Name: Recitation Number: Discussion Prep 6: Water Footprint Introduction: This discussion prep is meant to give you the opportunity to think about your water footprint and how it relates to the various approaches that we have learned this semester. Your water footprint includes more than just the wet water you use in the course of the day. As discussed in lecture, every product you consume has water embedded in the product and the product’s life cycle from manufacturing to transportation to disposal. This type of water is variously referred to as hidden water or virtual water. For instance if Saudi Arabia does not have enough water to produce potatoes to make their own French fries, they can import frozen French fries from the US. We can think of the water consumed in the production and transportation of those French fries as having been virtually traded to Saudi Arabia in the form of a box of fries. Therefore a person eating a box of McDonald’s French fries in Mecca has a complicated water footprint that is truly global in its scope. They purchased a box of fries that represents irrigation water in Idaho, water used in the planting, harvesting, manufacturing, freezing, transporting, and cooking of the fries (not to mention the box). Through this line of thinking, a box of French fries eaten in Mecca potentially represents fresh water from all over the world. In this exercise, you will draw from the approaches that we have learned in class to think through this sort of understanding of water consumption. Objective: Think of this discussion prep and the subsequent recitation as practice for the final exam. This is your chance to practice using the approaches learned earlier in the semester, by applying them to water, an object that makes up 60% of your physical body. Instructions: 1. Go to the following PDF and read pages 1-3, which are the first two sections of the Introduction: 1.1 Background, and 1.2 The water footprint concept http://www.waterfootprint.org/downloads/TheWaterFootprintAssessmentManual.pdf – you may need to copy and paste the URL to your browser. 2. Then go to the following link and do a water footprint assessment for yourself. http://www.waterfootprintkemira.com/ On the landing page you should select “Start Calculator” and then answer the questions. 3. During and after the quiz you should reflect on your water footprint in light of the perspectives learned in this class. You don’t need to write anything out, but do come prepared to have an intelligent conversation in recitation. 4. Here are some questions to guide your reflection: • What scale(s) should we use to talk about water use? Local, regional, national, global? • In what ways do the population perspective and the IPAT model tell us what is goingon with fresh water use? • What role do markets play in water footprints? Are they beneficial or harmful to the distribution of water (virtual and wet)? • Can we think of fresh water as a commons? Again at what scale? Given the concept of virtual water can we think of fresh water as a global commons or a global commodity? • What political economies affect water use? Water is spatially and temporally variable. In light of the concept of virtual water can we better understand who wins and who loses concerning access to fresh water? • From a risks and hazards approach are we at risk of running out of fresh water? The film Flow shows several conflicts over fresh water scarcity. Is running out of water a natural hazard that society can’t avoid? Who is most at risk of running out of water? What does running out of water look like? • What sort of attitude does society have toward water? Can you articulate the underlying narrative that affects your water footprint? (i.e. maintaining green lawns, meat consumption, you can go back and borrow ideas from the story of stuff and the chapter on bottled water too). • In terms of environmental justice should we be concerned that the human body is 60% water and can’t survive without it? What influence does this have in how you understand water? Should water be a human
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