Pillar of sand : can the irrigation miracle last? / Sandra Postel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Postel, Sandra.

Series:

Worldwatch environmental alert series

Environmental alert series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irrigation.

Water conservation.

Physical Description:

xv, 313 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Can the irrigation miracle last?

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton, [1999]

Summary:

Irrigation has been a powerful tool of human advancement for 6,000 years. It remains a cornerstone of agriculture today, as farmers strive to meet the increasing food demands of ever larger populations. In Pillar of Sand, author Sandra Postel examines the challenges to our modern irrigation society--from mounting water scarcity and salinization of soils to rising tensions between countries over shared rivers. She explores irrigation's role in the rise and fall of early civilizations and connects the lessons of the past with the challenge of making irrigation thrive into the twenty-first century and beyond.

Pillar of Sand points the way toward protecting rivers and vital ecosystems even as we aim to produce enough food for a projected 8 billion people by the year 2030. Postel shows how innovative irrigation technologies and strategies can alleviate hunger and environmental stress at the same time. And she calls for a new ethic of sufficiency and sharing in response to impending water limits.

Contents:

1. New Light on an Old Debate 3

2. History Speaks 13

3. Irrigation's Modern Era 40

4. Running Out 65

5. A Faustian Bargain 91

6. Water Wars I: Farms Versus Cities and Nature 110

7. Water Wars II: Irrigation and the Politics of Scarcity 133

8. The Productivity Frontier 164

9. Thinking Big About Small-Scale Irrigation 201

10. The Players and the Rules 228

11. Listening to Ozymandias 254.

Notes:

"A Worldwatch book"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0393319377

OCLC:

41875538