Ms. Barlow has received eight honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award, the Citation of Lifetime Achievement, and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award. She is also the author or co-author of 16 books, including the international best seller Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water. During her presentation Ms. Barlow discusses many issues dealing with the water crisis. She was very informative in explaining how there is no one to blame for the water crisis, but instead everyone is to blame. She described how in the United States there is a mass usage of water, especially in large cities such as Chicago, Miami, New York, and Las Vegas. This over usage of water is causing extreme desertification of many places in the South-West Region. She explained how Mexico City’s over usage of water for plant irrigation is causing the water tables of the city to shrink, inevitably causing Mexico City to sink. Ms. Barlow did a great job at demonstrating how although the majority of the water usage is caused by developed nations, many developing agricultural nations are to blame as well. She discussed how irrigation processes in undeveloped nations usually waste a lot of water and are not very efficient. She also discussed how many developing countries waters are polluted either from big industry or from runoff from agriculture. Ms. Barlow’s speech was very intriguing because she offered some of her ideas on how to “fix” this issue. First, she explained on how we need to increase awareness of the problem and make it a high priority. Right now, climate change has been the top priority in environmental legislature; however, the water crisis may be corresponding to some of the global warming issues being caused. Secondly, she said that developed nations must accept a lower usage of water and this should be enforced through governments. She went on to say that it is our responsibilities to help developing nations create the technology to use water more efficiently. I found that Ms. Barlow’s speech was very informative and opened my eyes to a crisis I never knew existed. Most people turn of faucets and assume clean water will just come out; however, if we do not fix the water crisis this luxury may not occur in the future.
To check out and take action in the water crisis today check out http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/
