Seeing as the English radio programme I linked to earlier today is currently unavailable, I thought I’d link to an English newspaper (the Guardian) article instead.
This is a pretty interesting way to look at ecological footprints. I honestly hadn’t thought of it before. And, y’know, I should have. Water has always been an interest and concern of mine (exhibit A: Slow River) but apart from the ridiculousness of importing bottle water from Fiji, I hadn’t considered the ‘virtual’ household use of us Westerners (and, oh ho, even using the word ‘Western’ is a big indicator of prejudice, privilege and world view — no, not beating myself up, just noting it). Anyway, take a look. Let me know what you think.
Nicola Griffith 
Nicola, I’m so glad you’re sharing that article with us. Water is something I think about every day I spend in Canada, just as frequently as I did in Mexico, but for different reasons.Canadians often make fun of me and my wife when they watch how we do dishes. They say, “You can let the water run while you scrub, you know?” No, we can’t. We grew up in a thirsty country. Every major city in Mexico has a program in place to cut off water supply to households two days per week. Except in the wealthy neighborhoods.It doesn’t surprise me to find Mexico listed on the article as a major water importer. These days, Mexico imports everything (including gas) and exports only oil. Blame it on NAFTA, the Easter Bunny or whatever. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have many of their bottling plants there. Along with many other companies that let the water run while they scrub. Mainly because it is also a hungry country, so we don’t mind trading our rivers and lakes for dollars. Just like we traded gold and land for mirrors with the Spanish back in the old days. We’re such pushovers that we don’t even have environmental laws in place. A boy fell into a river back in my hometown two or three months ago and his lungs disintegrated within 30 seconds of breathing the gas evaporating from the water. That’s an example of the toxicity levels a lot of Latin American countries have to thank assembly plants for. But then, maquiladoras do provide extremely poor families with an income they would otherwise lack. It’d just be nice if it didn’t also mean that they also get to die from kidney failure or cancer five to ten years down the road.Every time I shower here in Canada, I think about how weird it is that I could be drinking that water. It’s common knowledge that you don’t drink tap water in Mexico. The notion that the water we use to flush the toilet here (and we should be using dry toilets, but that’s another rant) could save entire villages that are dying from dehydration. Sigh. Let me go get my whip so I can fully enjoy this self-flagellation. Still, in my naivety, I used to believe that First World countries at least cleaned up and recycled the water they used, until I < HREF="http://www.slate.com/id/2182758/" REL="nofollow">read this.<> “A public outcry against toilet-to-tap in 2000 forced the city of Los Angeles to shut down a $55 million project that would have provided enough water for 120,000 homes.” Wow. If people are so grossed out by what they dump, they shouldn’t be dumping it into the water, to begin with, no?
Oh, and I forgot to say that the water theme was one of the reasons I loved Slow River. Back then, I thought I’d grow up to be an environmental engineer. I spent good hours discussing the water-recycling aspects of Slow River with my mom, who is a chemical engineer and worked at a water treatment plant at some point.
I grew up in England in the 60s. My parents had very vivid memories of WW II and the decade of deprivation/austerity afterwards. I learnt not to waste anything: food, water, electricity (time, energy). Then I left home and lived poor (many times I literally couldn’t afford to eat) for years. Then I came to this country.The abundance and the waste shocked me to the bone. For example, we have central heat and central air, and it freaks me out to heat and/or cool the *whole house* when we can only be in two rooms, at most, at a time. But we can’t yet afford the more efficient zones heat and cooling systems.And don’t even get me started about food. The waste is mind boggling. Just walking into a supermarket and seeing the pyramids of fruits and vegetables that will inevitably rot give me bad dreams.When I was researching <>Slow River<> the idiocy of the Aral Sea overwhelmed me. But it’s still happening, all over the world.Everytime someone I know moves to Las Vegas or Tuscon, I shake my head. ‘Don’t you know there’ll be war over water any year now?’ I want to say, but don’t, because they’ll just look at me as though I’m an alien. Which, clearly, I still am.
The water situation and the way it’s being largely ignored is mind boggling. It seems we’ll have to do everything possible from using less, desalination, and the toilet-to-tap thing. I admit to being a little leary of the toilet water stuff because of the drugs/hormones not being filtered out, but it’s there in all water. I have a filtration thing I use at home that I think takes that stuff out. It’s certainly possible, if they would make the effort. Inevitably there will be mistakes and people getting ill.They say how great and fine the tap water is, but did you know that doctors tell immune system-compromised patients not to drink tap water? People who are getting chemotherapy are advised not to drink it because it’s thought to have killed some of them.I’m guilty of all kinds of waste, I’m sure. It’s definitely part of my culture. When I first moved to CA I found out it wasn’t really necessary to leave the water running constantly when I brushed my teeth. It had never occurred to me to turn it off. Then friends starting telling me not to flush the toilet so much. Now I’m conscious of water every time I turn on the tap.Have you seen the stats recently about how much wildfires have increased and the resources they use to fight them?It seems to me there are just too many frigging people. Between using too much and polluting what we have, what resource are we not overtaxing?The price is getting higher and higher quickly. Where will all of this lead us?
jennifer, Mary Rosenblum has written some fiction–titles like The Drylands and Water Rites–that might address some of your question, I think. I haven’t read them, so I can’t be sure, but I’ve met Mary, and she struck me as smart. Huh, maybe it’s time to read them…
Yes, those look interesting, I’ve put one on my list. Have you ever read Starhawk’s ‘The Fifth Sacred Thing’? I don’t remember all of it, but it’s set in a near future CA with very little water in a sort-of post-apocalyptic world. Her descriptions of what that might look stuck with me, and I sometimes think of them (walking from LA to SF through brown grasses sucking on acorns kind of thing) when I’m driving through the CA countryside.
