If ever a book has been written that demands to be read it is this one. This is that rare thing - a journey through a hugely important and complex subject in the company of a natural storyteller who makes you feel intelligent.
- Tim Smit
Synopsis
Do you know how much water you use each day – not just the 5 litres you may drink, or the 150 litres you guzzle to cook, wash, and flush the toilet with. It takes around 500 litres of water to grow the wheat to produce a loaf of bread. A staggering 11,000 litres to feed enough cows to make a quarter-pound hamburger. You could take 25 baths in the water it takes to grow the cotton for just one T-shirt.
The South East of Britain has less water per capita than the Sudan or Ethiopia and while there is less and less rain our demand grows. Slowly but surely we’re draining our rivers and hillside springs dry. Much more alarming, we import huge volumes of water in our dockside deliveries of wheat, beef, rice. And while our water crisis is relatively tranquil, it is repeated – often in vastly more dangerous form – across the world.
That we face a world-wide crisis is no idle threat. Pearce’s 15-year research into water issues has taken him all over the world. His vivid reportage reveals the personal stories behind failing rivers, barren fields, desertification, floods and water wars. His book gives a clear and terrifying picture of the consequences if no remedial action is taken, but also a brilliantly challenging explanation of the steps we must take to ensure the ‘blue revolution’ the world desperately needs.
Reviews
Of all the travel books I have ever read this is the most frightening, the most inspiring and the most important...A book every politician must be made to read and understand.
- David Bellamy
Environmental journalist Fred Pearce's book, When the Rivers Run Dry could not be better timed
- Robin McKie, The Observer
...Pearce argues powerfully that unless mankind can rethink its whole attitude towards the use and misuse of resource, the consequence could be famine, pestilence and even war for huge numbers of human beings.
- Trevor Grove, Daily Mail
More Information
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Eden Project Books (2 April 2007)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1903919584
ISBN-13: 978-1903919583
Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2.8 cm