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As water gets the attention it deserves, the issue can be framed in terms we understand all too well. Here are the 10 ways that freshwater and carbon dioxide are two sides of the same coin.
Water is the new oil. This is certain to be repeated ad nauseum in the coming months and years. But is it? Does it make any sense to compare water with oil? Not really. The more accurate way to understand the impending freshwater crisis is in terms of its atmospheric counterpart, CO2.
Scarcity and abundance. Get used to it. We’ve got too much water and not enough water. Too much pollution and not enough oil. Too many fat people and not enough food. Too many drugs and not enough medicine. Too many people and not enough of the basics for human survival. We’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately, per this fall’s Pop!Tech conference where the theme is…scarcity and abundance.
At first glance these terms appear at odds. But as the above examples show, they can be two sides of the same coin: thesis and antithesis. Put them together, and you get synthesis. That’s quite possibly the way we should view water and carbon.
First, let’s dispense with the oil-water analogy, as they literally do not mix. The comparison appears to make sense on the surface because the common challenge is scarcity. This gives way to the competing forces of supply and demand, pushing up the respective values, which drives profits and puts power in the hands of those who control supply. But this is where the comparison ends.
Oil is not a fundamental component of life. We don’t need oil to live. And while both resources are finite, water is uniquely and infinitely renewable. Whereas water gives life and has purifying qualities, oil causes cancer through its polluting qualities. To be clear, oil can be a fantastic natural resource. It’s just been poorly used and managed. But in the big picture, petroleum doesn’t hold a candle to water. Carbon does.
Indeed, water and carbon are the building blocks of life. We are carbon-based life forms composed primarily of water. Photosynthesis occurs when H2O and CO2 mix in the presence of light. One of its products is oxygen. The problem with these basic molecules of life, however, is that they’re out of balance. Scarcity on one hand, abundance on the other. It’s too little and too much of two good things.
In the following we outline the ten ways carbon and water are more alike than dissimilar, despite this distinction between scarcity and abundance.
10. Sequestration vs. Desalination: This is what it’s come to. There is so much CO2 in the atmosphere that we have find a way to capture and sequester it deep within the earth. One of the more popular places is deep aquifers. That’s right, we’ll create caverns full of Perrier. Meanwhile, we’re going to purify salt water through an energy-intensive process, thereby emitting more CO2 into the atmosphere, in order to sustain arid regions.
9. Conservation: Part of the answer to these troubles is to conserve the resources. Conserving energy limits CO2 emissions. Conserving water relieves pressure on an already taxed system. Neither sacrifices quality of life. With energy it’s a matter of developing zero-carbon sources, whereas with water it’s simply about more conscious use and management.
8. Pollution: Neither CO2 nor H2O is a pollutant, though the former will soon be regulated as one. Why? Because it’s far too abundant in the atmosphere for our own good. Water is subject to many types of pollution, which plays a big role in its scarcity. Just as we need to stop using our atmosphere as a storage tank for fossil-fuel emissions, we have to stop using our groundwater and waterways as storage tanks for toxic runoff.
7. Subsidies & Waste: When we don’t factor the full costs and value of these resources into the unit price at the consumer level, it encourages waste. Taxpayer subsidies for water and energy play a huge role. First, the subsidies need to be eliminated, and then taxes need to be layered on top to both encourage conservation and raise funds to repair the damage done thus far while investing in sustainable systems for the future.
6. Agriculture & Livestock: Sixty percent of the world’s freshwater withdrawals go to irrigation uses, and 18 percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions are tied to livestock. Toxic runoff from pesticides and chemical fertilizers pollutes rivers and creates dead zones downstream. Moves toward more sustainable farming practices not only addresses both of these issues but also presents outright solutions.
5. Technology: The so-called Clean Tech industry is dominated by technologies to address both freshwater scarcity and carbon abundance. There are tremendous wealth-creation opportunities in addressing these crises with the added benefit of saving lives and improving quality of life.
4. Weather Patterns: Global warming often gets too much credit for the water crisis. In the absence of CO2 abundance, we would still have water scarcity. It just wouldn’t be as bad. Still, the abnormal weather patterns of late can be attributed at least in part on a warmer atmosphere. These cause floods in some areas, like the American Midwest, while droughts worsen in others, like the American Southwest and Australia.
3. Bottled Water: When you look up “vicious cycle” in the dictionary, there should be a plastic bottle of Evian. The French company pioneered the packaging of an otherwise free beverage into plastic bottles so they could be shipped half-way across the world. The marketing convinces us that our abundantly safe freshwater supply is not safe. So we buy bottled water from France and Fiji, which requires absurd amounts of petroleum and CO2 emissions to produce, ship, and dispose of. Which erodes the quality of our freshwater supply, and compels us to buy bottled water.
2. Sustainable Levels: When you look at the problems of water and carbon, they really boil down to simple imbalances. And while the solutions are neither simple nor easy, at least we know what needs to be done. We need water and carbon to return to an equilibrium that is sustainable for all life on the planet…especially human life. In many ways, you can’t do one without the other. These issues are attached at the molecular hip.
1. Water Footprint: Water recently adopted the same footprint metric we’ve used for carbon and ecology over the past decade or so. According to Waterfootprint.org, “The water footprint of an individual, business or nation is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual, business or nation.” As with the carbon footprint, this includes all of the water used to manufacture goods. For example, a glass of beer has a water footprint of 75 liters. A kilo of corn takes 900 liters, regardless of whether it’s used for food or fuel.
It remains to be seen whether we’ll deal with our water footprints in the same way we’re dealing with carbon. We can certainly reduce our net impact through conservation, recycling, and buying lower-impact products (as those products become available). Beyond this, water offsets and so-called neutrality are areas that need to be explored.
H2OConserve.org also has a water footprint calculator. The Worldwatch Institute wrote an excellent piece on the subject, as did Hummingbird604. This is certain to be a topic of much study and debate.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Scott Badenoch // Aug 28, 2008 at 1:15 am
god damn max, this is an incredible article. seriously man, you keep outdoing yourself. this is definitely the best article i’ve read giving the credit/attention necessary to our water issues. and the play of scarcity and abundance…now that’s just classic.
Max Milton? Max Goodspeare? I digress…
2 The Daily Five: Thursday, 28 August, 2008 | EcoTech Daily // Aug 28, 2008 at 4:47 am
[...] Our Water Footprint is Deeper than it Looks: Most people are familiar with the term “carbon footprint” by now. How about a water footprint? Social media and Green living blogger Max Gladwell explores the similarity between the two concepts. Consuming a glass of beer has a footprint of about 75 liters, while a kilo of corn weighs in at about 900 liters. A similar amount of beef accounts for nearly 1600 liters of fresh water. WaterFootprint.com has more. (Max Gladwell) [...]
3 Plastic Demystified, What Do the Numbers Really Mean? | Modern Eco Homes // Jun 25, 2009 at 10:41 am
[...] It’s best to check Earth911 to find out what plastics in your area are recyclable, but don’t limit your recycling to only those that are recycled in your community. It’s also important not to mix plastics; this helps ensure that the plastics are a cleaner material when they go through the recycling process. Your best option is to reduce your use of plastic by buying items of recycled materials and always bring your cloth bags with you when out and about. It’s a great green investment to purchase an aluminum water bottle too. You know how I feel; every little bit helps. [...]
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