Nope, never read Starhawk. The whole New Agey thing put me off. You think it’s worth reading?
I thought you might not like it for that reason, but it might surprise you. I remember also liking the type of relationships in it. I’d say it’s worth reading, but I don’t remember it well enough to be sure. Anything that has stuck with me this long surely is worth it. And while I’m not into the new agey thing, I’ve a different slant on it than you, I think. I actually dug it out this morning, I think it give it another go; I’ll give you an update if I make it through it.
I live in an area of Texas where our water comes from underground limestone fed aquifers. There is an area to the north of us where the water level is measured in times of drought,which seemingly is increasing every year. When the aquifer level drops below a certain footage level, we are placed on mandatory water restrictions for outdoor watering and are assigned certain days and hours we can water. I am not now nor ever have been a “water waster.” I have always used organic fertilizing methods and have planted much of my yard in native plants.What “chaps my cheeks” is that while our city places restictions, and needed ones, on its citizens, it has no such eco morality when it comes to big builders and the money to be gained from unchecked housing growth. Our water comes from the aquifers and yet housing developments, and a golf course, are being built right on top of it with no thought to all the chemicals needed for that “perfect” landscape leeching into the underground water supply. I totally agree that one day water will be the source of a great conflict for the control over its supply and distribution. Our city already has a “water waster’s hotline” which encourages turning in your neighbor.
linda, so much of this culture is founded on the notion of ‘grow or die’ that it leads to horrible choices, ecologically. I think many people here still labour under a frontier mentality: use it up and move on, further out, where it’s all still fresh and juicy. That’s the mentality behind drilling in Alaska or offshore: look, there’s all that untouched stuff there, let’s use it up! Stupid but, culturally, understandable perhaps even inevitable. Sigh.jennifer, yep, please do let me know what you think.
Back with an update. I re-read THE FIFTH SACRED THING. I like it. I think Starhawk does well with her descriptions of a possible future. What it’s like to have water be a major form of currency. What it’s like to thirst and to hunger as a result of human’s squandering our earth. There are some shades of THE HANDMAID’S TALE in it as well. I also enjoy her ideas of relationships. There is a lot of bisexuality and polyamoury. One thing that struck me as a little odd was that she mentions a group of gay men, but not one of lesbians; not that there aren’t any lesbians, but mostly they seem to be bisexual. There is lots of stuff about magic and healing – but not to the exclusion of technology and pharmacology. I’d say she does get a little heavy-handed with her messages; there’s just too much detail sometimes. Some of the process stuff of their rituals and council meetings gets a bit tedious imo (just like it would in real life, so maybe that was the intent?). Still, I managed to wade through them without too much annoyance. It’s hard for me to imagine that system as a working concept. It’s long – almost 500 pages, and I bet she could’ve shaved off a good chunk of that and had a better book. There are some good concepts in there, and I think she has done well to visualize some of the grim things that could very possibly materialize for us. It was published 15 years ago, and I think it holds up surprisingly well.The overriding message is that we are going to have to work together to clean up our mess. Not exactly a revelation, but it was an interesting look at community I thought. Got me to hoping that the ‘Y’ or ‘Millennial Generation’ is really more the social, community generation some say they are rather than the ‘me’ generation others point to.After reading this, I couldn’t help but pay even closer attention to the water and food I waste.I’m curious to read one of those other books you mentioned now.
Okay, thanks for that. It definitely sounds like not my cup of tea. Ah, well.
Hmm. I actually was thinking you might like it. Maybe I spent too much time detailing the parts you might not like instead of talking about the parts you probably would like.
What I heard was: new age, too long, no lesbians even tho there are gay boys. And I’m at the don’t-have-time stage with Hild. So, nope, won’t go on my TBR list right now. My life is *full*.
I don’t think I’d want to read it either if that was all I heard. I’m not pushing to get it on your TBR list (it does sound like the new agey stuff might be too much for you), but for the record, let me point out some of the more entertaining aspects of the book. There’s a lot of story to like – lots about love and sex and wise, strong women. There’s plenty of woman –woman action, they’re just not all lesbians, and they don’t have their own part of town. One of the minor characters is a heroic lesbian pirate. There’s a war going on between the rich, freaky religious types who have basically enslaved all the poor, non-white people, and the northern people (many of whom are new age types) get dragged into the war. The rich people hoard all of the water, and the poor people thirst. So there’s fighting and a resistance movement, etc. I enjoy long books that have likeable characters, and the editable portions were to me, a relatively minor quibble. It’s probably more interesting to me because it takes place in CA. It’s really crazy what we are doing in the Southwest. Earlier today I was driving on the road about a 1/2 mile above my house – the back way in to my neighborhood. I’m right up near the foothills, and the contrast is striking between the developed and undeveloped areas. It goes from grey and brown and so dry you feel parched just looking at it — to lush and green in the space of one driveway. Freaky. I’d guess most people in LA rarely ever even see/notice that contrast.I think books like this that can show people what the future could easily bring are important. I’m going to order Water Rites now. Meanwhile, I’m realizing I can’t remember a thing about Beowolf except that I read it in high school…