The Value of Water: Soundings from Island Press: Robert Glennon, Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It
We’re running out of water. The water we depend on every day for a cold drink, to bathe, to water our lawns, to grow our food, operate our factories, and even flush our toilets is running out. In his new book, Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It, Robert Glennon captures the irony – and tragedy – of America’s water crisis that is both frightening and wickedly comical.
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Nov 18, 2010 from 07:30 pm to 09:00 pm |
| Where | Town Hall Seattle, Lower Level, 1119 Eighth Avenue |
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We’re running out of water.
The water we depend on every day for a cold drink, to bathe, to water our lawns, to grow our food, operate our factories, and even flush our toilets is running out. In his new book, Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It, Robert Glennon captures the irony – and tragedy – of America’s water crisis that is both frightening and wickedly comical. From the Vegas Strip to faux snow in Atlanta, from our supersized bathrooms to mega-farms, from billion-dollar water deals to big time politics and personalities, Glennon reveals the extravagances and everyday waste that are sucking the nation dry. The clean energy of ethanol and biofuels will soon turn to heartbreak once America realizes that thousands of gallons of water are required to produce just one gallon of fuel. Glennon tells how a celebrated, new ethanol plant in Minnesota—The Land of 10,000 Lakes!—is already sucking local wells dry. Glennon argues that we cannot engineer our way out of the problem with the usual fixes or zany ideas—but with very real, and difficult choices—and Glennon’s answer is a provocative market-based system that values water as a commodity and a fundamental human right.
Interviewed on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, Robert Glennon is the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy in the Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. He is the author of many articles and books, including the acclaimed Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters.
Robert Glennon’s lecture is part of the Soundings from Island Press Environmental Thought Leaders Lecture series presented by Island Press through the Town Hall Center for Civic Life. This series is produced in association with IslandWood and Elliott Bay Book Company.
Tickets are $5 at Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006, or at the door. Visit www.islandpress.org for more information.
Island Press is a trusted source of environmental information and solutions that inspire change. We publish the best new ideas about how to manage and protect our world’s natural resources and distribute those ideas to help people make a positive difference in the world.
