The Corporate Threat to Water and the Water Justice Movement's Fight to Protect it

*DUH*

if you don't have a POPULIST government that represents THE PEOPLE WHO DEFINE A GOVERNMENT...

how exactly would you suggest protecting PEOPLE's RESOURCE?


... think about that... think really hard. you might realize that the issue is ABOUT CORPORATE POWER & believing its the ONLY power.

if YOU don't participate in your government or a political party platform... don't presume that it doesn't exist...

its simply means you're not participating in the first requirement of democracy.


BEING AWARE of the POWER OF THE PEOPLE & making it WORK FOR THE PEOPLE.


~~~
Spread Love...

BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
~~~
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
~~~
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Think of privatizing air.
The new private wind mill farms are charging us for the energy the wind provides freely. Windmills can be paid for and maintained within minimum number of years of their construction. There is no justification for endless private profits.

Think of privatizing water.
We are being charged for the very liquid on which all life depends.

The earth (resources) should be managed for the greater good of all. All life, not only human life.

Would you try and charge a bear, a cat, a dog, an elephant or a deer for the water it needs to survive?

Humans, wake up... we all need absolute necessities to be cared for and preserved and restored for all life and the planet to survive.

We must stop the few excessively rich from stealing our resources to benefit only their greedy unjust appetites.

Our very survival depends on it. The survival of all life on this planet depends on it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The only way the issue is going to be resolved is to put a prize on free water.

If corporations purchase water plants they should pay a fair market prize. Also there should be a tax on water used so that teh costs of water recycling was built into the prize you pay for water. And an additional tax put in on bottled water.

These taxes would be enough to pay for water recycling and restricting the use of bottled water.

To socialise or nationalise water is not teh solution. Unfortunately the Global Warming issue as well as the water shortage issue is to reintroduce a failed economic system through teh back door, socialism and communism. They have not worked in teh past and of course they will not work in the future, they are nice philosophies and excellent when used as analytical instruments but never to be practices since they do not work. There is no country on earth that has successfully used either socialism or communism. The only system that gives both freedom, prosperity as well as social welfare is regulated market economy in an liberal democracy.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

one of the biggest irritations i have with the misuse of potable water is using it to flush toilets. there is absolutely no need to use water to remove human waste. affordable technology exists and is used in remote locations that use composting toilets or incinerating toilets to reclaim waste in a usable form or create ash. we literally poop in our own water dishes. it's insane.

in europe, there are toilets that conserve water by having two types of flushes. less water is in the holding tank,while none is in the toilet itself. rather than using a vortex system to flush waste, a force system is used. one button on the toilet releases a small amount of water to push water waste out, another button using slightly more water and more force, removes solid waste. sure, you may have to clean your toilet sometimes after use, but so what? not a perfect solution to using a precious commodity, but much better than the vortex toilets we use in this country that cost the same as their european counter parts. composting toilets and incinerating toilets are available in this country already for about the same cost as a good vortex toilet system. the european toilets are not. the fact that neither are used here in anything other than the most rural outback is criminal waste of water resources in this country. to use any of these systems is a start to conservation of our potable water supplies.

desalinization is not an answer to our problems, either. desal has its own set of specific problems, as residents of key west, florida can readily attest to. also, desal gives us the impression that our water supply is infinite, when in fact, it is not.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The NILE doesn't reach its end? What kind of idiocy is this? Get the facts together.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

So how do you write an article about the conservation of drinking water, and fail to talk about the Great Lakes compact? Here is a serious policy driven by local, state, federal & bilateral actors in the states & Canadian provinces bordering the lakes, a policy that has been years in the creation, that strictly regulates access to the water with the goal of conservation, which does have implications for the water business, and which will set not only a national but international model for water policy - and there is not even a mention of it.

How can you expect people to get informed when the big issue isn't even addressed?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

...then start supporting the efforts of people working to keep Nestle from taking over the headwaters of Mount Shasta.

RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE
www.redishasta.com

"Rich in natural resources, sparsely populated, rural areas often lack capacity to ensure proper stewardship of common resources. REDI Shasta engages people in market and policy solutions to protect our endowment of water and forests, in perpetuity.

Visit www.protectourwaters.org to learn more about our current efforts to secure pristine Mount Shasta spring water from continued private exploits of the water-bottling industry.

Green business, participatory democracy and renewable energy will generate thriving economies of the new millennium. Working together, industry, government, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, spiritual leaders and youth forge mutually beneficial strategies for resource stewardship and community revitalization."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Most public services including Water, Gas, Electricity and Telecoms were privatised in the UK about 20 years ago. Whilst I was against the privatisation of water in principle, the reality is that water supplies have improved and so has the environmental quality of both land water and sea water.

Most rivers in the UK are now clean enough to swim in safely for the first time in over 100 years.

Whilst some of this improvement is due to de-industrialisation - most of it is due to effective regulation of the privatised companies.

Some services especially Telecoms have improved dramaticaly as a result of privatisation and competition.

