Jeremy Schmidt traces how water was brought under a single, global scheme in order support a liberal political agenda, and what this means in the Anthropocence.
Scientists agree that the Earth has entered the Anthropocene, a new geologicalepoch in which humans are profoundly influencing our planet. Water is considered to be increasingly scarce in this age, and in Water: Abundance, Scarcity, and Security in the Age of Humanity, Jeremy Schmidt details how water became a resource to be managed and the ethnocentrism embedded in this idea that started in the United States and spread worldwide.
This water management philosophy supports liberal forms of life, and pivots on the idea that water was once abundant, but has now become scarce. Mismanagement intensified water scarcity such that water is now a security issue that must be considered with respect to interstate conflict, human development, and planetary health.
The idea is now commonplace globally and propositions about water s availability play a role in water management everywhere.But it ultimately led to even more water being used for some human purposes at the expense of others, and Schmidt proposes managing water resources without privileging any particular view of the world.
Debates over the Anthropocene tend to focus on either the social causes of environmental crises or scientific assessments of human impacts on the planet. Schmidt reveals, when it comes to water, the two are one and the same. Water helps to make sense of how water became resource, and how this has influenced accounts of abundance, scarcity, and security as we face the Anthropocene."