Download or read book Water written by Giulio Boccaletti and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spanning millennia and continents, a revealing history that “tackles the most important story of our time: our relationship with water in a world of looming scarcity” (Kelly McEvers, NPR Host). "Far more than a biography of its nominal subject ... The book stands as a compelling history of civilization itself." —The Wall Street Journal Book Review Writing with authority and brio, Giulio Boccaletti—honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford—shrewdly combines environmental and social history, beginning with the earliest civilizations of sedentary farmers on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates Rivers. Even as he describes how these societies were made possible by sea-level changes from the last glacial melt, he incisively examines how this type of farming led to irrigation and multiple cropping, which, in turn, led to a population explosion and labor specialization. We see with clarity how irrigation’s structure informed social structure (inventions such as the calendar sprung from agricultural necessity); how in ancient Greece, the communal ownership of wells laid the groundwork for democracy; how the Greek and Roman experiences with water security resulted in systems of taxation; and how the modern world as we know it began with a legal framework for the development of water infrastructure. Extraordinary for its monumental scope and piercing insightfulness, Water: A Biography richly enlarges our understanding of our relationship to—and fundamental reliance on—the most elemental substance on earth.
Download or read book Water written by Jeremy J. Schmidt and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intellectual history of America's water management philosophy Humans take more than their geological share of water, but they do not benefit from it equally. This imbalance has created an era of intense water scarcity that affects the security of individuals, states, and the global economy. For many, this brazen water grab and the social inequalities it produces reflect the lack of a coherent philosophy connecting people to the planet. Challenging this view, Jeremy Schmidt shows how water was made a “resource” that linked geology, politics, and culture to American institutions. Understanding the global spread and evolution of this philosophy is now key to addressing inequalities that exist on a geological scale. Water: Abundance, Scarcity, and Security in the Age of Humanity details the remarkable intellectual history of America’s water management philosophy. It shows how this philosophy shaped early twentieth-century conservation in the United States, influenced American international development programs, and ultimately shaped programs of global governance that today connect water resources to the Earth system. Schmidt demonstrates how the ways we think about water reflect specific public and societal values, and illuminates the process by which the American approach to water management came to dominate the global conversation about water. Debates over how human impacts on the planet are connected to a new geological epoch—the Anthropocene—tend to focus on either the social causes of environmental crises or scientific assessments of the Earth system. Schmidt shows how, when it comes to water, the two are one and the same. The very way we think about managing water resources validates putting ever more water to use for some human purposes at the expense of others.
Download or read book History of Water and Humanity written by Unesco and published by United Nations Education, Scientific & Cultural Organization. This book was released on 2023-02-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To assemble, evaluate and promote appropriate examination of water management in history requires a bold and global initiative. To this end, the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme is pioneering a project to develop a systematic and transcultural interdisciplinary knowledge base. Water History and Humanity explores key issues and cultural developments in humanitys relationships with water in a coherent, historical framework. The strength of this volume lies in its holistic anthropological approach, which reveals how various cultures have used and conceptualized water across multiple contexts, and how our interactions with water have transformed the way we see ourselves and the world.
Download or read book Water and Human Societies written by David A. Pietz and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-08-18 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the historical relationships between human communities and water. Bringing together for the first time key texts from across the literature, it discusses how the past has shaped our contemporary challenges with equitable access to clean and ample water supplies. The book is organized into chapters that explore thematic issues in water history, including “Water and Civilizations,” Water and Health,” “Water and Equity” and “Water and Sustainability”. Each chapter is introduced by a critical overview of the theme, followed by four primary and secondary readings that discuss critical nodes in the historical and contemporary development of each chapter theme. “Further readings” at the end of each chapter invite the reader to further explore the dynamics of each theme. The foundational premise of the book is that in order to comprehend the complexity of global water challenges, we need to understand the history of cultural forces that have shaped our water practices. These historical patterns shape the range of choices available to us as we formulate responses to water challenges. The book will be a valuable resource to all students interested in understanding the challenges of water use today.
