Short Paper #1 (Global Water Crisis; Book: Water Wars) The Use of Evidence
Life springs up around water sources. It is no coincidence that some of the greatest civilizations have been build need fertile bodies of water. Known life relies on water to sustain that life. So it is no surprise when a debate arose in 2013 around comments made by Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck regarding privatization of water and the fundamental human right to survive from dehydration and illness from non-portal water consumption. Although the context of Brabeck’s comment was taken out of context, issues surrounding the access companies like Nestlé have been given to bottle their water when people do not have access to clean water and droughts are threatening crop production. Adding a price tag is not the answer. The market, both these companies and their consumers have a major role to play in the management of water; a role that requires a change in mindset of privilege many citizen of the United States, and other countries that do not see the direct effects that serious clean water issue have on people that do not have it. The problem of climate change is a regular topic of debate. A debate that is rightfully being drilled into the forefront of everyone’s thoughts because the damage has started to become more apparent. The repercussion has started to manifest themselves through altered weather patterns, as the Earth’s temperate zone have become less, for lack of a better word temperate. Unless
As an American citizen, I never question the water my state government provided me with. Also, I took for granted that I was receiving purified water, and believe that I did not have to inquire about the water safety level. However, after reading the Kristen Silven article, “Flint Water Crisis”, I felt infuriated learning that an American community had been poisoned, because of their government inadequacy to provide them with proper water. Also, I believe it was inhuman that the government neglected citizens and their duties for nearly 18 months. Furthermore, I felt empathic for the 666 homes that have shown high levels of lead poison in their drinking water. I could not imagine being a mother watching my child be poisoned and not have the
Tom Standage’s essay “Bad to the Last Drop first appeared in the New York Times” (pages 662-664) on the first of August, 2005. In his essay, Standage argues that we, as a society, should do away with bottled water. He justifies his stance with several points including the shear monetary cost to the consumer, the lack of any nutritional benefit in bottled water, and even his results in a “water tasting”, a parody of a wine tasting which he partook in with the help of a few of his friends. By far, one of Tom’s strongest points, though, is the plight of impoverished nations around the world and their lack of clean water. One can almost feel his contempt for the seeming hypocrisy of first-world countries and their rejection of their perfectly adequate tap water, especially in the face of such global need. He demonizes the “illogical enthusiasm” with which wealthy nations turn up their noses at tap water. But in the midst of his tirade, he makes sure to pardon developing countries as bottled water is often times the cleanest water available to them. As his final point, Standage concludes that the most reasonable thing for the populace of developed nations to do, in light of the deficiency of water in other countries, is to cease consumption of bottled water and send that money to water charities instead.
The idea of climate change, for many, is an opinionated subject with much discussion of whether it is a real issue or just a natural phenomenon. However in recent years it is clear to see that trends in the Earth’s climate and surface temperature has spiked to levels never seen before. Despite all the evidence of the high levels of greenhouses gases and the rise in temperature, many still believe that
In exploring this dilemma module 5 raises questions such as Who will be entitled to water when supplies become scarce? In the text, Facing the Fresh Water Crisis, Rodgers claimed that the exponential water consumption will eventually degrade all ecosystems on Earth. In response to the question raised by module 5 Rodgers argued that current technologies can avert a water war between societies. He takes a preventive approach to satisfying the need for water in society. Instead of facing the issue of water scarcity before it is too late, Rodgers aims to efficiently satisfy the need for water to prolong our water supply. Thus, eliminating potential conflict that would result from trying to meet the water needs when supplies become low. However, it is important to realize that many nations, especially underdeveloped nations, already struggle with having constant access to water. Demand for water in these places, much like everywhere else, tends to be high but with a very low supply. In contrast, developed societies have high demand and constant and abundant access to water. As a result, not everyone’s’ water needs are being met. Thankfully, Rodger’s plan aspires to decrease our water consumption, so that everyone’s needs can be met. Rodgers proposed that municipalities increase the cost of water usage, along with repairing outdated water infrastructure in cities and in agriculture (Rodgers, pg 2, 2008). As for satisfying the water needs in underdeveloped
According to The United Nations committee on Economic, Cultural and social rights, “Water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights” (The United Nations Committee on Economic, 2002). Clean, pure water is highly valued in every culture worldwide. Water is essential to survival; the lack of pure water can lead to diseases, malnutrition and even death. This is why the water crisis in Southern Africa has become one of the largest and most deadly epidemics in today’s society. However, there are hundreds of locations worldwide without access to pure water and the United States media coverage has hidden many of the blemishes in the United States behind a veil. It is due to the lack of coverage of these issues in the United States that many U.S. citizens are oblivious to these issues. Do to this I intend to argue that the water crisis in North America is not portrayed enough in the social media by exploring how the media portrayed the ALS ice bucket challenge, how little people are aware of the lack of water in America and the horrible living conditions cause by the water crisis.
