Global Thirst: Water and Society in the 21st Century

by John R. Wennersten

Overview

In an age of misinformation and public apprehension about climate change, droughts, floods, and polluted drinking water, Global Thirst offers a critical perspective on water, its uses, and access, as a major global issue in the 21st century. Environmental historian John R. Wennersten turns an unflinching eye on today's global water problems, critically analyzing pollution, drought, dying rivers, and the privatization of water utilities. He also offers commentary on what kinds of sustainable water options we should be pursuing in the 21st century. Wennersten's analysis of water ranges from Nigeria to India and China to Australia and the United States–it goes a long way towards correcting the popular notion that "there will always be water." This is an ideal treatise for professionals working in government, the environment, international affairs, and public policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764339738
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	04/16/2012
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John R. Wennersten is Emeritus Professor of environmental history at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. He is the author of Chesapeake Bay: An Environmental Biography and Anacostia the Death and Birth of an American River. His work The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay won the Maryland Writer's Prize.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 4

Introduction: The Cruel Arithmetic of Water 8

Chapter 1 Cool Clear Water 19

Chapter 2 Water and Global Conflict 39

Chapter 3 America: Polluted and Parched 57

Chapter 4 India's Make or Break Water Issue 79

Chapter 5 Sanitation, Splendor, & Squalor 97

Chapter 6 Big Water and Privatization 115

Chapter 7 Droughts and Dying Rivers 131

Chapter 8 The Three-Degree Difference 151

Chapter 9 Black Swans & Other Water Scenarios 163

Chapter 10 Global Thirst 181

Endnotes 185

Index 191