NH Outlook Talk Show , Friday, 4/23/2010
script iconPreshow script iconWeb Promo
script iconHello/Intro script iconKey:Environment/Nature/Geography
script iconInterview part 1 script iconKey:Health/Healthcare
script iconInterview part 2 script iconKey:Agriculture
script iconThanks/Goodbye  

script iconPreshow
Return to index of stories... 		Video: Tap running dry
Track: It's easy to take water for granted. Until it's gone.
script iconHello/Intro
Return to index of stories... 		Hello. I'm Richard Ager. Welcome to this special Earth Day edition of NH Outlook. Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. Those famous lines in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner describe a lost soul, condemned to wander the endless sea for a crime against nature.
His throat parched, he is surrounded by water he cannot drink. That poem was written more than two hundred years ago, but it has taken on new meaning in the 21st century.
Today, countless millions have no access to safe water. Increasingly, control of water supplies is ending up in private hands, setting the stage for the emerging global water crisis.
That is the subject of a new book by Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the United Nations General Assembly and founder of the Blue Planet Project. I spoke with Maude Barlow during her recent visit to the University of New Hampshire for a talk on sustainability.
script iconInterview part 1
Return to index of stories... 		BITE: MAUDE BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 15:48:42:25 "I'VE READ YOUR BOOK AND I'VE CONCLUDED WATER IS BIG BUSINESS." 15:48:47:24
15:48:47:24 "Water's a big crisis. Human crisis. Ecological crisis. The world's running out of it."
15:48:58:24
-Big corporations are really interested because we are running out.
-If it becomes a market commodity, people will pay anything because you can't live without it.
-Question is, "Who's going to control it? Who has to power to decide who gets access?"
15:49:22:27
15:49:22:27 "YOU KNOW IT'S SORT OF COUNTER-INTUITIVE. YOU LOOK AT THE PICTURES OF EARTH FROM SPACE AND YOU SEE A BIG BLUE MARBLE…WATER COVERS THREE QUARTERS OF IT. AND ASK YOURSELF, 'HOW CAN THIS BE?'"
15:49:32:25 If you were to ….it wouldn't look like much.
script iconInterview part 2
Return to index of stories... 		BITE: BARLOW PRESENTATION DISK 19:54:08:19
"WE HAVE QUITE SIMPLY ASSUMED THAT WE CAN UNDERTAKE ANY DEVELOPMENT OR INDUSTRY WHENEVER WE WANT, WHEREVER WE WANT, HOWEVER WE WANT. WE CAN GROW WHATEVER FOOD WE WANT, ANYWAY WE WANT…HOWEVER, WHENEVER, NOT OBEYING ANY KIND OF RULES FOR NATURE. IN FACT, THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE HAVE SEEN WATER AS A WAY TO MAKE OURSELVES WEALTHY. WE'VE SEEN IT AS A TOOL-AN ECONOMIC TOOL FOR OUR YOUTH, BENEFIT, AND PROFIT, AND PLEASURE. WE HAVE NOT SEEN WATER-AND THIS IS MAYBE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I CAN SAY TO YOU TONIGHT-WE HAVE NOT SEEN WATER AS THE MOST ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF A LIVING BREATHING ECOSYSTEM. AN ESSENTIAL LIVING, BREATHING ECOSYSTEM IS WHAT GIVES US LIFE, IT'S WHAT GIVES EVERYTHING ON EARTH LIFE. IT GIVES OTHER SPECIES, ALL PLANTS AND ANIMALS LIFE AS WELL. AND WE HAVE TO START LEAVING IT IN THE GROUND. WE HAVE TO STOP OVER-PUMPING IT. WE HAVE TO STOP POLLUTING IT-IT'S GOT TO BE SEEN AS A CRIME TO POLLUTE WATER THAT OTHER PEOPLE NEED FOR LIFE. MARTIN LUTHER KING SAID 'LEGISLATION MAY NOT CHANGE THE HEART, BUT IT WILL RESTRAIN THE HEARTLESS.'"
19:55:16:25
NEW MAUDE BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:06:03:28 "YOU'RE NOT PROPOSING A SIMPLE FIX. WHAT IS STAGGERING IS THE SHEER RANGE OF FRONTS THAT YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THIS ON. TO LOOK AT ONE ASPECT: DAMS. THEY CONTROL WATER, PROVIDE POWER, DON'T EMIT GREENHOUSE GASES." 16:06:19:12
16:06:19:12 -Maude argues they do emit greenhouse gases because of the methane buildup.
-Not opposed to small dams.
