Free Downloads The Ripple Effect: The Fate Of Fresh Water In The Twenty-First Century
AS ALEX PRUD’HOMME and his great-aunt Julia Child were completing their collaboration on her memoir, My Life in France, they began to talk about the French obsession with bottled water, which had finally spread to America. From this spark of interest, Prud’homme began what would become an ambitious quest to understand the evolving story of freshwater. What he found was shocking: as the climate warms and world population grows, demand for water has surged, but supplies of freshwater are static or dropping, and new threats to water quality appear every day. The Ripple Effect is Prud’homme’s vivid and engaging inquiry into the fate of freshwater in the twenty-first century. The questions he sought to answer were urgent: Will there be enough water to satisfy demand? What are the threats to its quality? What is the state of our water infrastructure—both the pipes that bring us freshwater and the levees that keep it out? How secure is our water supply from natural disasters and terrorist attacks? Can we create new sources for our water supply through scientific innovation? Is water a right like air or a commodity like oil—and who should control the tap? Will the wars of the twenty-first century be fought over water? Like Daniel Yergin’s classic The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, Prud’homme’s The Ripple Effect is a masterwork of investigation and dramatic narrative. With striking instincts for a revelatory story, Prud’homme introduces readers to an array of colorful, obsessive, brilliant—and sometimes shadowy—characters through whom these issues come alive. Prud’homme traversed the country, and he takes readers into the heart of the daily dramas that will determine the future of this essential resource—from the alleged murder of a water scientist in a New Jersey purification plant, to the epic confrontation between salmon fishermen and copper miners in Alaska, to the poisoning of Wisconsin wells, to the epidemic of intersex fish in the Chesapeake Bay, to the wars over fracking for natural gas. Michael Pollan has changed the way we think about the food we eat; Alex Prud’homme will change the way we think about the water we drink. Informative and provocative, The Ripple Effect is a major achievement.
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (June 7, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416535454
ISBN-13: 978-1416535454
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #186,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #48 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Civil & Environmental > Environmental > Water Quality & Treatment #126 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Environmental Policy #226 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Natural Resources
Author Alex Prud `Homme claims "The Ripple Effect" is not an "encyclopedic" read, but at times if feels that way. That's not to say I wouldn't recommend this book; after all, the many troublesome issues over available, clean freshwater for citizens worldwide are crucial to know about and getting increasingly urgent by the year.Prud `Homme cannot be accused of forgoing research or skimping on facts. He transitions nicely from one troubled region to the next, giving proper weight to the severity of the problems but not sensationalizing, and offering advice by experts throughout. I came away thinking super-arid Arizona, remote Las Vegas, sprawling California and weather-troubled Georgia are in for some rough times, presently and in the future. The Midwest, where environmentally destructive farming methods and flooding are common, also has its share of water-related predicaments. Prud `Homme drives the point home that people all over the world -- from seasoned hydrologists to the average man and woman -- will need to rethink every aspect of water. As populations explode, drinkable H2O is dwindling -- something's got to give in this equation. Additionally, outdated, unregulated laws and a worrisome inclination by politicians and their constituents during the last decade or so to pay less attention to "the fate of freshwater in the twenty-first century" have exacerbated the problems.Admittedly, my eyes and thoughts glazed over at times as Prud `Homme intricately covered numerous judicial cases and technical details to supplement the themes. But numerous things stuck with me.
The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century Drop the Rock--The Ripple Effect: Using Step 10 to Work Steps 6 and 7 Every Day Ecology of Fresh Waters: A View for the Twenty-First Century Fruit Infused Water: 80 Vitamin Water Recipes for Weight Loss, Health and Detox Cleanse (Vitamin Water, Fruit Infused Water, Natural Herbal Remedies, Detox Diet, Liver Cleanse) Water-Quality Engineering in Natural Systems: Fate and Transport Processes in the Water Environment Trivia: The Rosie Effect: A Novel By Graeme Simsion (Trivia-On-Books) (The Rosie Project & The Rosie Effect Bundle Book 2) Water Treatment WSO: Principles and Practices of Water Supply Operations Volume 1 (Water Supply Operations Series) Water Quality & Treatment: A Handbook on Drinking Water (Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Series) The Wonders of Water - How H2O Can Transform Your Life: Vitality, Detox, Weight Loss, Quality Water, Benefits (Water Health, Vitality, Weight Loss, Fruit Infused Book 1) Solar PV Powered UV Water Treatment: How to Solar Power UV Water Sterilizing Systems for Drinking Water Onsite Fruit Infused Water: 101 Fruit Infused Water Recipes for Weight Loss, Detox and Metabolism Boosting Vitamin Water Water is Life: Different Sources of Water and Ways to Conserve Them (For Early Science Learners): Nature Book for Kids - Earth Sciences (Children's Water Books) Shake, Stir, Pour-Fresh Homegrown Cocktails: Make Syrups, Mixers, Infused Spirits, and Bitters with Farm-Fresh Ingredients-50 Original Recipes Cheesemaking: How to Make Fresh Cheeses Box Set: Recipes for Making and Recipes Using Fresh Ricotta, Mozzarella, Mascarpone,Cream Cheese, Feta, Brie and Camembert Paired with Wine Thailand in Pictures (Visual Geography (Twenty-First Century)) Civil Engineering Practice in the Twenty-First Century: Knowledge and Skills for Design and Management American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century: Social, Political, and Economic Challenges Circles on the Mountain: Bosnian Women in the Twenty-First Century State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Volume 1: The Politics of State Constitutional Reform (SUNY series in American Constitutionalism) State Constitutions for the Twenty-First Century: The Agenda of State Constitutional Reform (Suny Series in American Constitutionalism)