Download or read book How Water Makes Us Human written by Luci Attala and published by University of Wales Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about how water becomes people – or, put another way, how people and water flow together and shape each other. While the focus of the book is on the relationships held between water and people, it also has a broader message about human relationships with the environment generally – a message that illustrates not only that people are existentially entangled with the material world, but that the materials of the world shape, determine and enable humans to be ‘humans’ in the ways that they are. Offering a selection of anthropological examples from Kenya, Wales and Spain to illustrate how water’s materiality coproductively generates the way people are able to engage with water, this book uses cross-disciplinary perspectives to provide and promote a new analytic – one that encourages ethical, holistic and sustainable relationships with the world around us. This approach challenges representations that ignore, sidestep or are blind to the fleshy materiality of being human, and aims to encourage a re-imagining of the world that acknowledges humanity as intrinsically active-with and part of the fabric of the collection of materials we call planet Earth.
Download or read book The Human Shore written by John R. Gillis and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-10-17 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since before recorded history, people have congregated near water. But as growing populations around the globe continue to flow toward the coasts on an unprecedented scale and climate change raises water levels, our relationship to the sea has begun to take on new and potentially catastrophic dimensions. The latest generation of coastal dwellers lives largely in ignorance of the history of those who came before them, the natural environment, and the need to live sustainably on the world’s shores. Humanity has forgotten how to live with the oceans. In The Human Shore, a magisterial account of 100,000 years of seaside civilization, John R. Gillis recovers the coastal experience from its origins among the people who dwelled along the African shore to the bustle and glitz of today’s megacities and beach resorts. He takes readers from discussion of the possible coastal location of the Garden of Eden to the ancient communities that have existed along beaches, bays, and bayous since the beginning of human society to the crucial role played by coasts during the age of discovery and empire. An account of the mass movement of whole populations to the coasts in the last half-century brings the story of coastal life into the present. Along the way, Gillis addresses humankind’s changing relationship to the sea from an environmental perspective, laying out the history of the making and remaking of coastal landscapes—the creation of ports, the draining of wetlands, the introduction and extinction of marine animals, and the invention of the beach—while giving us a global understanding of our relationship to the water. Learned and deeply personal, The Human Shore is more than a history: it is the story of a space that has been central to the attitudes, plans, and existence of those who live and dream at land’s end.
Download or read book Hydrohumanities written by Kim De Wolff and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2021-12-21 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction : hydrohumanities / Kim De Wolff and Rina C. Faletti I. -- The agency of water and the Canal du Midi / Chandra Mukerji -- Winnipeg's aspirational port and the future of Arctic shipping (the geo-cultural version) / Stephanie C. Kane -- Radical water / Irene Klaver -- Water, extractivism, biopolitics, and Latin American indigeneity in Arguedas's Los ríos profundos and Potdevin's Palabrero / Ignacio López-Calvo and Hugo A. López Chavolla -- Water as the medium of measurement : mapping global oceans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries / Penelope Hardy -- Aquapelagic malolos : Island-water imaginaries in Coastal Bulacan, Philippines / Kale Bantigue Fajardo -- The invisible sinking surface: hydrogeology, fieldwork, and photography in California / Rina C. Faletti -- Irrigated gardens of the Indus River Basin : toward a cultural model for water resource management / James Wescoat and Abubakr Muhammed -- Leadership in principle : uniting nations to recognize the cultural value of water / Veronica Strang.
Download or read book Water Resilience for Human Prosperity written by Johan Rockström and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-27 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new approach to water-resources for researchers, professionals and graduate students, focusing on global sustainability and socio-ecological resilience to change.
Download or read book Himalayan Glaciers written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific evidence shows that most glaciers in South Asia's Hindu Kush Himalayan region are retreating, but the consequences for the region's water supply are unclear, this report finds. The Hindu Kush Himalayan region is the location of several of Asia's great river systems, which provide water for drinking, irrigation, and other uses for about 1.5 billion people. Recent studies show that at lower elevations, glacial retreat is unlikely to cause significant changes in water availability over the next several decades, but other factors, including groundwater depletion and increasing human water use, could have a greater impact. Higher elevation areas could experience altered water flow in some river basins if current rates of glacial retreat continue, but shifts in the location, intensity, and variability of rain and snow due to climate change will likely have a greater impact on regional water supplies. Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security makes recommendations and sets guidelines for the future of climate change and water security in the Himalayan Region. This report emphasizes that social changes, such as changing patterns of water use and water management decisions, are likely to have at least as much of an impact on water demand as environmental factors do on water supply. Water scarcity will likely affect the rural and urban poor most severely, as these groups have the least capacity to move to new locations as needed. It is predicted that the region will become increasingly urbanized as cities expand to absorb migrants in search of economic opportunities. As living standards and populations rise, water use will likely increase-for example, as more people have diets rich in meat, more water will be needed for agricultural use. The effects of future climate change could further exacerbate water stress. Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security explains that changes in the availability of water resources could play an increasing role in political tensions, especially if existing water management institutions do not better account for the social, economic, and ecological complexities of the region. To effectively respond to the effects of climate change, water management systems will need to take into account the social, economic, and ecological complexities of the region. This means it will be important to expand research and monitoring programs to gather more detailed, consistent, and accurate data on demographics, water supply, demand, and scarcity.
