Monday 2 May 2016

A Few Quotes on Global Water Crisis from New Scientist Magazine

23 April 2016, from Arjen Hoekstra, Professor of Water Management, Twente



Nearly three-quarters of the planet is covered in it [water].
But just one per cent of that is fresh water available for our use.

Agriculture is the largest water consumer.

Meat is in a league of its own... how many animal products you eat has a big impact on your personal water footprint.

The vast majority (of water we use) relates to the products we consumer.

The real solution lies in agriculture... About one-third relates to the production of feed for the animals we consume.

We need to go to [become] a world where eating less meat is seen as a logical way to reduce the pressure on the environment. This is really the elephant in the room. Nobody's talking a
bout it.

Another way to make sure that water is not being overexploited or polluted is to put its real value into the price of products... this can only be done by taxing.

Three-quarters of the UK's water consumption is actually outside its borders. And about half of that usage is not sustainable.

It doesn't make sense that we [Northern Europe] produce so little of our own food.

It [imported food from poor countries] is not really cheap; it is at the expense of the people over there, their land and their water. And in the long run, our own food supply is at risk. We need to change the rules of the market by discriminating in favour of sustainable production.