I am a member of the Sustainability Professionals Linkedin Group. It has 26,000 members and
very active discussion threads. I bring this up because one thread that started a few months ago brings up many of the reasons for our next webinar on Water and Food Adaptation.
If you are a Sustainability Professionals member or decide to join, the discussion title is : ”Intrigued to see that Water is never a big part of Sustainability talks. It´s always energy and carbon footprint. Is there a reason that it´s never discussed?“
The point of the Linkedin discussion is that the public face of climate change focuses primarily on energy and infrastructure impacts, while water quality and clean water availability is a secondary issue. The nearly 500 comments in the discussion thread are split about equally between supporting and counter examples to the premise. However, commenters all agree that water scarcity is a growing problem because of changing weather patterns that threaten social structures around the world, regardless of the amount of public attention it currently receives.
On August 4, 2011, The Security and Sustainabiliy Forum´s second webinar in our Adaptation and National Security Series is ”Food and Water Adaptations to Protect the National Security in a Changing Climate”, led by former EPA Assistant Administrator and Cadmus Principal Tracy Mehan. In this session, Tracy and a panel of notable experts including Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, Jay Knott, former AID Jordan Mission Director and Abt Executive VP Global Business, and Ed Pinero, Chief Sustainability Officer with Veolia North America, deal directly with the security implications of water and also food scarcity.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Veolia Water´s report, ” Finding the Blue Path for a Sustainable Economy” hits the high points of water as a limiting factor in health and welfare. Coupled with population growth, the competition for clean water and consistent food sources creates social pressures and potential changes in migration patterns that increasingly threaten the national security of many nations. Join in the discussion by registering for SSF´s 1:45 to 3:45 pm EDT August 4th webinar at http://securityandsustainabilityforum.org/new/events/
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As a member of several committees and boards that focus on sustainability our discussions have shifted to include water as a high priority item. It also directly affects energy consumption so a great logo might be water flowing from a faucet = $. It would drive home an important connection.