WATER

When it comes to water, there is either not enough, it is not clean, or there’s too much of it… According to the UN,

“Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. At the current time, more than 2 billion people are living with the risk of reduced access to freshwater resources and by 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water.”

Read the pdf file The Importance of Water under resources on itslearning or find it here and do tasks 1, 6 and 11 together with a partner.

Then read the story Thirst  (also posted on itslearning). Discuss in your groups:

– What attitudes in present-day America do you think the author is criticising in his depiction of post-climate-change society?

– In the story, the US collapses into civil war caused by water conflicts. Such conflicts are already common in the developing world. Do you think such wars could happen in the developed world too? Explain your opinion.

– Choose one of the quotes from the story below and discuss what point the author is trying to make and how his use of imagery helps him get it across:

“We squared away old debts and told off our supervisors and burned our homework and sought revenge, only to see the sun rise upon our sins once again.”

“We  indulged and we consumed until we were fat and bloated with self-disgust.”

“We took to the streets in rage and to the bedrooms of strangers in desperation.”

Finally, write a blog post on task 3 on the hanout “The Importance of Water”: We have encouraged you to see how global challenges are interconnected and impact each other. The article makes ties between water, the situation for many women in the world and education. Explain the connections that are made and discuss their importance. In addition, include any thoughts and insights you may have on this after having read the story Thirst as well.

Finish your blog post by Tuesday night (Sept 18).

Ingunn