"Probably the most eloquent call to arms we're likely to hear about the politics of water" ( The Globe and Mail , Toronto).
In this "chilling, in-depth examination of a rapidly emerging global crisis," Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, two of the most active opponents to the privatization of water show how, contrary to received wisdom, water mainly flows uphill to the wealthy ( In These Times ). Our most basic resource may one day be limited: Our consumption doubles every twenty years--twice the rate of population increase. At the same time, increasingly transnational corporations are plotting to control the world's dwindling water supply. In England and France, where water has already been privatized, rates have soared, and water shortages have been severe. The major bottled-water producers--Perrier, Evian, Naya, and now Coca-Cola and PepsiCo--are part of one of the fastest-growing and least-regulated industries, buying up freshwater rights and drying up crucial supplies.
A truly shocking exposé, Blue Gold shows in frightening detail why, as the vice president of the World Bank has pronounced, "The wars of the next century will be about water."
"Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke combine visionary intellect with muckraking research and a concrete plan for action." --Naomi Klein, author of The Battle for Paradise
"A sobering, in-depth look at the growing scarcity of fresh water and the increasing privatization and corporate control of this nonrenewable resource." -- Library Journal
"An angry and persuasive account." -- Bloomberg Businessweek
"The dire scenarios laid out in this comprehensive book are truly frightening." -- The San Diego Union-Tribune
This well-researched book provides a sobering, in-depth look at the growing scarcity of fresh water and the increasing privatization and corporate control of this nonrenewable resource. Barlow, national volunteer chair of the Council of Canadians, and Clarke, director of the Polaris Institute of Canada and chair of the committee on corporations for the International Forum on Globalization, describe how transnational corporations (Bechtel, Vivendi, et al.) through their water subsidiaries are making water a growth industry for the 21st century. The authors criticize mandatory privatization of water services as a condition of debt rescheduling and proposed international trade agreements for negatively impacting public ownership of water, public-sector water services, and governmental authority to regulate. Although the investigative reporting is similar to that in Marq de Villiers's Water and Jeffrey Rothfeder's Every Drop for Sale, the authors' sophisticated economic analysis of water as a scarce commodity distinguishes this book from the other two. The concluding chapters set forth goals, principles for safeguarding the world's water, and steps for water security in more detail than de Villiers's water strategies. The proposals for corrective legislation, lobbying, and citizen environmental action make this book a highly recommended purchase for public and academic libraries. Margaret Aycock, Gulf Coast Environmental Lib., Beaumont, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
The world's water supply is fast falling prey to corporate desire for the bottom line, the authors argue (Barlow chairs Council of Canadians, a public advocacy group; Clarke is the director of the Polaris Institute of Canada). Indeed, "the human race has taken water for granted and massively misjudged the capacity of the earth's water systems to recover from our carelessness," the authors write. Even if that's a hard statement to prove, the authors marshal an impressive amount of evidence that corporate profits are increasingly drinking up precious water resources. In some countries, water has already been privatized, leading to higher rates of consumption and depleted resources. And in other places, poorer residents actually pay more for water than their richer neighbors. In the meantime, Pepsi and Coke's sales of bottled water are taking water away from municipal supplies. The authors cogently argue that water a basic necessity should be treated differently from other commodities and not placed into private hands. In the end, their argument becomes a screed against the power that multinationals wield in our economically liberalizing world: in free trade treaties, they argue, governments effectively yield control over water rights to corporations, with harmful consequences for both economic parity and nature. The authors are vague about what the average person can do to help stave off this crisis, but those concerned about the environment and about the costs of economic globalization will find much to get riled up about in this book. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
CHOICE Review
Barlow (Council of Canadians) and Clarke (Polaris Institute of Canada) offer an environmental case against multinational corporations, globalization policies, and governmental failures, especially in Third World countries, in regard to water resource problems. The book's first two sections offer a basic modern history of the global availability of and demand for water and reproach governments and private industries for straining resources, resulting in less available and more expensive water for private citizens, worldwide. The final section encourages individuals to combat the privatization of water resources by becoming activists and partners with local, national, and international governments to protect and ensure water rights for individuals and ecosystems. Though facts and cases presented in the first few chapters are not well referenced, subsequent chapters are better documented. Perhaps bordering on alarmist, this is a thought-provoking work that presents an environmental viewpoint of the age-old problem of water rights while showing the impact of government and corporate policies on the quality of life and on the thoughts of people worldwide. Recommended for general readership. P. M. Watt United States Department of Agriculture