Water

Water is something most of us take for granted. We let the spigot run without giving it a thought.  With regard to the environment, we take many things for granted or perhaps many of us choose to remain ignorant.

It is difficult to listen to the news without some mention of global warming or climate change as it is now often referred to. Even watching the Super Bowl we were treated to a clever commercial involving the environmental police. Perhaps, we have become so inundated with discussions of the environment we turn a collective deaf ear.

Steven Solomon has just published his most recent book, Water, The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization. If you are at all a student of history you will find this a fascinating read simply for its entertainment value. There is so much more to it than entertainment, however.

Even for those of us who have picked up the environmental mantle and made such items as the diminishing water supply something to focus on and rail about, this book offers so much insight into the most elemental force that has determined the path of civilization.

“It is earth’s most potent agent of change,” writes Solomon. “Water in Ancient History,” Water and the Ascendancy of the Wet,” “Water and the Making of the Modern Industrial Society,” are beginning chapters in a study of water and its impact that, if nothing else, will make your jaw drop.

Tagged as: Environment, global warming, water supply