-50,000 large dams in the world
-Hoover Dam/Lake Mead-lake used to be deepest man-made. Now, only has twelve years left before it dries. 16:07:22:22
BITE: MAUDE BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:08:37:25 ***" What we need in every jurisdiction we need a fifty year plan. We need mapping. We need to know how much water we have-ground water and surface water. We have to bring in laws to protect that from polluters and from over abuse and use. We have to say, 'Who's going to be demanding this water, now and in the future? How much can each section take and have, but still leave enough for the healthy functioning hydrologic cycle?' We need to place a priority in water. We need to name our water a public trust that nobody can own, that belongs to everyone, that belongs to the future, that belongs to the ecosystem." 16:09:22:22 Richard - "NO PRIVATE BOTTLING PLANTS?"
Maude - "We don't need private bottling plants in this country. We have clean, beautiful water coming out of the taps."
16:09:28:08 Richard - "WE DON'T NEED BOTTLED WATER AT ALL?"
16:09:30:22 Maude - "We don't need bottled water at all. There are parts of the world where their public systems are not clean. And there probably will be, my dream that there is no bottled water. I know there's a need for that in some places at the moment. But there's nowhere in North America that we need bottled water."
16:09:45:09
Richard - "WHAT ABOUT THE CONVENIENCE IT GIVES? CONVENIENCE IS A LARGE PART OF WHAT THE SOCIETY IS ABOUT…"
16:09:51:08
Maude - *** "Convenience is what's going to kill the planet. ***Last year, we drank so many bottles of plastic water-just water alone. I'm not talking about Coca-Cola or orange juice or anything else-just commercial water alone-that if you put them back to back they would have gone to the moon and back sixty five times.*** 16:10:09:13
NEW: BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:10:23:04 "JUST IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, A NEW AD CAMPAIGN HAS EMERGED SPONSORED BY THE SOFT SPRING SODA BOTTLING COMPANIES. JOINTLY BY PEPSI AND COCA-COLA AND OTHERS-PROMOTING THE FACT THAT THEY ARE REPLACING THE SUGARED DRINKS IN HIGH SCHOOLS AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS WITH WATER AND OTHER NON-SUGAR DRINKS.
INSERT: SOUNDUP FROM "RIVALS" TV AD
NEW: BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:10:46:29 -Dasani and Aquafina are biggest bottled water companies in the world. -First time in the past year, their bottled water sales have dropped in North America and Europe due to "fight back."
16:11:24:11 "The bottle water industry may not take as much water as industrial agriculture in an overall sense. But, they take it locally and situationally because they put up a plant. They find a source, they put up a plant and they will mine that source until it's gone. They're like a gold mining country. They come in, they mine it until it's gone and then they move on."
16:11:49:04
-Leaves small communities with no water.
-Also leaves environmental footprint because greenhouse gasses are emitted.
-For what? For people in urban centers who can have better tested, regulated, and free tap water but chose to have commercial water.
-Bottled water companies have done a good job of making us think we have to have water with us at all times or we're in imminent danger of death.
-It's filtered tap water. You're paying two thousand times more for your water than you could if you got it out of a tap. You've already paid to have it clean with your taxes.
16:13:11:01
BITE: MAUDE BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:19:07:02 "I COULDN'T HELP NOTICING, ON A LOCAL NOTE, WE HAD A LOCAL DISPUTE JUST A FEW MILES FROM HERE IN NOTTINGHAM. IT CAME INTO YOUR ATTENTION, MADE IT IN YOUR BOOK. WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THAT DISPUTE THAT INTERESTED YOU?"
16:19:20:10 -Got involved in a group called 'Save Our Groundwater.'
NEW Soundup: OL 72 0:11;50 Mother Nature guarantees the water will come back to me. USA Springs guarantees nothing.
BITE: BARLOW PRESENTATION DISK: 19:18:54:26 "-IN MAY OF 2006 I THINK, STATE PARK GROUNDWATER THAT MYSELF, AND MY HUSBAND HERE, AND A BUNCH OF NEIGHBORS ALL FORGED TO PROTECT OUR GROUNDWATER…WE LOST A VERY IMPORTANT CASE IN THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SUPREME COURT ALONG WITH CHANCE AT NOTTINGHAM AND BARRINGTON TO KEEP OUR WATER-OUR GROUNDWATER, IN THE LOCAL WATERSHED. AND WE WERE DEVASTATED AS YOU CAN IMAGINE. WE JUST FOUGHT, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, FOR SEVERAL YEARS…WE'RE ACTUALLY STILL FIGHTING IN 2010 THIS CASE THAT BEGAN IN 2001. I RECEIVED AN E-MAIL AFTER THAT COURT CASE HAPPENED-IT WAS ALL IN THE NEWS AND THE COMPANY WAS GOING TO BUILD THE WATER BOTTLE PLANT…AND MAUDE SENT ALL OF US AT THE STATE PARK GROUNDWATER ASSOCIATION THE MOST REMARKABLE E-MAIL…I'LL JUST READ A COUPLE SECTIONS FROM IT FOR YOU."