Download or read book The Human Right to Water written by Jimena Murillo Chávarro and published by Intersentia Uitgevers N V. This book was released on 2015 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book summarizes the history of the human right to water, and it examines the main content and the obligations that derive from this human right. The main purpose of the recognition of the human right to water is to guarantee that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, and affordable drinking water to satisfy personal and domestic uses. The book discusses whether the human right to water is recognized as a derivative right or as an independent right at three levels - the universal, regional, and domestic levels - where human rights are recognized and enforced. At the domestic level a case study approach has been used with focus on Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Colombia. Freshwater resources are not static; they are constantly flowing and crossing international boundaries. This situation and the relative scarcity of water resources have a direct impact on a state's capacity to realize the human right to water. The human right to water is examined in a transboundary water context, where the use and management of an international watercourse in one riparian state can directly or indirectly affect the human right to water in another riparian state. For this reason, the book analyzes whether the core principles of international water law can be used to contribute to the realization of the extraterritorial application of the right to water. [Subject: Human Rights Law, International Law, Water Law, Comparative Law]
Download or read book The Social Life of Water written by John R. Wagner and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everywhere in the world communities and nations organize themselves in relation to water. We divert water from rivers, lakes, and aquifers to our homes, workplaces, irrigation canals, and hydro-generating stations. We use it for bathing, swimming, recreation, and it functions as a symbol of purity in ritual performances. In order to facilitate and manage our relationship with water, we develop institutions, technologies, and cultural practices entirely devoted to its appropriation and distribution, and through these institutions we construct relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. Relying on first-hand ethnographic research, the contributors to this volume examine the social life of water in diverse settings and explore the impacts of commodification, urbanization, and technology on the availability and quality of water supplies. Each case study speaks to a local set of issues, but the overall perspective is global, with representation from all continents.
Download or read book Wetlands in a Dry Land written by Emily O'Gorman and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the name of agriculture, urban growth, and disease control, humans have drained, filled, or otherwise destroyed nearly 87 percent of the world’s wetlands over the past three centuries. Unintended consequences include biodiversity loss, poor water quality, and the erosion of cultural sites, and only in the past few decades have wetlands been widely recognized as worth preserving. Emily O’Gorman asks, What has counted as a wetland, for whom, and with what consequences? Using the Murray-Darling Basin—a massive river system in eastern Australia that includes over 30,000 wetland areas—as a case study and drawing on archival research and original interviews, O’Gorman examines how people and animals have shaped wetlands from the late nineteenth century to today. She illuminates deeper dynamics by relating how Aboriginal peoples acted then and now as custodians of the landscape, despite the policies of the Australian government; how the movements of water birds affected farmers; and how mosquitoes have defied efforts to fully understand, let alone control, them. Situating the region’s history within global environmental humanities conversations, O’Gorman argues that we need to understand wetlands as socioecological landscapes in order to create new kinds of relationships with and futures for these places.
Download or read book The Water Kingdom written by Philip Ball and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-05-05 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Yangtze to the Yellow River, China is traversed by great waterways, which have defined its politics and ways of life for centuries. Water has been so integral to China’s culture, economy, and growth and development that it provides a window on the whole sweep of Chinese history. In The Water Kingdom, renowned writer Philip Ball opens that window to offer an epic and powerful new way of thinking about Chinese civilization. Water, Ball shows, is a key that unlocks much of Chinese culture. In The Water Kingdom, he takes us on a grand journey through China’s past and present, showing how the complexity and energy of the country and its history repeatedly come back to the challenges, opportunities, and inspiration provided by the waterways. Drawing on stories from travelers and explorers, poets and painters, bureaucrats and activists, all of whom have been influenced by an environment shaped and permeated by water, Ball explores how the ubiquitous relationship of the Chinese people to water has made it an enduring metaphor for philosophical thought and artistic expression. From the Han emperors to Mao, the ability to manage the waters ? to provide irrigation and defend against floods ? was a barometer of political legitimacy, often resulting in engineering works on a gigantic scale. It is a struggle that continues today, as the strain of economic growth on water resources may be the greatest threat to China’s future. The Water Kingdom offers an unusual and fascinating history, uncovering just how much of China’s art, politics, and outlook have been defined by the links between humanity and nature.
