Ethics of Using Fresh Water as a Military Good
Assignment One This paper will answer the question, is it ethical to use fresh water as a political or military good? As water decreases in availability in the future, fresh water will be used as a political and military good more and more. Water is one of the few fundamental elements needed to sustain human life. As conflicts arise in the water strained areas of the world, it will be very enticing for one group to hold their opponents water hostage. Without access to fresh water the opponents would have no chance of winning a war and would have to give in to the first group’s demands. This event of using water a military weapon has been used in Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein.
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In the cases that it is used, the group using this method is more concerned with gaining or maintaining power instead of keeping the interests of the people at the forefront of the government’s priorities. The groups using this method have found a way to affect a large amount of people without having to do much work. By cutting off the most important resource needed for human life, the victims have no choice but to leave their area or comply with the group implying these bully tactics. This does not just affect the water supply to the area but compromises farm land and food production. This is seen in Iraq’s marshes after Saddam Hussein destroyed them. The marshes that had been producing and inhabiting people for thousands of years was destroyed and the ecosystem was changed so that people could not produce what they had been. These situations where fresh water is used for the benefit of a small group while destroying the sustainability of the greater region should not happen in the current era. Water is not an infinite right but using water to destroy ecosystems and regions should not be used a way to gain a political or military
There have been many wars and battles fought with different weapons, but chemical weapons used in these wars are the worst kind. These weapons cause mutations and horrible deceases to a state in which some deceases even exist many years after the incident. These chemical weapons were unfortunately used by Iraq during the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq: 1980–1988. Iraq started using these chemical weapons excessively after 1984, until the end of the war even though countries are not allowed to use chemical weapons in any cases. However, Iraq got confirmation from The United States.
But one can’t look at “water” in a monolithic sense, because not all water is usable for drinking or irrigation. Usable water can be defined, in this instance, as a source that is reliable, consistent, and clean enough to drink or use for irrigation. This includes rivers, lakes, wells, but it does not include oceans or contaminated water. In some circumstances, the water that is at first promising can then become contaminated; water standing in irrigation ditches can become a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes and other carriers of disease. In addition, the over-use or diversion of water can impact its quality, creating water heavy ...
“Last Call at the Oasis” is a documentary about our world’s water crisis. The film discusses how many large cities in America are getting closer to use up their available water, how many areas across the globe do not have access to drinking water and are forced to drink contaminated water, how water shortages are causing acts of violence and are causing stress to agricultural communities, and a possible solution of using recycle water to stop us from wasting so much water. The film goes around the globe to talk to scientists who are studying contaminated water, people who have become very sick due to this water, and to the agricultural community in Australia where, unfortunately, some farmers have take their own lives due to water shortages.
Once it is ruled that there I s a water shortage it is illegal for someone to use water. A person doesn’t care and decide to ignore the rule by watering the garden and making if look nicer than the rest. The person believes that by watering all the gardens in the neighborhood that person will make everyone happy regardless of what the rules even say. At the end of the day a person will do absolutely anything to make everyone
Humans need water. In a world that is overpopulated, we use a lot of water and other natural resources. Currently, in our world, clean water is getting scarce. Recently, for example, Flint, Michigan, had a water crisis. In early 2016, the water was discovered to be tainted with lead and other toxins. Long before that, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Governor Rick Snyder along with his council, knew about the lead, but to save money for the city of Flint in early 2014 Snyder had changed the city’s water source to the Flint River which had corroded pipes, causing people of all ages to be sick from the high amounts of lead
In the documentary, Blue Gold: World Water Wars, it follows several people and countries world-wide in their fight for fresh water. The film exposes giant corporations as they bully poorer developing countries to privatize their own supply of fresh water. As a result of the privatization, corporations make a hefty profit while the developing countries remain poor. Blue Gold: World Water Wars also highlights the fact that Wall Street investors are going after the desalination process and mass water export schemes. This documentary also shows how people in more developed nations are treating the water with much disregard, and not taking care of our finite supply. We are polluting, damming, and simply wasting our restricted supply of fresh water at an alarming speed. The movie also recognizes that our quick overdevelopment of housing and agriculture puts a large strain on our water supply and it results in desertification throughout the entire earth. The film shows how people in more industrialized nations typically take water for granted, while others in less industrialized nations have to fight for every drop.
