We have extracted and exported much of our non-renewable resources. Water is renewable (with some exceptions). So why not put in place the world's largest water meter at the border and sell water? I am told that under international law once such exports start (for a resource such as water) they can't be stopped. Well this means we have to think carefully before we embark on such a sale.
The case for the world's largest water meter still sounds interesting. arthur -----Original Message----- From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 11:09 AM To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Futurework] Resource War II Arthur: > Don't forget all that nice clean Canadian water. Water that is needed in > the US Southwest. In some work I did a couple of years ago, I found that we Canadians are not very realistic in how they think about the water resources within the Canadian borders. We tend to believe that we have so much water that we have to give little attention to how much of it we use, pollute, waste, etc. We think of it as ours for all time, and that no one can take it from us or access it without our generous permission. We think of it as a God-given natural endowment, and therefore not capable of commodification. Those are some of our myths. The realities are quite different. One is that much of our fresh water exists in forms which are not easily useable - ice, including glaciers and permafrost, remote lakes and rivers, etc. Another is that much of our water exists as boundary surface and ground water which we must share with the US. The US has a huge and rapidly growing demand for water and a rapidly diminishing supply, especially in rain deficient areas such as the southwest and California. Proposals of an enormous scale to move Canadian water to the US, such as "NAWAPA" and the "GRAND Canal", have been proposed in the past. I would expect them to resurface within the next decade or so, but this time with much more force and vigour. Ed Weick > -----Original Message----- > From: Keith Hudson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 2:57 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Futurework] Resource War II > > > I think we ought to re-name this war as Resource War II, the '92 affair in > Kuwait having been Resource War I. There must have been many other wars > over resources throughout history but these two must be the first in which > the underlying reason was so stark and from which wider repercussions are > so dangerous. > > As the need for cheap oil and gas grows there'll be many other > international wars, of course, in the coming years -- in Saudi Arabia > itself (the catalyst that tripped-off the present one), Iran, the Caspian > countries, in Siberia as between China and Russian, in Nigeria and one or > two more key places. And then, when we consider the increasing shortage of > that even more vital resource, cheap fresh water (all of it recycled and > comprising only about 2% of total water on earth), which is already > becoming a concern between Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Iraq, then there'll be > more Resource Wars. > > How many in the next 20 years? A dozen major wars at least I would judge. > > Unless we rapidly develop the structure and powers of an independent world > resource authority with military powers -- the UN perhaps? > > Keith Hudson > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > ------------ > > Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com > 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England > Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________ > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
