Water Consciousness (Paperback)

~ Tara Lohan (Editor)
Key Phrases: watershed council, water sovereignty, water democracy, United States, New Mexico, Las Vegas (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Water Consciousness is designed to change the way people think about water. It explores all aspects of the water crisis and what we can do about it. Compelling contributions by Bill McKibben, Maude Barlow, Vandana Shiva, Wenonah Hauter, Sandra Postel, Tony Clarke and other top environmental writers explain the problems and inspire readers to action. The book contains over 50 stunning photographs and a quiz to find out your own water footprint. Beautifully designed to be accessible to readers, it provides essays on privatization, bottled water, conservation, appropriate technology, lessons from indigenous cultures, and an argument for the need for new public policy on the right to water.

About the Author

Tara Lohan has written extensively about water and other environmental issues. She is a senior editor at AlterNet and also edits all their environmental coverage, including a special section on water. She has worked as a writer, editor and organizer on environmental and social justice issues for ten years. She has a master's degree in literary nonfiction from the University of Oregon and bachelor's degree in English and Environmental Studies from Middlebury College.

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Product Details Paperback: 200 pages Publisher: AlterNet Books (September 1, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 0975272446 ISBN-13: 978-0975272442 Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8 x 0.6 inches Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #110,033 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in these categories: (What's this?) #15 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Conservation > Water #16 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Natural Resources > Water Supply & Land Use #91 in  Books > Science > Nature & Ecology > Natural Resources

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
watershed council, water sovereignty, water democracy, water neutrality, acequia system, water footprint, global water crisis, healthy watersheds, neutral design, bottled water industry, soft path, water privatization

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New Mexico, Las Vegas, World Bank, New York, San Francisco, American Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, Middle East, Southern California, Mayor Podesto, United Nations, North America, Peter Arnold Inc, South Africa, Colorado River, General Comment Number, Living Machine, Robert Dawson Page, King Sagar, Water Short World, Tony Clarke, San Diego, Dale Allen, Jacques Leslie

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	79% buy the item featured on this page: Water Consciousness 4.7 out of 5 stars (3) $14.96
	3% buy Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It 4.6 out of 5 stars (8) $18.45
	2% buy Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water 4.3 out of 5 stars (6) $11.53

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book on the most important crisis we face (or aren't facing), September 16, 2008 By  Jesse Kornbluth "Head Butler" (New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    In the middle of September of 2008, as the Senate of the United States was pondering an energy bill, all 100 Senators were invited to speak at a Bipartisan Energy Summit. With a national election less than two months away, you may imagine the posturing. But you might not have anticipated this minute-long question. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator from Rhode Island: WHITEHOUSE: Gentlemen, we're in the middle of a near total mortgage system meltdown in this country. We have a health care system that burns 16 percent of our GDP, in which the Medicare liability alone has been estimated at $34 trillion. We're burning $10 billion a month in Iraq. This administration has run up $7.7 trillion in national debt, by our calculation. And there is worsening evidence every day of global warming, with worsening environmental and national security and economic ramifications. In light of those conditions, do any of you seriously contend that drilling for more oil is the number one issue facing the American people today? (Long silent pause during which nobody answers.) WHITEHOUSE: No, it doesn't seem so. I watched this remarkable moment as I was reading 'Water Consciousness', a book about a crisis that just possibly muscles oil --- and everything else --- aside as the biggest threat to life as we know it. News to you? It certainly would be to our nation's leaders. But consider some facts: -- Right now, 1.3 billion people have no access to clean water and 2.5 billion lack adequate sewage or sanitation. The demand for water doubles every 20 years. At this rate, demand for fresh water will outpace supply by 50% --- in less than 20 years. -- Yes, the earth is mostly water, but 97% of the earth's water is salty. All freshwater-dependent life shares 1% of the earth's water. -- 70% of the water in America we use goes to agriculture. --- That third-of-a-pound burger? It takes 600 gallons of water to grow the corn that feeds the cow that produces just that third of a pound of meat. -- To sustain life, we each need 13 gallons of water a day. In the United States, we each use about 150 gallons. -- Three out of four Americans drink bottled water. One out of five Americans drinks only bottled water. -- National Climate Data Center officials say that 43% of the United States is in "moderate to extreme drought." -- More than 50% of the water that American households use goes for lawns, gardens and pools. In short, we are wasting a resource we can't live without. We are in crisis. And we have not declared any level of emergency. This is not to say we're lost. Smart, serious essays by experienced professionals explain the problem and present some savvy solutions. If you're better read than this water user, perhaps you already know about the importance of watersheds and acequias (communal irrigation systems) and cisterns that collect rainwater --- but let me confess, I read with a pen in hand, and marked a lot. You may not like Big Government; you need to know the argument for a federal trust fund for water. And in these pages you can learn what you, as an individual, can do. Calculate your water footprint. Rethink that lawn. Get a front-loading washing machine. Stop buying gourmet water; purify tap water at home and carry it around in non-toxic bottles. A Goldman Sachs analyst predicts that the "water business could become the oil business of the decade from 2020 to 2030." Whatever your politics, you really don't want that to happen. So either read two hundred pages of this picture-and-text book or start looking for a second home that has its own water supply. Because you don't want to be sitting on the sidelines, thirsty, as a Senator desperately tries to talk sense to his/her colleagues in 2025. 4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Water Neutral, November 18, 2008 By  John E. Lohan (Taos, New Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Kudos to the authors and editor of Water Consciousness. I found this book gave a wide angle view of the world water situation and an equally diverse and expansive set of solutions. As an artist,living in the arid Southwest,I was intrigued by the chapter on water neutrality and green design. The example of a law office in Florida that has incorprated a "Living Machine" into it's architecture seemed especially exciting to me. That they were able to cut their water use by 60% and do so through a 2 story waterfall and plant-filled atrium seemed to me to be the most elegant of solutions. 3 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Accessible, February 26, 2009 By  zenknit (NH) - See all my reviews This book consists of a number of essays on water in a variety of situations around the world. There was not as much science as I would have liked in most of the essays, but they were definitely accessible and understandable for the lay reader on the important issues currently facing us in our use and management of water. Presents water issues as a problem in their own right and in the context of global warming and human health. I believe the title could have been better, it sounds a little new agey, but I think they were referring to the fact that we tend to take water for granted and increased water awareness is needed.		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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: AlterNet Books (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975272446
• ISBN-13: 978-0975272442
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #110,033 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #15 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Conservation > Water
  #16 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Natural Resources > Water Supply & Land Use
  #91 in	Books > Science > Nature & Ecology > Natural Resources

