Environment (Problems) – Page 2 – Public Intelligence Blog

2010/08/282010/08/29

Review: Blue Gold–The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water

6 Star Top 10%, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Civil Society, Complexity & Catastrophe, Economics, Environment (Problems), Intelligence (Public), Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Survival & Sustainment, True Cost & Toxicity, United Nations & NGOs, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized), Water, Energy, Oil, Scarcity

6 Star Plus Foundation Work,

August 28, 2010

Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke

I read the authors' more recent Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water yesterday and watched the also more recent Blue Gold: World Water Wars last night, all in the context of raeding 12 books on water I bought for a UNESCO project I had to drop from when I joined the UN in Guatemala (which I am leaving 31 August).

This is a six-star and beyond foundation work, and even though I continue to think that Marq de Villier's Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource is the original tour d'force (published in 2001), and that the The Water Atlas: A Unique Visual Analysis of the World's Most Critical Resource is still the best buy over-all, this book joins with Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit as a foundation contribution. The authors received the Right Livelihood Award, called the Alternative Nobel, for the work that this book represents, so I urge readers to dismiss the ideologically-rooted and intellectually dishonest appraisals of this book as leftist pap.

Published in 2002, this book is more of an overview briefing, and it does that very well. I learn early on:
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2010/08/272010/08/27

Review (DVD): Blue Gold–World Water Wars

Capitalism (Good & Bad), Civil Society, Complexity & Catastrophe, Corruption, Culture, Research, Economics, Education (General), Education (Universities), Environment (Problems), Intelligence (Public), Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Priorities, Reviews (DVD Only), Security (Including Immigration), Survival & Sustainment, True Cost & Toxicity, United Nations & NGOs, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized), War & Face of Battle, Water, Energy, Oil, Scarcity

Worthwhile, Not as Epic as I Hoped, But Still Tops

August 27, 2010

Malcolm McDowell

I'm watching this in the context of reading and reviewing twelve books on water before I leave Guatemala. Having read Marq de Villier's book, Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource several years ago, and more recently The Water Atlas: A Unique Visual Analysis of the World's Most Critical Resource, this movie is a collage. I recollect Human Footprint and The 11th Hour as better films but this one is focused and I am coming down on a five rating.

The tid-bits are certainly a pleasure to watch….
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2010/08/272010/08/27

Review: The Blue Covenant–The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water

5 Star, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Complexity & Catastrophe, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Culture, Research, Disease & Health, Economics, Education (General), Education (Universities), Environment (Problems), Environment (Solutions), Intelligence (Public), Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Survival & Sustainment, United Nations & NGOs, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Water, Energy, Oil, Scarcity

Superb Overview and Update As of 2007

August 27, 2010

Maude Barlow

I now realize that this book is a sequel to Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water and I will read and review that book next.

First off, am really starting to pay attention to Right Livelihood, the Alternative Nobel that seems to avoid really big mistakes that have characterized the Nobel Peace Prize in recent decades (Kissinger to Obama). I first learned of this award when Herman Daly, conceptualizer of Ecological Economics, spoke at one of my conferences, and now I am going to look into this and post a listing of recipients at Phi Beta Iota, where all my reviews can be easily exploited across 98 distinct categories, something not possible here at Amazon.

Up front I will still say that Marq de Villier's Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource is the best book around, along with the The Water Atlas: A Unique Visual Analysis of the World's Most Critical Resource.

This book joins with Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit and its own prequel Blue Gold (now also coming out as a new DVD Blue Gold, along with another DVD, For Love of Water not found, author may have meant instead Flow How did a handful of corporations steal our water) to make the case for water as a human right. The book ends with a Blue Covenent in three parts.

Two points in this book hit me hard:

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2010/08/272010/08/27

Review: Water Wars–Privatization, Pollution, and Profit

5 Star, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Civil Society, Complexity & Catastrophe, Consciousness & Social IQ, Corruption, Crime (Corporate), Crime (Government), Culture, Research, Economics, Education (General), Environment (Problems), Environment (Solutions), Insurgency & Revolution, Nature, Diet, Memetics, Design, Peace, Poverty, & Middle Class, Philosophy, Politics, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Survival & Sustainment, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized), Water, Energy, Oil, Scarcity

Original, Grounded, a Foundation Book

August 27, 2010

Vandana Shiva

Published in 2002, this is a foundation book within the twelve books on Water that I am reading, with all reviews both here and at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog where you can easily use Reviews/Water to see all my reviews of books on water.

