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Published on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by GRITtv
Maude Barlow: Running out of Water
Despite what you learned in science class in school, Maude Barlow says, it is in fact possible for the Earth to be running out of water. Pollution and population are on the rise, and corporations encroach on the water rights of people around the world, fencing off and bottling up a natural resource that should be available to all.
Barlow is a longtime activist for water rights, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and a longtime fighter against globalization. She joins Laura in studio to explain how the water crisis happened, why it's getting worse, and why we must act now to ensure access to water before the resource wars get any worse.
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4 Comments so far
Show AllHats off to Maude Barlow for keeping up the fight! Great woman!
Do I understand this? That there are people, supposedly educated that do not know that "Water" is a human right? That Humans need "WATER" to survive?
There was an old woman who swallowed a lie, I don't know why she swallowed that lie, perhaps she die.
There was an old man who swallowed a lake, I don't know why he swallowed that lake, his life's at stake!
There was an old Corp. that swallowed a town, I don't know why they swallowed that town, perhaps they'll drown...!
Of Maude Barlow it is written that "She joins Laura in studio to explain how the water crisis happened, why it's getting worse, and why we must act now to ensure access to water before the resource wars get any worse."
That there is a "water crisis" I find beyond doubt -- decades ago many qualified people were writing that the leading cause of war and other violence would sooner rather than later be access to water.
To this Babygoat responds, "Do I understand this? That there are people, supposedly educated that do not know that 'Water' is a human right? That Humans need 'WATER' to survive?"
That Humans, and indeed all terrestrial life forms, "need WATER to survive", is certain without doubt. That water should be denied to no one I believe, I expect, as fervently as does Babygoat. But how does one get from "Humans need water to survive" to Water is a human right? Who decides what is a right? Does a need establish a right? Who decides what is "needed"?
Mother Nature decided what was needed for survival a long time ago. If we do not have rights to the fundamental needs for survival, then isn't it a bit of a farce to fight so hard to defend the "right" to free speech, or freedom of assembly, e.g.? And would you argue that the "right to bear arms" is more fundamental than rights to the bare necessities of survival? Or are you suggesting that only might makes right(s)?