Water, Water... & authors too!

-- Quote of the Day --

“…That is why it {water} comes down to armed conflict in the end… People feel that strongly about it. And it becomes an ethics issue; deciding if this is an issue of who can afford the water or a basic human right… Everyone has the right to a clean environment and the right to life. And without food, water & shelter you loose your right to life. …It becomes a class verses human rights issue. That is why I advocate Desalination technology - it is not just people along the ocean that can use the technology, people inland can use it too. …Desalination plants take up a lot of area. …It involves the removal of salt from seawater. They can also clean brackish ground water. …One of the oldest {methods of desalination} is simply solar evaporation, which is what they used to use on ships in the old days. Around the world there are at least 1500 that use the distillation (a.k.a. evaporation)… this is a longer process, but …is one of the simpler methods that does not cost much. Reverse Osmosis pumps water with high pressure through membranes. …One of the downsides with desalination methods is the left over salt, and deciding what to do with it. …O-Tech – Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion – which uses the warm surface waters for steam and then using the deep, cold currents to condense the steam… which creates clean electricity; in the meantime, the water it is using – it desalinates it; and it creates this rich mari-culture where shrimp and other critters that love those conditions thrive.”
~ Diane Tegarden – Jan 22, 2009

This quote was taken from an interview with Diane on Jan 22, 2009 at the Conscious Discussions talk radio show - our discussions focused on "Desalination Plants - Answer to Water Woes?". Click on the hyper-links here to find Diane's interview or look to the right for the Conscious Discussions radio show link.

-- World Water Day --

Celebrations for World Water Day - officially March 21st this year - are held on this weekend... & we will be celebrating this awareness day all weekend here on this blog. Today, I'll share two fantastic resources & some of the information I gleaned from them. Tomorrow, I'll share some tips anyone can do around their home or office to conserve water & point you to some interviews with experts in this field.

From - http://www.worldwaterday.net :
"In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22 as "World Water Day" to draw international attention to the critical lack of clean, safe drinking water worldwide… more than 1 billion people around the world lack clean, safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation services… Sign up to find or start a Walk for Water and to meet others who are passionate about this cause – a strong, symbolic act to demonstrate your support for Action on the world water crisis. We hope you’ll help spread the word and take a moment to lend your voice to this important issue. … The world water crisis is one of the largest public health issues of our time. Nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20% of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day. In fact, out of the 2.2 million unsafe drinking water deaths in 2004, 90% were children under the age of five. Water is essential to the treatment of diseases, something especially critical for children. This problem isn’t confined to a particular region of the world. A third of the Earth’s population lives in “water stressed” countries and that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next two decades. The crisis is worst in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The world water crisis is created by a confluence of factors including climate and geography, lack of water systems and infrastructure, and inadequate sanitation, something that 2.6 billion people (40% of the world’s population) lack access to. Some of these countries have additional problems, including high levels of arsenic and fluoride in drinking water Many women and young girls in rural areas in Sub-Saharan African and other parts of the world must trek as much as six miles everyday to retrieve water for their families. Due to this manual labor, such women and children are prevented from pursuing an education, maintaining their households or earning additional income."

From www.unwater.org: "The world’s 263 trans-boundary lake and river basins include the territory of 145 countries and cover nearly half of the Earth’s land surface. Great reservoirs of freshwater also move silently below our borders in underground aquifers. With every country seeking to satisfy its water needs from limited water resources, some foresee a future filled with conflict. But history shows that cooperation, not conflict, is the most common response to trans-boundary water management issues. ...Over the last 60 years there have been more than 200 international water agreements and only 37 cases of reported violence between states over water. We need to continue to nurture the opportunities for cooperation that trans-boundary water management can provide.”

... Be sure to check out their calendar of events at www.unwater.org - for things going on internationally… its very inspiring to see so much going on.

-- Authors Read Radio --

David Michael Slater has always believed in the magic of the written word and has used his own experience as a teacher and scholar to create worlds where children are everyday heroes. David is a highly sought after speaker as well. His writing career began with the production of a one act play - to date he has published 10 books, with at least 6 more in the future… David shares an excerpt from the most recently released book - THE BOOK OF NONSENSE (a finalist for the Association of Booksellers for Children's Best of 2008 list and Cybil Award nominee) on today's broadcast of Authors Read radio.

To access this reading, simply click on the hyper-linked show title here or look to the right for a link to the show. Then all you have to do is click the play button beside today's segment. :)

Find Dave & Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, information about their radio shows & free resources & articles at www.brummet.ca