Download or read book Economical Political and Social Issues in Water Resources written by Omid Bozorg-Haddad and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2021-07-14 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economical, Political, and Social Issues in Water Resources provides a fully comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of all three factors in their relation to water resources. Economic issues consist of Water accounting, Water economy, Water pricing, Water market, Water bank and bourse. Political issues consist of Water power and hydrogemistry, Water diplomacy and hydropolitics, Water rights and water laws, Water governance and policy, Shared water resources management, Water management systems, and social issues consist of Water and culture, civilization and history, Water quality, hygiene, and health, Water and society. This book familiarizes researchers with all aspects of the field, which can lead to optimized and multidimensional water resources management. Some of abovementioned issues are new, so the other aim of this book is to identify them in order to researchers can easily find them and use them in their studies. - Includes diverse case studies from around the world - Presents contributions from global and diverse contributors with interdisciplinary backgrounds, including water engineers, scientists, planners the economic, political and social issues surrounding water - Contains in-depth definitions and concepts of each topic
Download or read book Water as a Human Right written by John Scanlon and published by IUCN. This book was released on 2004 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Formally acknowledging water as a human right could encourage the international community and governments to enhance their efforts to satisfy basic human needs and to meet the Millennium Development Goals. But critical questions arise in relation to a right to water. What would be the benefits and content of such a right? What mechanisms would be required for its effective implementation? Should the duty be placed on governments alone, or should the responsibility also be borne by private actors? Is another 'academic debate' on this subject warranted when action is really what is necessary? Without claiming to prescribe the answers, this publication clearly and carefully sets out the competing arguments and the challenges.
Download or read book Waters of the World written by Sarah Dry and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-10-15 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling and adventurous stories of seven pioneering scientists who were at the forefront of what we now call climate science. From the glaciers of the Alps to the towering cumulonimbus clouds of the Caribbean and the unexpectedly chaotic flows of the North Atlantic, Waters of the World is a tour through 150 years of the history of a significant but underappreciated idea: that the Earth has a global climate system made up of interconnected parts, constantly changing on all scales of both time and space. A prerequisite for the discovery of global warming and climate change, this idea was forged by scientists studying water in its myriad forms. This is their story. Linking the history of the planet with the lives of those who studied it, Sarah Dry follows the remarkable scientists who summited volcanic peaks to peer through an atmosphere’s worth of water vapor, cored mile-thick ice sheets to uncover the Earth’s ancient climate history, and flew inside storm clouds to understand how small changes in energy can produce both massive storms and the general circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere. Each toiled on his or her own corner of the planetary puzzle. Gradually, their cumulative discoveries coalesced into a unified working theory of our planet’s climate. We now call this field climate science, and in recent years it has provoked great passions, anxieties, and warnings. But no less than the object of its study, the science of water and climate is—and always has been—evolving. By revealing the complexity of this history, Waters of the World delivers a better understanding of our planet’s climate at a time when we need it the most.
Download or read book The Evolution of National Water Regimes in Europe written by Stefan Kuks and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2004-11-30 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All over the world countries struggle with water stress. Problems vary from water scarcity and a degrading water quality, to floods and a rising sea level due to climate change. The European Union adopted a Water Framework Directive to improve the sustainability of water management in its member states. Water management should be coordinated at the level of river basins as a whole. Interests of various user groups should be better represented. River basin visions should take into account the impact of all human activities on the status of the resource. Water legislation needs streamlining and more focus on its implementation. The European Union advocates regulating water prices by charging the costs of water services on the basis of full cost recovery and the polluter pays principle. This book examines the development of water management in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. It is based on the European research project EUWARENESS. The authors apply a theoretical framework for the analysis of institutional regimes, water governance and property rights. The evolution of national water resource regimes is described over a period of almost 200 years (1800-2000). The long-term perspective enables the reader to see the conditions under which regime transformation and paradigm change are made possible. The book also includes a critical analysis of policy making by the European Union, and a comparative review and analysis of regime development in the six countries involved. This book is followed by another volume published with Kluwer Academic Publishers on "Integrated Governance and Water Basin Management", edited by Hans Bressers and Stefan Kuks.
