"Blue Gold: World Water Wars" & "FLOW"

There is a documentary movie about water issues. It is called Blue Gold: World Water Wars. Here is the movie trailer.

Wars of the future will be fought over water as they are over oil today, as the source of human survival enters the global marketplace and political arena. Corporate giants, private investors, and corrupt governments vie for control of our dwindling supply, prompting protests, lawsuits, and revolutions from citizens fighting for the right to survive. Past civilizations have collapsed from poor water management. Can the human race survive?

Director Sam Bozzo

The movie was released in Japan in January 2010. You can order the DVD, or you could download the movie as a BitTorrent -- with the understanding of the director!

Another 2008 documentary, Flow: For the Love of Water, also discusses the same issues, focusing on the privatization of water. The film was on TV in Japan on November 1, 2009. DVDs are also available.

You can read more about the water crisis and water politics (also known as hydropolitics) in these Wikipedia articles, which give a useful overview.

We don't use water in only the obvious ways. It also takes a lot of water to make food and other things we use. If we consider this "virtual water," then Japan is one of the world's biggest water users, as this map shows. Here are some tips for saving water.

Mekong River Commission

Visit the web site of the Mekong River Commission.

Wars for Water? (Unit 7--The Environment: Currents of Interest)

The article by Michael Klare was originally published in Newsweek.You can find another copy of it here.

Although the Newsweek article is positive about the chances for peace and international cooperation, Professor Klare seems to make the opposite points in some of his video-blogging at Big Think.


Listen to this.


Hey! Look! Joseph Stiglitz is on Big Think, too!