The Walmart Effect And The Big Thirst By Charles Fisher

Water scarcity is an environmental problem that reaches around the globe. This lack of water is called the World Water Crisis. In the U.S, people are privileged enough to be able to use clean water for many things. However, the U.S is effected by water scarcity as well as countries who are underdeveloped and aren 't as privileged as we are. Only 2.5 percent of Earth 's water is fresh water, of which industrial uses account for 22 percent of available fresh water, domestic use requires only 8 percent, and the rest-over two-thirds of our demand-is used for agriculture. Water is said to be a right for all living things, however, many underdeveloped countries in the world, such as Ghana or Rajasthan, are victims of corporations who come

Water is probably the most important resource we as people have. Humans can survive without food for several weeks, but without water we would die in less than a week. On a slightly less dramatic note, millions of liters of water are needed every day worldwide for washing, irrigating crops, and cooling industrial processes, not to mention leisure industries such as swimming pools and water-sports centers. Despite our dependence on water, we use it as a dumping ground for all sorts of waste, and do very little to protect the water supplies we have.

Water is all around us. This substance is of high importance to every living thing which is on planet earth. As much as we consider water to be life and the most important substance, still we don’t seem to appreciate it very much, as it is being wasted in such great amounts. Everyone believes that water will always be around but not taking into account that the majority of the water on planet earth are not for human consumption. Human beings can only survive on consuming fresh water. The percentage of

The documentary, Blue Gold, World Water Wars, was a dramatic depiction of the prognosis of our ability to sustain life on the earth if we don’t take very seriously the natural resource of water. The movie by Sam Bozzo was released in 2008 and is based on the book Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke. The movie opens with a dramatic display of what happened to Pablo Valencia who in 1906 walked from Mexico to California in search of gold. He survived without water for 7 days and documented the experience. One of the most compelling statements from his experience was the statement, “who ever goes without water for a week, cries blood.” That statement was riveting and came to mind often during the course of viewing the movie. The filmmaker succeeded in galvanizing my attention with that opening frame. Bozzo highlights how extensively our ecosystem is being impacted by our seemingly lackluster regard for the water we have been given on earth. It seems as though some think water is an infinite resource. Contrarily the movie shows that our abuse of water is deteriorating water flows and threatening the sustainability of our ecosystem. The planet, human beings, plants, animals, fish, etc. all need water to survive.

Everyday, billions of people use water all over the world. They use water in drinks and food. They use water for bathing and hygiene. They use water in agriculture and industry. They use water for so many things. However, there are many problems with the usage of water around the world. In his editorial, “Our Water System: What a Waste”, Michael E. Webber explains how America has a water problem, and how that problem can be solved.

Among all of the resources in the world, there is one that we do not often consider to be diminishing. The masses take this resource, water, for granted. When the average person takes a single look at a world map, they see multiple blue oceans covering the Earth. But, although we are surrounded by water, our clean water reserves dwindle rapidly. In her article, “Water Works”, Cynthia Barnett attempts to bring this issue to greater light and offers her own solutions. While I agree with many of Barnett’s points, she fails to look at the arguments of her detractors to the detriment of her already flawed case.

Is there anything better that a cool glass of water on a hot day or a swim in a clear blue lake? We need water for drinking, and we need it for recreation. We use it in a thousand ways. Without it, we could not survive. Yet with more and more people on our planet, we are using a lot and also using it carelessly and that is effecting our everyday living.

The Cree Indian prophecy stated that, Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realise we cannot eat money. Water is something in such abundance that is available to us at the turning of a faucet, so much that we tend to take it for granted and forget its global impact. We need to stand together and protect clean potable water when our watershed is being threatened. Water is our most precious resource, without it, life itself would seem to exist.

The author, Maude Barlow, begins her article by stating that there is a problem concerning the world’s water and how it can affect the people’s way of living. She includes three possible outcomes that could result from how people are mistreating the water supply. Sources of freshwater are becoming scarcer as people keep polluting and depleting them. As the lack of clean freshwater decreases, the amount of children dying increases, more so than war and diseases altogether which occurs more frequently with those that are of low socioeconomic status. Those that belong to companies dealing with water exchange are taking advantage of the shortages by selling them to regular people at expensive rates; this could ultimately lead to the market’s dictating

When I was little, one of my teachers in elementary school said “you can only live for a few days without water.” The notion of living without earth’s most precious gift, however, never occurred to me. It was beyond my realm of thought that one day we may be facing its scarcity.

For centuries people have sailed the rough, dangerous seas, risking their lives to reach this place we call home. In the near future, people may not be seeking to migrate here, but rather us migrate out if we continue on the path we currently are on. The rate at which we purchase unneeded expenditures is about the same that we overuse our survival resources. I’m here to talk about the over use of one particular resource that could end mankind and cause a global extinction. It’s called water.

The environmental issue discussed in “Blue Gold: World Water Wars” is water scarcity, a broad term that refers to the notion that water is a finite resource subject to be exhausted if it is abused. According to the film, Earth has two different types of water. Salt water is mostly unusable to humans and constitutes about 97% of the water on Earth. Fresh water is where the world’s drinking water comes from and constitutes only 3% of the water on Earth. After explaining these statistics, Maude Barlow brings up the point that, until very recently, humans saw water as something that would constantly replenish itself as long as the

Water is considered as an essential for human existence. We all can survive without food for some day but no one can live without water at least two days. Human body consists of 70% percent of water and our globe is covered by 69.9% percent of water. But unfortunately the useable fresh water is just 2.5% out of it. Water is a social good, water is an economic good, water has ecological value and water has religious, moral and cultural value.

Water is a very important commodity to live. Some people say it’s a right, but others at as if it’s a privilege, and as a result, people lack it. The human body is about sixty percent water, but in what I have seen just in my twenty years of life, people do not drink merely enough of it. Instead, water has been replaced as a go-to drink by things like milk, coffee, pop, or energy drinks, but natural energy lies in water. With water we can be more energized, awake, and of course, hydrated, which all together collaborate to help us flourish, stay healthy, and live long. It’s most of the earth’s surface, too; water’s all around us, but we neglect it and deny its crucial place in our health and humanity.

In today’s society, the idea of a limited resource is not a foreign concept. Most people understand that eventually humans will use up many of these resources, such as fossil fuels, and they will cease to exist. However, very rarely does a conversation about limited resources get started over the water. While water itself is not a limited resource, clean drinkable water is becoming scarcer as people continue to use excess water. The documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” highlights how precious water is to survival and just how much miss use of water occurs in the United States alone. Even though the United States has gone down the wrong path with its water consumption methods, it may not be too late to recover. With the proper systems and education in place, the chances of delaying a water crisis increase exponentially.