BARLOW: "Water: Commons or Commodity?"

[Oscar]

Kitchener-Waterloo chapter tables during local live-stream of Barlow speech from New York

[ http://canadians.org/blog/kitchener-wat ... h-new-york ]

March 27, 2017 - 5:48 pm

The Council of Canadians Kitchener-Waterloo chapter had an information table at the Renison Ministry Centre/ Renison University College on the University of Waterloo campus during a live-stream presentation of Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow speaking from the Trinity Institute Water Justice conference in New York City.

The Trinity Institute had noted, "Water Justice, a global conference held in New York City and webcast all over the world. With a sharp focus on the need for water justice initiatives in areas of access, droughts, pollution, rising tides, and flooding, Trinity Institute aims to offer actionable guidance for individuals, congregations, and the larger faith community surrounding these issues."

For those in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, Trinity Institute at Renison 2017 organized a gathering in which people could, "listen to the speakers, ask panelists questions via email, and reflect in our own small groups about local water issues and actions."

Barlow spoke on March 23 at 9:30 am from Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City on “Water: Commons or Commodity?”

The conference schedule noted, "The United Nations has declared water as a human right. Global markets regard it as a commodity. Can a fresh approach to market capitalism serve the common good, or does the world need a new and different system of exchange Opening Talk: Maude Barlow, international water justice advocate and best-selling author. Response: Christiana Peppard, theologian Fordham University and author. After introductory talk and response, a diverse group of storytellers from around their world will describe how they experience the water crisis in their contexts."

In her speech, Barlow stated, "If we accept the argument that the best way to deal with this crisis is to take water into the market economy and sell it like oil and gas, we move the care and protection of water out of the hands of people and their governments and into the hands of private capital where the profit motive must take precedence."

She also highlighted, "People and their governments around the world are taking water back into public hands. Many municipalities are becoming 'Blue Communities' where they pledge to recognize water as a human right, maintain their water services under public control and promote tap water over bottled water where clean tap water is available."

To read Barlow's full speech, please click here:
[ http://canadians.org/blog/water-commons-or-commodity ]

The video of her 22-minute speech can now be watched here:
[ https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/video ... er-peppard ]

#right2water

Tags: chapters
[ http://canadians.org/tags/chapters ]

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

[Oscar]

Anglican conference in Kingston watches Barlow speech from Trinity Church in New York

[ http://canadians.org/blog/anglican-conf ... h-new-york [

April 10, 2017 - 7:28 am

The Kingston Whig-Standard reports, "Droughts, pollution and extreme weather were some of the topics discussed at the Water Justice 2017 conference on Saturday [April 8] in Collins Bay. The conference was held at St. Peter's Anglican Church and hosted by the Anglican Dioceses' Green Group. Those in attendance watched the webcasts from Maude Barlow, an author and water activist on the Council of Canadians, and Katherine Hayhoe, an author, climate scientist and director of the Climate Science Centre at Texas Tech University."

Barlow spoke on March 23 from Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City on 'Water: Commons or Commodity?'.

Local organizer Mary Raddon says, "This year it's all about water: water justice. ...We're concerned about the Great Lakes, that's pretty local. We have a perceived abundance of water. But last year, Lake Ontario went down about 18 inches. I watched in the harbour as the water went down, down, down. ...We had that drought last year in eastern Ontario that's affecting farmers and people on private wells. [We're discussing] how will be manage the resource that we have to ensure everyone has access."

Fellow organizer Mary Wooding notes, "The breakout sessions are sort of inspired discussions. We've provided some questions and they've broken into groups and they're actually having some really interesting discussions about their concerns about water. [The point of this exercise was] not just to sit around and learn new things, but to actually do something about it. We're going to be signing a petition to the Ontario government asking that they keep in mind water justice and the right for all to have access to safe and plentiful drinking water, and water in general."

The article adds, "Global water justice issues discussed included commodification of water by large bottling companies and the right for everyone to have access no matter where they live. They also talked about extraction, fracking and pollution."

And it notes, "Postcards were also sent to the federal government informing them of the action the participants are taking to protect and conserve water and what they hope the government will be in response."

To read Barlow's full speech, please click here: [ http://canadians.org/blog/water-commons-or-commodity ]

The video of her 22-minute speech can now be watched here: [ https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/video ... er-peppard ]

Barlow will also be speaking on the human right to water and our blue communities campaign at the upcoming Canadian Religious Conference meeting on June 6-8 in Toronto.

Further reading:

Kitchener-Waterloo chapter tables during local live-stream of Barlow speech from New York (March 2017)
[ http://canadians.org/blog/kitchener-wat ... h-new-york ]

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ https://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]