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Great
Lakes for Sale
From
Whitecaps to Bottlecaps
By
Dave Dempsey
A
must-read book from a renowned environmental writer
about one of our most precious natural resources
Great
Lakes for Sale is a book for anyone
interested in saving the Great Lakes, a huge fresh-water
system that contains an estimated 6 quadrillion gallons
of water and about twenty percent of the world's fresh
surface water. The book poses---and answers---important
questions about the export and diversion of Great
Lakes water. Not only does Great
Lakes for Sale examine past and present
water-diversion practices; it also shows readers what
they can do to save this natural resource.
It's
difficult to understate the importance of the Great
Lakes water system---economically, environmentally,
or from a public-health perspective. The Great Lakes
support year-round sport fishery, they provide a route
for commercial and recreational navigation, and they
supply many communities with drinking water. Water
means jobs and life in the Great Lakes region. And,
while residents of this huge region revel in a seemingly
limitless quantity of fresh water today, it's likely
that the future will see that same fresh water grow
ever more scarce as well as become a source of contention
between thirsty communities---and corporations---further
afield and those who live in this giant watershed.
Great
Lakes for Sale is an important part
of the effort to remind people why commercialization
of Great Lakes water is a dangerous threat. It's not
simply a matter of how much water in the short term
is removed; the long-term threat is control of water
and the possibility that non-Great Lakes interests
will assert ownership of the very substance of the
Great Lakes.
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