Water In Plain Sight: Hope For A Thirsty World

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Water scarcity is on everyone's mind. Long taken for granted, water availability has entered the realm of economics, politics, and people's food and lifestyle choices. But as anxiety mounts - even as a swath of California farmland has been left fallow and extremist groups worldwide exploit the desperation of people losing livelihoods to desertification - many are finding new routes to water security with key implications for food access, economic resilience, and climate change.Water does not perish, nor require millions of years to form as do fossil fuels. However, water is always on the move. In this timely, important book, Judith D. Schwartz presents a refreshing perspective on water that transcends zero-sum thinking. By allying with the water cycle, we can revive lush, productive landscapes. Like the river in rural Zimbabwe that, thanks to restorative grazing, now flows miles further than in living memory. Or the food forest of oranges, pomegranates, and native fruit-bearing plants in Tucson, grown through harvesting urban wastewater. Or the mini-oasis in West Texas nourished by dew.Animated by stories from around the globe, Water In Plain Sight is an inspiring reminder that fixing the future of our drying planet involves understanding what makes natural systems thrive.

Hardcover: 256 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Press (July 26, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1250069912

ISBN-13: 978-1250069917

Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 9.6 inches

Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #231,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #41 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Civil & Environmental > Hydrology #44 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Water Supply & Land Use #61 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Civil & Environmental > Environmental > Water Quality & Treatment

Judith's work in her new book, Water In Plain Sight - Hope For A Thirsty Planet, and her previous book, Cows Save The Planet, bring us a huge message of hope as we are faced with climate change, drought, floods, wildfire, food insecurity and poor nutrition.Judith talks about how we are used to thinking about drought as a lack of rainfall, but we ignore the effects of land and soil degradation on the soil’s ability to hold onto rainfall. When we talk about climate change we focus on greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane, but water has the bigger ability to absorb heat. When we start to investigate the water cycle, we quickly become aware of how inextricably linked this is with the carbon cycle.Our standard agricultural practices, involving tilling the land, planting single species in huge fields and adding artificial chemical fertilizers, release the carbon from the soil, leaving it to hang out in our atmosphere, adding to the problems of climate change. In destroying the soil's structure, they destroy the amazing ecosystem that works to support plants, to hold carbon in the soil and to create healthy, nutrient dense food crops.In the book, Judith visits with people all over the world and tells us how each of them are changing the way they interact with the land to increase the carbon content of the soil. In doing so, they increase the water holding capacity of the soil, they grow plants that are more robust and nourishing, and those plants in turn create a cooler environment that is not only more comfortable to live in, they deter wildfire, attract more rain, creating this virtuous cycle that gives us refreshing hope in this war against climate change.

Before reading this book, I, like most people, assumed that climate change was due (exclusively) to an excess of carbon in the atmosphere. Schwartz explains how and why the water cycle -- and specifically, trying to slow it down -- is crucial to take into account in combatting climate change. She illustrates the often surprising ways that water plays its complex role in ecosystems, and how important it is to use and treat water resources both with imagination and care. Stories from her wide travels show the innovative ways people from all over the globe are using water well and healing the land around them, which in turn helps wildlife return, especially birds. I learned from and was inspired by this book, which does offer a generous serving of hope. Highly recommend.

Very insightful look at how we can use and conserve water by using Mother Nature. Must read for everyone as water becomes scarcer and simple ways to have water available through plants and common sense.

Really enjoyed this book. I learned about soil and grazing practices and innovative quirky characters trying to make lands healthy! Thanks for a really informative enjoyable read. Definitely recommend this book to land managers to think about how they might try some new approaches to avoid getting hit by drought.

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