Another Way Not to Sustain Ourselves

G. Rendell muses on what we'll call "crises-in-waiting"—worldwide environmental problems affecting everyone and almost inevitably coming, such as widespread problems with access to water. Once you start taking a close look at the sustainability of your campus, water clearly becomes a strategic priority:

So, a culture failing to sustain itself would hardly be a first. (And, if we survive this one, will probably happen again in future.) But every resource on which we depend — since none of them is, in truth, inexhaustible — constitutes another opportunity to fail. Climate is one of those resources. So is breathable air. So is topsoil (or other fertile medium for growing food). So is potable water.

And it’s the imminent water crisis which has my attention, at the moment. According to the World Health Organization, over a billion people don’t currently have access to clean water. The IPCC predicts that this shortage (which climate disruption will aggravate, but didn’t create) will affect twice as many people by 2050, and three times as many by 2080. If nations (and “illegal combatants") are willing to go to war to protect their access to oil, what will they do to protect their access to water? Doesn’t sound like a good time to me.