Venue/Location: Mission Theater, 1624 N.W. Glisan St., Phone: (503) 224-0166
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 7:00 AM
OMSI Science Pub - Blue Revolution: A Water Ethic for America
Presented by Cynthia Barnett, newspaper and magazine journalist for 25 years
Admission: $5 suggested cover charge
Science Pub is open to ages 21+, or minor with adult.
Doors open at 5:00pm. Most Science Pubs fill quickly, so come early to get a seat!
Americans see water as abundant and cheap: we turn on the faucet and out it gushes, for less than a penny a gallon. We use more water than any other culture in the world, much to quench what’s now our largest crop – the lawn. Yet most Americans cannot name the river or aquifer that flows to our taps, irrigates our food, and produces our electricity. And most don’t realize these freshwater sources are in deep trouble.
At this Science Pub, hear from award-winning journalist Cynthia Barnett about her new book, Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis. It describes a water crisis driven by a mechanical culture that encouraged everyone, from homeowners to farmers to utilities, to tap more and more. The best solution, she argues, also happens to be the simplest and least expensive: a water ethic for America. As the green movement helped build awareness about energy and sustainability, so a blue movement will reconnect Americans to their water. Avoiding past mistakes, living within our water means, and turning to “local water” as we do local foods are all part of this new, blue revolution.
Cynthia Barnett has been a newspaper and magazine journalist for 25 years. She has reported on freshwater issues from the Suwannee River to Singapore. Her first book, Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S., won the gold medal for best nonfiction in the Florida book awards and was chosen for "One Community/One Book" reads in thirty Florida counties. Her other awards include a national Sigma Delta Chi prize for investigative magazine reporting and eight Green Eyeshades, which recognize outstanding journalism in 11 Southeastern states. Ms. Barnett earned her master’s degree in environmental history and was the recipient of a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan, where she studied freshwater supply.