In this piece, similarities and differences between two authors’ point of view on the topic of safe drinking water will be analyzed. The two texts, both provide information about water pollution. The authors of For the World’s Poor, Drinking Water Can Kill and After Pollution in Flint, Some Find Tap Water’s Benefits Hard to Swallow have similar and different point of view about the topic clean drinking water.
We often hear the saying that water is the source of life so how can mankind waste this precious source that God has given us. A fine example was mentioned in the film about India’s new green agricultural system where 30 times more water is been use than the actual amount required. It is really hard to see how these farmers are spitefully wasting water when it is really needed in the neighboring communities. This goes to show that people only do things to benefit themselves not considering the needs of other people. Not only is water being wasted in developing countries but there is also water wastage in developed countries we often take our water sources for granted here in the US such as not turning off the pipes when brushing our teeth or washing our hands and the list goes on. Water conservation is the key to saving our planet because soon it will become extinct to us human beings.
This, however, does not mean that India is solely responsible for certain deadlocks, even though its share of responsibility may be larger than other countries which have their own physical limitations and political apprehensions. As elsewhere in the world, and more particularly in the subcontinent where population explosion continues and environmental degradation worsens, water resources, like energy, are going to be much lower than the increasing demand, even if they are harnessed to the most optimum. Given the depleting resources of water, the issues of human security, and water security as its most crucial part, are going to assume astronomical proportions. The issues of water distribution and management are bringing not only countries of the region, but also states and regions within provinces into conflict since they are not being settled amicably within a grand framework of riparian statutes respecting upstream and downstream rights. What is, however, quite appreciable is that the countries of the subcontinent have made certain remarkable efforts to resolve their differences over water distribution through bilateral agreements.
People don’t appreciated the many advantages that comes with having clean potable water to use, taking it for granted. A lot of clean useful water is wasted by humans all the time that people don’t care about saving water because they have easy access to it. Clean and safe drinkable water resources are getting scarce as the population grows. The world is facing many problems, but the most important needed to survive, is water. Water is getting low in many countries, therefore habitants are suffering the misfortune of not having the reliable source of clean water. Today many countries are having water shortages; meaning rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater are not enough to rely on for supplying water demands. For example, California is facing a drastic water shortage, the natural water resources are not enough to fulfill their water demands. Water shortage affects the agricultural sector, so as a consequence the price for production
One main causes of water scarcity is water mismanagement worldwide. Water mismanagement has become a crisis of governance that will impact heavily ...
Water is the most priceless resource on our planet. Billions of gallons flow through our rivers and lakes. Millions of gallons are consumed by humans each day. Our world’s surface is seventy percent water. With so much water around us, how can 1.1 billion people still lack access to clean water (Cooper, Water Shortages)? People are already using fifty four percent of all the freshwater available on this planet (Cooper, Water Shortages). We cannot afford to neglect something so essential to our very survival. We must defend our most important natural resource—water.
As of this year, nearly 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water and 2.6 billion live without adequate water sanitation. The McDonald's down the street, however, will sell you a 1/3 pounder burger for only 150 gallons. Changes in lifestyle can easily reduce this number and help not only save water, but money as well. Currently, with our diminishing water supply, one of the main goals of humanitarian organizations is ensuring that everyone has the right and equality to water. With global access to water, it reduces the responsibility for political tension between countries fighting to literally stay alive.
Many people around the world need water. Around 780 million people are unable to get clean water (One Billion Affected). People who do have access to clean water in their homes, have to pay a fee. The people who struggle to live obviously do not have enough money to buy water. People who are unable to have clean water have a good chance of dying either from disease or from dehydration. At least 3.4 million people die a year from water problems such as sanitation (One Billion Affected).
Water is an integral part of not only human beings but all other creatures in the world. We use it every day for different purposes such as domestic, agricultural and industrial. Water has always been a prestigious resource. However, the majority of people do not appraise water’s worth since they do not face water scarcity; whereas, in third world countries it is one of the most serious problems. Nearly 2.4 billion people have a lack of water resources in the world, shows the investigation done by the Pacific Institute, an Oakland, California-based non-profit scientific research group. Moreover, every year this number is growing gradually and more people are suffering (Bloomberg News, 2010). There are certain causes which deteriorate current situation. The most influential reasons are global warming, pollution by human-beings and overpopulation. It is known that India is one of the countries which face water scarcity so this essay will consider the possible ways of solutions of water shortage in India.