Sandra Postel is thinking outside the box
When it comes to water, here are some of our favorite sayings:
- Whiskey Is for Drinking; Water Is for Fighting Over
- Managing water is managing conflict
- Use it or lose it
Beyond the chest beating nature of these sayings lies a March Madness winner take all assumption. By virtue, luck or sleight of hand, he who has water is assumed to be at the gateway of power and riches.
Sandra Postel acknowledges the history and underlying truths of these sayings. That does not, however, stop her and others from challenging us with new ways to think about water in the 21st Century. She invites audiences to:
- Find the Triple Bottom Line (social, environmental and financial performance)
- Value Ecosystem Services (the daily benefits of properly-functioning ecosystems)
- Choose collaboration over conflict
Although the language is not as catchy, the new truths postulated by Postel can be found in partnerships spanning cultural, political and sovereign borders.
The motivation as Pat Mulroy, former general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, shared with us at our first H20 Breakfast is simple: “When there was no water left to fight over, the only thing left was to work together.”
Postel agrees, putting it in terms of the “tragedy of the commons.” If water is a commodity to be sought, governed and managed by self-interest, then the shared interests of the community as a whole may be lost.
Traditional thought may well blanch at such thinking. But Postel points to actions being taken in Brazil, the Rio Grande, Albuquerque, Danube River, Mississippi River and elsewhere showing governments, farmers, conservationists, developers and others joining hands. Why?
Said Postel in her book Replenish, “Stewardship is more than a feel-good concept: it must yield results. … the twenty-first century can be the age of replenishment, the time when we apply our ingenuity to living in balance with nature. In so doing, we can quench our own thirst while leaving a healthy water cycle for future generations.”
And can global trends identified by Postel be found locally? Yes. We’ll be talking more about that in our next post and at the H20 Breakfast.