BITE: BARLOW PRESENTATION DISK: 19:22:06:21 "' …IT IS NOT ABOUT WINNING A PARTICULAR CASE OR EVEN A CAMPAIGN. IT IS ABOUT BUILDING A MOVEMENT THAT IS SUSTAINABLE. IT IS ABOUT DEMOCRACY. IT IS ABOUT SUPPORTING ONE ANOTHER THROUGH THE HARD TIMES. IT IS ABOUT LAUGHTER AND GOOD FOOD TOGETHER. IT IS ABOUT LONG HOURS DRIVING TO LONG MEETINGS. IT IS ABOUT TRUST AND FRIENDSHIP. IT IS ABOUT PROTECTING ALL THAT IS GOOD TO THE FUTURE GENERATIONS AND THE PLANET. IT IS ABOUT COMMITMENT TO A DREAM THAT IS LARGER THAN ANY ONE OF ITS PARTS.'"
NEW: BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:19:40
-Ended up wearing the other side out and winning the project.
-Set up permanent committee looking at legislation-have a bill that will give local municipalities much more of a say in water taking.
16:20:07:14
"I still think there's further to go here in New Hampshire. I think they should really decide that it's full public trust. There should be open hearings. I think that people whose properties or businesses about the site should have legal standing to have more of a say. It could be stronger but it's the beginning step in the consciousness here."
16:20:27:09
-Best legislation in VT-two years ago won legislation to have their groundwater be a public trust. They say it doesn't belong to anybody.
-If you're going to use more than a certain amount-business or bottled water-you have to get a license/permit to use it. If you use too much or pollute it they can shut you down.
16:20:53:20
"It is part of our commons. Nobody has a right to hurt it or profit from it while other people are suffering from a lack of it."
16:21:03:19
BITE: MAUDE BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:21:03:19 "YOU USE THE TERM 'COMMONS' AND THAT REALLY IS A KEY PHRASE IN WHAT YOU ARE CALLING THE 'BLUE COVENANT' ISN'T IT? A NEW DEAL, ESSENTIALLY FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, AND IT'S WATER." 16:21:14: 02
16:21:14: 02 *** "We need a set of principles to guide us is our protection, and our use, and our sharing of water. It needs to be based on the notion of 'equitable access.' Nobody should be denied water because they cannot pay. And nobody should be having to watch their children die the horrible death they die when they have the internal diseases from these water-born pathogens. That's just got to be fundamental and basic."
16:21:39:21 *** "We need to protect water for itself. Water doesn't just serve us. It keeps all of life going. It's like saying you can put poison in one part of your blood stream and it won't move. Well of course it will."
16:21:50:24 "Other species have rights to water, they have rights to live. Do we want to be the only specie on the planet? Is that what we want? Only rich people with access and other species die and poor people die. Because that's where we're moving. 16:22:02:26
BITE: MAUDE BARLOW INTERVIEW DISK 16:23:06:25 "YOU STATE, 'THE TASK AT HAND IS NOTHING LESS THAN RECLAIMING WATER FOR THE EARTH AND ALL PEOPLE. IT MUST BE WIDELY AND SUBSTANTIALLY MANAGED. WE MUST ASPIRE TO LIVE WELL, NOT LIVE BETTER THAN OTHERS.' THAT'S SORT OF WHERE IT CUTS AT THE PROTESTANT WORK ETHIC AND A FEW OTHER DRIVING ENGINES OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY." 16:23:35:22
16:23:35:22 "I think there's a difference between aspiring and working hard and getting the rewards of that. And living the kind of insane life that some people are living. We're living in a world of such extreme excessive and haves and have-nots. Never in American history has there been a deeper divide between the wealthy and the poor, it has absolutely reached the worst proportions. Like old Rome, with the people around with so much wealth they can't even get up. We've got a huge water theme park, as we speak, in the desert in Arizona. I mean we've got to stop making these kinds of decisions. And people who have three swimming pools and massive areas of lawn just because they can afford them and who live in t he desert. They should not be allowed to do that to water. ***I'm telling you it will come because we will either voluntarily come together and decide to protect water, or one day water will teach us because it will run out. It's finite. Just remember this: it is a finite resource. We are polluting it, dismantling it, piping it into the desert, dumping it, polluted, into the ocean. We are taking that finite amount and we are removing it from our access and the access of other species. There's no substitute, we haven't figured out any other way to make water. It is the basis of all life.*** And we've got three billion more people about to be added to the planet? I say we take care of this water. I say we take care of it now. And we come together to talk about how we do this." ***
16:25:05:10
16:25:05:10 "GIVEN ALL THAT YOU HAVE JUST SAID, ARE YOU HOPEFUL?"
