CULTURE: Environmental Historian Wennersten Weighs In With New Book on Global Thirst

Leading environmental historian John Wennersten has published new water book called “Global Thirst,” published by  SchifferBooks.

Water has been a hot topic recently among authors and book publishers.  Many books addressing have been written by journalists and academics who focus on a wide range of issues.  Dr. Wennersten’s interest in water dates back to the 1970s, when he began writing about Chesapeake Bay Oystermen.  An essay Wennersten published on this topic led to a request that he write a book, which became The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay (1981).  Other books followed with a focus on water and its relationship with the people living in DC, Virginia, and Maryland area, including Maryland’s Eastern Shore: A Journey in Time and Place (1992); The Chesapeake: An Environmental Biography (2000); Anacostia: The Death and Life of An American River (2008 – co-authored by Robert I Cottom).

With one of his sons moving overseas, and looking back at his own experiences living abroad, Wennersten has recently turned his attention to more global issues, related both to water and people.  Prior to global thirst, he published a book, Leaving America: The New Expatriate Generation, on the increase in Americans moving abroad.  Wennersten recognizes that a portion of this expatriate phenomenon has been tied to the growing awareness by Americans of the interconnectedness of resources and need for Americans to be involved in developing and implementing solutions to water challenges by Americans who see themselves as “global citizens.”

In Global Thirst, Wennersten discusses the role water has played in society throughout history, and how societies around the world have approached the management and protection of water.  He explores some of the key current stresses on water, and some solutions for sustainability – solutions that require planning and work, recognizing that “hope is not a strategy.”

Some of the topics this book explores:

-          Water’s role in culture, spirituality and religion, mythology and human speculation of the origins of life. 

“Rivers appear frequently in the world’s sacred traditions as symbols of divine influence and life’s interdependence. They evoke an image of spiritual-intellectual energies cascading through the manifold planes of cosmic and intellectual life.”

-          Water conflicts around the world, including fights over contaminated boundary waters (using California and Tijuana, Mexico as an example), conflicts within countries over control of waters between upper and lower classes; the “specter of water terrorism,” and how water issues have been the underlying basis for armed conflicts, highlighting the example of the Jordan River, shared by Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. 

-          Issues of water pollution and scarcity in regions throughout the United States and India

-          The critical role of sanitation systems – the collection and treatment of wastewater - for public health and life; the emergence of bathrooms as shrines to comfort and sanitation” in developed countries such as the United States and Japan; and the recognition of the role of wastewater as water supply for downstream communities.  

“Thirst is a driving biological force that causes millions of people to drink contaminated water.  Everyday, tens of thousands of people die of water-related illnesses that are directly related to contaminated water.  in the West, our basic confidence in the safety of our water blinds us to the harsher realities in other parts of the world. … It’s particularly ironic that these disease conditions persist in our era when technology has done so much in the world to eradicate disease.  Most of these maladies in the water can be easily removed by simple water treatments.”

-          Privatization of water, the emergence of the bottled water industry and “vanishing” of public drinking water fountains.

-          The problems of “dying rivers” around the world, such as the Po River in Italy, the Yangtze River in China; the Mondavi River in India; the Volga River in Russia; and the Murray River in Australia.

-          The impacts of global climate change and sea level rise, and the role of humans in creating water catastrophes.

“Carelessness and failure to plan have been the biggest enemies in the face of natural weather events.  Our water catastrophe (the complete global scarcity of water) will not be a product of Mother Nature – it will be human-made.”

Wennersten sat down with Water Citizen News to talk about his book, water history and his own history, and the pressing issues of global thirst.  Water Citizen’s interview with Wennersten is available here.