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Fresh water is quickly becoming big business, and a preserve
of the wealthy. The world's most fundamental and indispensable
resource -- water -- is fast disappearing. In fact, a global shortage of water
is looming as the most threatening ecological, economic, and political crisis
of the twenty-first century. And who is making the
problem all the more severe? Big business. In Blue Gold, activists and
bestselling authors Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke document the rise of a rapidly
proliferating enterprise enabled by recent international trade agreements: the
privatization and commodification of water. They show how transnational corporations
-- including venture capitalists, heavy industry, bottled water purveyors, and
the two soft drink giants -- are laying claim to the world's water, packaging
it and selling it back to us at increasingly exorbitant rates. And their practices
are devastating ecosystems and depriving communities around the globe. Blue
Gold not only illuminates the dilemma we find ourselves in, but also arms
us with the information and strategies we need to make a difference in our own
country and globally. There is only one action to take, the authors argue in this
cogent and impassioned manifesto: we must become fresh water's responsible custodians. Maude
Barlow is the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and the bestselling
author of twelve other books. She is a director of the International Forum on
Globalization and co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, a global citizen's movement
to protect water. Tony Clarke is the director
of the Polaris Institute of Canada, and chairs the committee on corporations for
the International Forum on Globalization. He is also the author of Silent
Coup: Confronting the Big Business Takeover of Canada.
Together, Barlow and Clarke have co-authored three books on the Multilateral Agreement
on Investment, and were the Canadian leaders in the successful struggle to scuttle
the deal. |