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book on the most important crisis we face (or aren't facing), September 16, 2008

By	Jesse Kornbluth "Head Butler" (New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the middle of September of 2008, as the Senate of the United States was pondering an energy bill, all 100 Senators were invited to speak at a Bipartisan Energy Summit. With a national election less than two months away, you may imagine the posturing. But you might not have anticipated this minute-long question.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator from Rhode Island:

WHITEHOUSE: Gentlemen, we're in the middle of a near total mortgage system meltdown in this country. We have a health care system that burns 16 percent of our GDP, in which the Medicare liability alone has been estimated at $34 trillion. We're burning $10 billion a month in Iraq.

This administration has run up $7.7 trillion in national debt, by our calculation. And there is worsening evidence every day of global warming, with worsening environmental and national security and economic ramifications. In light of those conditions, do any of you seriously contend that drilling for more oil is the number one issue facing the American people today?

(Long silent pause during which nobody answers.)

WHITEHOUSE: No, it doesn't seem so.

I watched this remarkable moment as I was reading 'Water Consciousness', a book about a crisis that just possibly muscles oil --- and everything else --- aside as the biggest threat to life as we know it. News to you? It certainly would be to our nation's leaders. But consider some facts:

-- Right now, 1.3 billion people have no access to clean water and 2.5 billion lack adequate sewage or sanitation. The demand for water doubles every 20 years. At this rate, demand for fresh water will outpace supply by 50% --- in less than 20 years.

-- Yes, the earth is mostly water, but 97% of the earth's water is salty. All freshwater-dependent life shares 1% of the earth's water.

-- 70% of the water in America we use goes to agriculture.

--- That third-of-a-pound burger? It takes 600 gallons of water to grow the corn that feeds the cow that produces just that third of a pound of meat.

-- To sustain life, we each need 13 gallons of water a day. In the United States, we each use about 150 gallons.

-- Three out of four Americans drink bottled water. One out of five Americans drinks only bottled water.

-- National Climate Data Center officials say that 43% of the United States is in "moderate to extreme drought."

-- More than 50% of the water that American households use goes for lawns, gardens and pools.

In short, we are wasting a resource we can't live without. We are in crisis. And we have not declared any level of emergency.

This is not to say we're lost. Smart, serious essays by experienced professionals explain the problem and present some savvy solutions. If you're better read than this water user, perhaps you already know about the importance of watersheds and acequias (communal irrigation systems) and cisterns that collect rainwater --- but let me confess, I read with a pen in hand, and marked a lot. You may not like Big Government; you need to know the argument for a federal trust fund for water.

And in these pages you can learn what you, as an individual, can do. Calculate your water footprint. Rethink that lawn. Get a front-loading washing machine. Stop buying gourmet water; purify tap water at home and carry it around in non-toxic bottles.

A Goldman Sachs analyst predicts that the "water business could become the oil business of the decade from 2020 to 2030." Whatever your politics, you really don't want that to happen. So either read two hundred pages of this picture-and-text book or start looking for a second home that has its own water supply. Because you don't want to be sitting on the sidelines, thirsty, as a Senator desperately tries to talk sense to his/her colleagues in 2025.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Water Neutral, November 18, 2008

By	John E. Lohan (Taos, New Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kudos to the authors and editor of Water Consciousness. I found this book gave a wide angle view of the world water situation and an equally diverse and expansive set of solutions. As an artist,living in the arid Southwest,I was intrigued by the chapter on water neutrality and green design. The example of a law office in Florida that has incorprated a "Living Machine" into it's architecture seemed especially exciting to me. That they were able to cut their water use by 60% and do so through a 2 story waterfall and plant-filled atrium seemed to me to be the most elegant of solutions.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Accessible, February 26, 2009

By	zenknit (NH) - See all my reviews

This book consists of a number of essays on water in a variety of situations around the world. There was not as much science as I would have liked in most of the essays, but they were definitely accessible and understandable for the lay reader on the important issues currently facing us in our use and management of water. Presents water issues as a problem in their own right and in the context of global warming and human health. I believe the title could have been better, it sounds a little new agey, but I think they were referring to the fact that we tend to take water for granted and increased water awareness is needed.