Right up front the author impresses me with her discussion of the paradigm war–a culture clash–between those who see water as sacred and its provision as a duty for the preservation of water, and those that view water as a commodity and its exploitation for profit as a fundamental corporate right.

Up front she lists and discusses the key lessons she has drawn:

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2010/08/262010/08/26

Review: The Atlas of Water, Second Edition–Mapping the World’s Most Critical Resource

6 Star Top 10%, Atlases & State of the World, Complexity & Catastrophe, Disease & Health, Economics, Education (General), Environment (Problems), Environment (Solutions), Geography & Mapping, Intelligence (Public), Survival & Sustainment, True Cost & Toxicity, Water, Energy, Oil, Scarcity

Single Best Book on Content, Visuals, and Price

August 26, 2010

Maggie Black and Jannet King

This is one of twelve books on Water that I have read or am reading, expecting to get through all of them in the near term.

In comparison to the other works, this is the single best book when considering content, visuals, and price. This is the one book to buy if you want just one book and for that reason it is the only 6 in the lot, although Marq de Villier's book, the last one listed below, is in that group as well as the first book to really put it all together. Here are ten other books, reviews for all of which will be posted here at Amazon and at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog where you can access all my reviews on books about water with one click.

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water
Governing Water: Contentious Transnational Politics and Global Institution Building (Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation)
Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization
Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It
Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
Whose Water Is It?: The Unquenchable Thirst of a Water-Hungry World
Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water
Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit
The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink
Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource

It is a real shame the publisher has not posted the table of contents, which I find to be one of the most holistic and useful I have seen in a very long time, and/or used Inside the Book capabilities that Amazon makes so easily available.

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2010/08/252010/08/25

Review: State of the World 2010–Transforming Cultures–From Consumerism to Sustainability

5 Star, America (Founders, Current Situation), Atlases & State of the World, Best Practices in Management, Complexity & Catastrophe, Culture, Research, Disaster Relief, Disease & Health, Economics, Education (General), Education (Universities), Environment (Problems), Environment (Solutions), True Cost & Toxicity, Values, Ethics, Sustainable Evolution, Voices Lost (Indigenous, Gender, Poor, Marginalized)

Top of the Fives, A Bold Departure Elegantly Executed

August 25, 2010

Erik Assadourian et al

I've become someone jaundiced about the State of the World series, while always respecting the persistence of Lester Brown (Peter Drucker called people like us “mono-maniacs” essential as change agents), but this one knocked me off my seat just with the table of contents. From there I went to the Notes and saw a number of books new to me. You can visit Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog to see the 1,600+ that I have reviewed, sorted into 98 non-fiction categories.

My first note:

A triumph, the most interesting, diverse, and relevant of the series to date. A bold departure, “just in time.”

The book opens with a timeline over multiple pages with illustrations, and the notes are worthy. The timeline is compelling broad view that I found very helpful, and would like to see more of.

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2010/08/212010/08/27

Review: Mapping Sustainability–Knowledge e-Networking and the Value Chain

3 Star, Environment (Problems), Environment (Solutions), Geography & Mapping, Intelligence (Public), Survival & Sustainment

cover mapping sustainability — Amazon Page

5 for Potential Value, ZERO for Greed Pricing

August 21, 2010

Nazli Choucri (Author, Editor), Dinsha Mistree (Editor), Farnaz Haghseta (Editor), Toufic Mezher (Editor), Wallace R. Baker (Editor), Carlos I. Ortiz (Editor)

I was about to buy this book when I noticed the price–$189. This is, once again, a situation where the authors have to think clearly when arranging for publication. News flash: you can still publish and be listed on Amazon, get the publication credit, and NOT be a prisoner to a greedy publisher out of touch with the information society. It is not enough to be published–one must be published in a manner that makes the knowledge accessible to all others, not “locked down” by publisher over-pricing.

Springer is offering it for $139, and Barnes & Noble is offering it for $103.

An online version is offered but Springer site is not at all friendly and there is no obvious price-checkout option for guests.

This book should be selling for no more than $49.00. I am adding it to my Amazon list of outrageously priced books antithetical to the needs of society.