Book Review of: Blue Revolution

Unmaking America's Water Crisis

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Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, author of over 6,000 articles.

I recommend this book to everyone in every walk of life and in every age group.

Ms. Barnett author did a thorough job of research and carefully crafted her writing to deliver a factual work that keeps the reader engaged. The topic is crucial and may soon be "the" crucial topic in our society. Incidentally, during the time I read this book, I also watched a water documentary from about ten years ago. What's scary is there hasn't been a whole lot of progress in that time.

This subject is one of the "big three" emerging crises of our time (gangsta government and peak oil are the other two). As with the way private corporations create gangsta government via buying public officials, we are already seeing private corporations steal water the same way.

In Central America, water theft ("privatization") devastated one community that was doing just fine prior to the takeover. Closer to home, Nestle Corporation bought a superior court judge in Wisconsin so it could overturn a lower court ruling and continue its unconscionable and devastating theft of central Wisconsin water. Can you say "boycott?"

And this brings me to one of three smallish problems with this book.

• Problem one. The author may be relying too much on government solutions to water problems. With gangsta government so pervasive these days, I just don't see much hope there. Fortunately, that isn't her focus. She talks about a national water ethic and it seems her goal is to get the everyday person to think about water. She provides plenty of guidance in that area.
   
• Problem two. Anyone who is not on an unhealthy low fiber diet has problems with low-flush toilets. These actually waste water. The author advocates these; maybe I missed the update on ones that actually work? I do have a low-flow showerhead (it uses air to make up for the water it saves), and love it even though the early ones were simply restricted flow devices that forced you to take longer showers.
   
• Problem three. The author makes statements indicating the global warming mania is actually real. The fact that the "solution" is a tax scheme should tell you something (and there's a huge body of evidence against the supporting arguments). In fact, "global warming" is about wealth transfer. It diverts intellectual and other resources away from solving our problems of wasting and polluting. If we could get those under better control, we'd make progress on the carbon emissions anyhow.

None of the three problems detract from the author's main thesis. She also used good logic and drew from a comprehensive body of research. That bears some comment. In research, some sources are better than others. A primary source is the best; it's the original research or the original statement. Secondary sources are things like a trade journal that reports on what was said or done. A tertiary source is where someone gets information from other sources.

I made a quick perusal through her relatively large bibliography (30 pages of tiny text for a 229 page book is pretty serious) and it looked like mostly primary sources. Wow! It didn't take me long to read this book (at least, with her engaging writing style it did not feel like very long), but it's obvious she put enormous amounts of time into it. And she was serious about getting her facts right. In addition to heavily tapping primary sources, she didn't follow today's convention of using invalid sources.

If you're looking for a list of 50 steps you can take to reduce water waste, that's not what she wrote about. She did mention such things as changing your landscaping, watering grass less, and using a rain barrel or other rain capture system. For particular things you can do, you just need to have the desire to do a little research on your own. It's easy enough to find that info. The author does have her own Website (you can easily find it), but it's not where you would find this kind of info.

A subject I've been deeply involved in for many years is industrial safety, and what's key there is to get the right mindset. Ms. Barnett is taking this same approach to the impending water crisis. It's obvious that we don't yet have a water ethic in our culture. As Ms. Barnett pointed out, we got a national ethic with littering--consequently, people just don't litter like they used to and litter laws are beside the point. In safety, it's exactly that way--people with the right attitude think about their actions, and safety "regulations" are beside the point.

Now is the time to work on your own water ethic and to spread that to others in your sphere of influence. This book can greatly assist you in that endeavor.

Blue Revolution consists of 12 chapters spanning 229 pages. It has an extensive bibliography and an index. Immediately following the text is the best "Acknowledgement" I have ever read. Instead of a laundry list of names and superlatives, it tells a story. And tells it well.