Whose Water Is It, Anyway? by Maude Barlow

In the book, Maude tells stories of her work on many issues, perhaps most importantly her successful advocacy of water as a human right. “Hope helps us to put one foot in front of the other when despair would tell us not to move.” If, after decades of advocacy, Maude can remain hopeful, surely we who have not carried such burdens can do so also. “Hope often defies logic and gives us the strength to continue when all the ‘facts’ tell us things are hopeless,” Maude writes.

Its title, appropriately, is Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism. A lifelong and world-renowned champion of water, Maude has authored a book built on her career of activism. Now, in 2022, comes another prophet of hope, Maude Barlow. In his 1960 Wilderness Letter, conservationist and author Wallace Stegner famously coined the phrase “geography of hope,” referring to the impulse that led Americans to the wilderness idea. Accelerating climate change, microplastics fouling oceans and the Great Lakes, our stubborn reliance on fossil fuels, and a governance system resistant to the holistic environmental reforms we need are only a few of our worries.īut hope is more critical than ever-and two famous environmental leaders are sources of optimism. Photo of Maude Barlow by Michelle Valberg.Īs the 53rd Earth Day approaches, it is difficult for some to look optimistically to the future.

Published on April 18th, 2022 by FLOW Editor - Blog Posts, News Concluding with a step-by-step guide to making your own community blue, Maude Barlow’s latest book is a heartening example of how ordinary people can effect enormous change.Tag: Maude Barlow The Geography of Hope Is Anchored in Our Precious Great Lakes In Whose Water Is It, Anyway?, renowned water justice activist Maude Barlow recounts her own education in water issues as she and her fellow grassroots water warriors woke up to the immense pressures facing water in a warming world. Today, Paris, Berlin, Bern, and Montreal are just a few of the cities that have made themselves Blue Communities. With its simple, straightforward approach, the movement has been growing around the world for a decade. The Blue Communities Project is dedicated to three primary things: that access to clean, drinkable water is a basic human right that municipal and community water will be held in public hands and that single-use plastic water bottles will not be available in public spaces. “Maude Barlow is one of our planet’s greatest water defenders.” ? Naomi Klein, bestselling author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine

Whose Water Is It, Anyway? by Maude Barlow