![]() ![]() I found Schmidts book to be challenging, stimulating and instructive, and I am sure it will quickly become core reading for anyone interested in water and society." Drawing on diverse conceptual traditions, including anthropology, geography, geology, environmental history and political philosophy, Schmidt traces the co-evolution of water management and American liberalism. It is an impressive and incisive look into the minds of those who control a substance that is essential to all forms of life." "I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the nexus between ideas and water, writ large. establishes fascinating connections between seeming dead ends in American intellectual history and todays global socioenvironmental concerns." " ambitious, deeply researched, and thoughtful work of interdisciplinary scholarship. "Watermakes a strong and compelling case that we have accepted for far too long the perspective that water can be constructed only, or primarily, as a resource." The very way we think about managing water resources validates putting ever more water to use for some human purposes at the expense of others. Schmidt shows how, when it comes to water, the two are one and the same. Schmidt demonstrates how the ways we think about water reflect specific public and societal values, and illuminates the process by which the American approach to water management came to dominate the global conversation about water.ĭebates over how human impacts on the planet are connected to a new geological epoch-the Anthropocene-tend to focus on either the social causes of environmental crises or scientific assessments of the Earth system. ![]() It shows how this philosophy shaped early twentieth-century conservation in the United States, influenced American international development programs, and ultimately shaped programs of global governance that today connect water resources to the Earth system. Water: Abundance, Scarcity, and Security in the Age of Humanity details the remarkable intellectual history of America’s water management philosophy. Understanding the global spread and evolution of this philosophy is now key to addressing inequalities that exist on a geological scale. Challenging this view, Jeremy Schmidt shows how water was made a “resource” that linked geology, politics, and culture to American institutions. ![]() For many, this brazen water grab and the social inequalities it produces reflect the lack of a coherent philosophy connecting people to the planet. This imbalance has created an era of intense water scarcity that affects the security of individuals, states, and the global economy. Humans take more than their geological share of water, but they do not benefit from it equally. An intellectual history of America's water management philosophy ![]()
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