The idea that public services should always be run by governments for the common good simply doesn't work in practice.

Some of the most obscene environmetal destruction has happenned under Government control - check out what the communists did to the Aral Sea.

The idea that profit is always intrinsically evil just doesn't stack up. Capitalism can work OK providing there is effective regulation.

At the end of the day money is a tool to motivate people to do useful work. Sure I am well aware of the evils and excesses of capitalism - but that has occurred in situations where there is no effective regulation whatsoever.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Water Privatisation Has Worked Reasonably Well in The UK

who is this guy?? a shill.. they privatize to gouge people in a captive market... the water system is already in place only requiring maintenance and they are looking to steal the public commons and tighten their corporate death bite.. pay us or die...people like this need to be machine gunned. Say goodbye to egalitarianism say hello to corporate rape, miseryand death

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

in some parts of the World - well at least on a small scale.

And if it works on a small scale in some of the poorest, hottest parts of the planet - where there is virtually no source of clean fresh water - then it may actually have some real potential and can be further developed and scaled up.

Whilst I am convinced that solar power is not a viable solution for most of the World's energy needs, a few hours spent searching the internet to find what has already been achieved in places like Botswana is very encouraging.

Of course the real problem is that most people in the West with all the money, power and technology really don't care at all about the welfare of the poorest people on the planet - unless we can steal their resources from them and turn them into our slaves.

And the real issue is always dodged due to religious and other silly reasons concerning sex - which is overpopulation - but that problem can also be solved in a nice way gracefully - if we did but try.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

...by the absolutely enormous Global Warming movement trying and succeeding in achieving political change - and gaining enormous sums of money - to persue projects which from the most basic scientific analysis never stand a hope in hell of ever actually working...

When they could actually be getting their hands dirty by building clean water and sewage systems in parts of the world where there is none.

The hypocrisy is as astonishing as anything expressed by any religion.

The Climate changes. Get used to it. It always has and always will. There is nothing we can do to to stop climate change - but there is a lot we can do to adjust ourselves to it.

And make the planet a nice place for all of us to live in.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'm betting with myself: will any expert, will Amy Goodman, point out that we would have plenty of water if we manage to have only one child per family untill population goes back down to around 2-3 billions, then maintain that level?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

What about grey water systems for every home? Reuse water for gardens or washing laundry, etc.

Every home should have solar power as well so that we don't need these huge dams to stop up the natural flow of water.

Water is the life blood, not only for humans but all life in the biosphere and the planet itself.

The issue is much deeper than human water supply.

Healthy water not dead water... google 'Flow Forms'.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It's interesting to note some posters talking about the UK and claiming that some privatization has worked there. I think you will find the countries with the most amount of "socialism," be they the Western European democracies or Australia, can sometimes experiment a little bit with "privatization" and, at least for a little while, reap a little benefit. Of course, do it too long and you run the risk of turning into a USA. America is a country where the fiasco of Enron and California energy "privatization" has cost rate payers hundreds of billions, where American defense contractors in Iraq have engaged in massive, uninvestigated overcharges to the tune of tens of billions, and where even as the government public payroll falls, total government spending skyrockets. Contractors and private companies have "taken over" and with virtually no one to challenge them, they set the prices on everything from toll roads to housing prisoners. Regulators, where they even exist at all, dare not challenge them. They have poured billions into the campaigns of influential politicians and most every "cooperating regulator," is guaranteed a handsome salary from these same companies when he or she retires from public service (as long as they "play ball"). So, we have little sense of the public good in America and really no good experience at effective regulation. This could also be the end result for any country that goes to the extreme on these things like America. Therefore, European countries who risk privatization do so at their own moral hazard. We, in America, are now the victims of it and will continue to be far into the future.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I doubt if this is a matter of anything but pure greed, whether capitalist or communist.
I'll never forget, waiting in line in an airport in Frankfurt, hearing two Israelis rhapsodizing about new cloud-seeding technologies that would precipitate rain for Israel, at the expense, naturally, of surrounding regions.
"Oh Great!" I chimed in, "So now only the Rich will get water?!"
You should have seen the dirty looks I got!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Do you charge for air? Of course THEY WILL. When air
becomes unbreathable. Amy Goodman, you missed the message
from the Paleontology Department. The water crisis is the
gentlest hint of what is to come. Hydrogen Sulfide [H2S] gas
will Kill all people when the heated oceans produce it in large
quantities. Homo Sap will go EXTINCT unless drastic
action is taken. URLs on this subject are:
http://www.sciam.com/
article.cfm?articleID=
00037A5D-A938-150E-
A93883414B7F0000&
sc=I100322

http://www.geosociety.org/
meetings/2003/prPennStateKump.htm

www.astrobio.net is a NASA web zine. See:

http://www.astrobio.net/
news/modules.php?op=
modload&name=News&
file=article&sid=672

http://www.astrobio.net/
news/modules.php?op=
modload&name=News&
file=article&sid=1535

http://www.astrobio.net/
news/article2509.html

http://astrobio.net/news/
modules.php?op=modload
&name=News&file=article
&sid=2429&mode=thread
&order=0&thold=0

http://www.marklynas.org/
2007/4/23/six-steps-to-hell-
summary-of-six-degrees-as-
published-in-the-guardian

The Scientific American article is the easiest to read and
understand.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]