In honor of World Water Day 2016, this week's #ForewordFriday is all about water—and how Americans can't seem to get enough of it. Robert Glennon's book Unquenchable captures the irony—and tragedy—of America’s water crisis. From manufactured snow for tourists in Atlanta to trillions of gallons of water flushed down the toilet each year, Unquenchable reveals the heady extravagances and everyday inefficiencies that are sucking our nation dry. We can’t engineer our way out of the problem, either with traditional fixes or zany schemes to tow icebergs from Alaska. In fact, new demands for water, particularly the enormous supply needed for ethanol and energy production, will only worsen the crisis. America must make hard choices—and Glennon’s answers are fittingly provocative. He proposes market-based solutions that value water as both a commodity and a fundamental human right.
One truth runs throughout Unquenchable: only when we recognize water’s worth will we begin to conserve it. Read an excerpt of the book below or check it out here.
Katharine is the Publicity & Marketing Associate at Island Press.