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 Ethics is 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 Ethics will help readers understand how various moral perspectives, even when unstated, have guided and will continue to guide water policy around the globe.
PART I. Introduction Chapter 1. Water Ethics and Water Management
PART II. Dominion and the Human Claim to Water Chapter 2. Editors' Introduction Chapter 3. Byzantine Heritage Chapter 4. Water Ethics Perspectives in the Arab Region Chapter 5. Which Rights Are Right? Water Rights, Culture, and Underlying Values Chapter 6. Women, Water, Energy: An Ecofeminist Approach
PART III. Utilitarianism Chapter 7. Editors' Introduction Chapter 8. Water as a Resource Chapter 9. Priming the Invisible Pump Chapter 10. Surface Water and Groundwater Regulation and Use: An Ethical Perspective Chapter 11. Community Rights and the Privatization of Water Chapter 12. A Basis for Environmental Ethics
PART IV. Water as a Community Resource Chapter 13. Editors' Introduction Chapter 14. Water Rights in the Commons Chapter 15. Encounters with the Moral Economy of Water: General Principles for Successfully Managing the Commons Chapter 16. The Legal Status of Water in Quebec Chapter 17. The Rebirth of Environmentalism as Pragmatic, Adaptive Management
PART V. Water: Life' s Common Wealth Chapter 18. Editors' Introduction Chapter 19. Are There Any Natural Resources? Chapter 20. The Missing Piece: A Water Ethic Chapter 21. Fish First! The Changing Ethics of Ecosystem Management
PART VI. Ethics in Complex Systems Chapter 22. Editors' Introduction Chapter 23. Ecohydrosolidarity: A New Ethics for Stewardship of Value-Adding Rainfall Chapter 24. An Ethic of Compassionate Retreat
Acknowledgments Contributors Advisory Board Index
"This book sets a modest first step for exploring this new terrain."