16:25:08:22 Maude - "Yes."
Richard - "GIVEN YOUR STUDY OF HUMAN NATURE IN HISTORY…"
16:25:15:01 Maude - "It's my role to be hopeful, partly. I do believe that hope is a moral imperative. I work with a lot of young people. And I find that young people get the environmental issue. They're frightened of a future. They get what's happening. They have access to the information- they can read it on their computers. Their teachers are teaching it to them. They get it when you tell them about bottled water. I go into school where kids have-say for a week or two-they just collect all the empty plastic bottles from the cafeteria and from the vending machines. They string them back to back and they're all through the halls and out into the yards and out into the lanes and the yards and sometimes out into the street. They show this to the other students and say, 'Is that the footprint we want to leave on this earth?'"
16:25:57:10
"I'm hopeful because I think there's a consciousness growing and we have to be hopeful. I mean, we live in North America. We're blessed to live here. We have to be hopeful. How dare we not be when we look at how other people live. But we will not sustain this. It's not sustainable. It's not just. It's not fair. The earth will bite back. So we better look at what we have-all this beauty and take care of it."
script iconThanks/Goodbye
Return to index of stories... 		That's all the time we have today for this edition of NH Outlook. I'm Richard Ager, I'll see you next time.
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script iconKey:Environment/Nature/Geography
Return to index of stories... 		NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 4/23/2010
HOST: Richard Ager Length: 25:32
Hello. I'm Richard Ager. Welcome to this special Earth Day edition of NH Outlook. Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. Those famous lines in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner describe a lost soul, condemned to wander the endless sea for a crime against nature.
His throat parched, he is surrounded by water he cannot drink. That poem was written more than two hundred years ago, but it has taken on new meaning in the 21st century.
Today, countless millions have no access to safe water. Increasingly, control of water supplies is ending up in private hands, setting the stage for the emerging global water crisis.
That is the subject of a new book by Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the United Nations General Assembly and founder of the Blue Planet Project. I spoke with Maude Barlow during her recent visit to the University of New Hampshire for a talk on sustainability.
PRODUCER/REPORTER: Richard Ager NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Maude Barlow\Author "The Blue Covenant" and UN Senior Advisor on Water Issues
script iconKey:Health/Healthcare
Return to index of stories... 		NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 4/23/2010
HOST: Richard Ager Length: 25:32
Hello. I'm Richard Ager. Welcome to this special Earth Day edition of NH Outlook. Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. Those famous lines in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner describe a lost soul, condemned to wander the endless sea for a crime against nature.
His throat parched, he is surrounded by water he cannot drink. That poem was written more than two hundred years ago, but it has taken on new meaning in the 21st century.
Today, countless millions have no access to safe water. Increasingly, control of water supplies is ending up in private hands, setting the stage for the emerging global water crisis.
That is the subject of a new book by Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the United Nations General Assembly and founder of the Blue Planet Project. I spoke with Maude Barlow during her recent visit to the University of New Hampshire for a talk on sustainability.
PRODUCER/REPORTER: Richard Ager NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Maude Barlow\Author "The Blue Covenant" and UN Senior Advisor on Water Issues
script iconKey:Agriculture
Return to index of stories... 		NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 4/23/2010
HOST: Richard Ager Length: 25:32
Hello. I'm Richard Ager. Welcome to this special Earth Day edition of NH Outlook. Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. Those famous lines in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner describe a lost soul, condemned to wander the endless sea for a crime against nature.
His throat parched, he is surrounded by water he cannot drink. That poem was written more than two hundred years ago, but it has taken on new meaning in the 21st century.
Today, countless millions have no access to safe water. Increasingly, control of water supplies is ending up in private hands, setting the stage for the emerging global water crisis.
That is the subject of a new book by Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water Issues to the United Nations General Assembly and founder of the Blue Planet Project. I spoke with Maude Barlow during her recent visit to the University of New Hampshire for a talk on sustainability.
PRODUCER/REPORTER: Richard Ager NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Maude Barlow\Author "The Blue Covenant" and UN Senior Advisor on Water Issues
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