Large corporations, like Nestle, should not be allowed to claim natural resources, then turn around and charge the nation’s citizens to have that same resource that was previously free to all. However, if I were to view this through a Utilitarian’s eyes, I would probably side with Nestle as did some of the elected officials of the affected communities, seeing that the sale of water would promote the greater good of many of these communities and that money and jobs promised would promote social well being and happiness among the citizens of the community. Unfortunately for those so gullible to Nestlé’s promises they have found that they were not dealt with fairly and that Nestle did not inform them of the subtle specifics of their contracts.
The scientific community has evidence for climate change and it’s effects on the planet thus far. It is clear given the fact that “…the year 2016 was the warmest on record — a remarkable 1.1 degrees Celsius [1.98 degrees Fahrenheit] above the pre-industrial period, which is 0.06 C [0.1 F] above the previous record set in 2015” (Geggel). The average global temperature is rising and the rate of increase is rising as well. The slower we are to address the issue, the more consequences we will
The importance of climate change, which is always debatable, has now become more controversial. It is believed that climate change has serveral negative impacts, thus it needs to be studied. As far as I am concerned, I strongly concur with the argument that causes and solutions need to be investigated. This article will elaborate the antropogenic impacts and potential solutions and thus lead to a logical conclusion.
As Earths average temperature increases every year, the discussion of climate change has become a significant topic in the scientific community. Human activities such as powering factories, running automobiles or something as simple as burning wood for heat, emit dangerous greenhouse gases. What makes these greenhouse gases so detrimental is that they absorb the heat radiating off of Earth and keep it in the lower atmosphere creating a “blanket” of warmth around the Earth’s surface. This causes a drastic increase in the Earths average temperature. Due to the rise in temperature, the polar caps have been melting faster than ever, this is dangerous not only because of the risk of floods and sea level increase but ocean water will become less saline and ecosystems will be destroyed, impacting humans just as much as marine life. In the article, Understand faulty thinking to tackle climate change by George Marshall, Marshall states that most people in our world today do not care about climate change because it will not affect them, “Which points to the real problem: climate change is exceptionally amorphous, … no deadlines, no geographic location, no single cause or solution.” (Marshall 2014). Because the author makes it clear that climate change is indeed a great plight, and fails to be acknowledged by people, it is a significant matter that should be discussed
Water is a utility service for many people since its treatment, distribution, and recycling is funded by the taxpayer. Water is also a scarce commodity among some communities around the world. Privatization of water would allow firms to make it a profitable venture. Both domestic and global business environments have interesting ethical dilemmas to navigate. Peter Brabeck, the former Nestle CEO noted that water is not a basic human right but a commodity that should be privatized and controlled. Although the Universal Bill of Human Rights declares that withholding the resource takes away human dignity it fails to specifically grant the right to water. However, if water is a basic human right, it should be justly and freely available to all. Therefore, water is a right entitled to all human beings and thus should not be privatized.
A controversial topic is climate change, between if it’s human-made or if it’s natural, or even if is real or not. Climate change is a longstanding shift in the earth's climate, specifically an alternation due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperature. This dilemma commenced in the beginning of the 1800’s near the start of the Industrial Revolution. With the excessive carbon emissions into the earth’s atmosphere during this period, scientists began to realize that there was a sudden and long-term effects on the earth’s atmospheric temperature. For this reason climate change is caused by humans and is not natural.
Today, water is a critical natural resource that challenges us at local, national and global level. We are facing water shortage and drought to floods and declining of water quality. More than 1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, p. 43). Especially in the developing countries, with poor water management it contributes to increasing malnutrition and disease, a losing of biodiversity and agricultural production, rising food prices, reducing economic growth and social stability, that leading to conflicts over water resources. The major source for of the Coca-Cola Company’s (TCCC) products is water. Even the company’s CEO admits “that unless the communities where the
The standard way of thinking about the truly phenomenal issue of Climate Change is represented by the idea of danger and damage caused by this change in the nature. However, a number of scientists-skeptics have recently suggested that consideration of climate change as a significant and destructive problem is scarcely relevant and rather groundless.
Water is a human right, not a commodity. It is the essence of life, sustaining every living being on the planet. Without it we would have no plants, no animals, no people. However, while water consumption doubles every twenty years our water sources are being depleted, polluted and exploited by multinational corporations. Water privatization has been promoted by corporations and international lending institutions as the solution to the global water crises but the only one’s who benefit from water privatization are investors and international banks. The essential dilemma of privatization is that the profit interests of private water utilities ultimately jeopardizes the safeguarding of the human right to water. Access to clean, sufficient
According to research conducted by the United Nations, approximately two-thirds of the world’s population will face a severe shortage of water by 2025(Shaw & Barry, 2014, pg. 131). Some countries have begun to prepare early by importing tankers of water from other countries. The State of Michigan; however, is not as concerned about the shortage due to having over 11,000 lakes including the Great Lakes. Due to the vast amount of water sources, Nestle has built a bottled water plant in Mecosta County, Michigan. The new plant has cost Nestle over 100 million dollars and has caused much controversy with locals. Nestle had built a 12 mile pipeline from the plant to a local spring.