Water Ethics

by Brown, Peter G.; Schmidt, Jeremy J.

• ISBN13: 9781597265652
• ISBN10: 1597265659
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-27
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

Having manipulated water for irrigation, energy, and burgeoning urban centers, humans are facing the reality that although fresh water is renewable, it is as finite as any other resource. Countries, states, and cities are now scrambling to develop an intelligent, well-informed approach to mitigate the growing global water crisis.Water Ethicsis based on the belief that responding to contemporary water problems requires attending to questions of value and culture. How should we capture, store, and distribute water? At what cost? For whom? How do we reconcile water's dual roles as a practical resource and spiritual symbol? According to the editors of this collection of foundational essays, questions surrounding water are inherently ethical. Peter Brown and Jeremy Schmidt contend that all approaches to managing water, no matter how grounded in empirical data, involve value judgments and cultural assumptions. Each of the six sections of the book discuses a different approach to thinking about the relationship between water and humanity, from utilitarianism to eco-feminism to religious beliefs, including Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. Contributors range from Bartholemew, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church to Nobel Laureate economist Elinor Ostrom and water policy expert Sandra Postel. Each section is framed by an original introductory essay written by the editors. Water Ethicswill help readers understand how various moral perspectives, even when unstated, have guided and will continue to guide water policy around the globe.

Author Biography

Peter G. Brown is a Professor in the Departments of Natural Resource Sciences, Geography, and School of the Environment at McGill University. He is author of Restoring the Public Trust and The Commonwealth of Life: Economics for a Flourishing Earth, and coauthor of Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy.

 

Jeremy J. Schmidt is a PhD candidate and Trudeau Scholar in the Department of Geography at the University of Western Ontario.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Water Ethics and Water Management	p. 3
Dominion and the Human Claim to Water	p. 17
Editors Introduction	p. 19
Byzantine Heritage His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew	p. 25
Water Ethics Perspectives in the Arab Region	p. 29
Which Rights Are Right? Water Rights, Culture, and Underlying Values	p. 39
Women, Water, Energy: An Ecofeminist Approach	p. 59
Utilitarianism	p. 77
Editors' Introduction	p. 79
Water as a Resource	p. 87
Priming the Invisible Pump	p. 91
Surface Water and Groundwater Regulation and Use: An Ethical Perspective	p. 105
Understanding Transfers: Community Rights and the Privatization of Water	p. 117
A Basis for Environmental Ethics	p. 125
Water as a Community Resource	p. 139
Editors' Introduction	p. 141
Water Rights in the Commons	p. 147
Encounters with the Moral Economy of Water: General Principles for Successfully Managing the Commons	p. 155
The Legal Status of Water in Quebec	p. 167
The Rebirth of Environmentalism as Pragmatic, Adaptive Management	p. 179
Water: Life's Common Wealth	p. 197
Editors' Introduction	p. 199
Are There any Natural Resources?	p. 203
The Missing Piece: A Water Ethic	p. 221
Fish First! the Changing Ethics of Ecosystem Management	p. 227
Ethics in Complex Systems	p. 241
Editors' Introduction	p. 243
Ecohydrosolidarity: a New Ethics for Stewardship of Value-Adding Rainfall	p. 247
An Ethic of Compassionate Retreat	p. 265
Acknowledgments	p. 287
Contributors	p. 289
Advisory Board	p. 293
Index	p. 295
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