Life is Healthy

This crisis is being faced from the United States (predominantly in the Southwest) to the United Kingdom, to China, the Middle East, South America, and especially in Africa. In Kenya, this crisis has been something that passed crisis stage months ago. Yet, there does not seem to be the amount of outrage regarding the fact that these people are literally dying for lack of water. Water, a substance of life that is a HUMAN RIGHT. Water, the one resource NO ONE should ever have to be without in this world. To see areas like the Arctic melting (which is drowning polar bears) and then read about animals dying in the heat and drought of Kenya because of lack of water, it surely shows the imbalance of this world caused by man, and it is a human rights outrage.
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Their animals are dead. These people are next

Drought is set to plunge East Africa into a famine after the rains failed. Tracy McVeigh reports from northern Turkana in Kenya where neither charities nor governments are prepared to save nomadic tribes from starvation

Sunday May 28, 2006
The Observer

Drought in Kenya.

In conference rooms and in academic papers, the experts call it 'pervasive pre-famine conditions'. In the village, squatting on his brick-sized wooden stool in the red dirt of east Africa, Lokuwam Lokitalauk calls it a death sentence. His curses ricochet round the quiet village and his glaucoma-misted eyes dart off, surveying the stick-like spectres of children drifting listlessly about. 'When I had my cows, I could afford three wives and I have 20 children,' he said. 'The drought has killed my herd. All my cattle have died of thirst but I still have the wives and children, and now I can't feed them. I should be out there with my cows grazing.' He waves a hand behind him to the crisp, cracked plains without turning his head: 'But, here I am, I am weak now; I'm waiting to die.'

And if the rains fail again later this year, he and his people face death. The ghost of famine hangs over the Turkana nomads of northern Kenya. The short rains failed last November and the long rains of April and May have arrived only as the occasional shower that just keeps the vicious thorn bushes and the few camels alive. The cows and sheep on which about 250,000 pastoral people rely for food and milk are now all dead. Over the whole drought-hit area, stretching into southern Ethiopia, southern Sudan and east into Somalia, people who spend their time moving with the weather from the valley-floor grazing sites to the springs in the hills have lost almost all their livestock. Animals are everything to these people - their food, their wealth, their insurance and their savings accounts. Eight million people in this dry triangle are hungry.

Herds of cattle hundreds strong have been wiped out, their skinny corpses not even any use as meat. The lucky families have a few thin goats left and spend most of their waking hours searching or digging for water to keep the spark of life in them. The children are malnourished and sick, their parents are weak and helpless. There are no old people. There is some grazing land still to the west in Uganda where the rain has fallen a little more, but the once-friendly tribes there have turned protective and attack anyone who attempts the long walk to the border.

Half an hour's drive from the village of Lopiding, where the old men sit in despairing solitude while the women queue for hours for a turn at the well that reluctantly squeezes out a bowlful of water from deep in the earth, two-year-old Lokaalei cries and cries. He has not eaten for two days. Lokaalei was orphaned in the last week of April. His young parents - Nakatorot and Ekal - were part of a group who had been digging for water. Some of the wells they dig with their bare hands have reached 40ft: that means 10 people standing from top to bottom passing up gourds of water from the shrinking water table.

The sides of these pits are just sand and brittle earth, so they collapse every now and again. Smothered by the very dryness of the land: this is a brutality beyond irony. Six people died in the accident that killed Lokaalei's parents and locals say about 35 others have died this way in the past month, but showers over the past few days have raised the water table and, for about four weeks at least, the pits will not need to be so deep. Lokaalei's aunt has taken him in, but he will only let one of his cousins, a six-year-old girl, anywhere near him. No one knows if he cries for his mother or because of the pain in his belly.

'His name, in Turkana, is the word for when the water is flowing,' says his aunt Kochele. 'The rains were working when he was born and he was a great hope for his mother and for all of us.' She has her own three children, but the Turkana look after their own fiercely. 'Whoever has something small they will share,' she said. 'If we had livestock, there would be milk for the children, but now they get up in the morning to scavenge for a few berries.' She burns wood to make charcoal and walks for many miles to sell it. But so do many of the other nomad women scattered around this wide plain. It is a buyers' market and she gets a handful of shillings for her load.

These people have nothing on their minds but water, their days centred on it. They are haunted by water. Food is almost a secondary issue. Sanitation a long-forgotten luxury. 'It drives us crazy to see when they are drinking stagnant water from a pool where their animals have also drunk,' said John Kener, a project officer for the charity Amref's clinic at Lopiding, the only health service for thousands of square miles. 'There is no boiling of the water they can find, they drink where the animals drink. Disease is rampant.'

More at the link.

Also see:
African Medical and Research Foundation
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Yet, there are those who would say this is normal. Those who dismiss the climate crisis exacerbated by deforrestation and the greenhouse effect that is contributing to the droughts we see not only in Africa, but Northern China
South America, Great Britain Mexico, and in our own country, there are those who think that because we live here, we are not responsible for the Lokaaleis of this world...And they would be wrong. DEAD wrong.

The global water crisis that is gripping our world today is leading to wars over water. It is leading to terrorism. Economic instability. Famine. Political unrest. Corporate privitization in the takeover of public land which in turn is serving the rich over the poor, making more Lokaalies in this world who will be left to die because they cannot pay for a life giving resource that should be theirs for FREE.

And this crisis is not something that just happened. For years people such as Dr. Vandana Shiva have been warning us about the signs of this crisis. Doctors and scientists have predicted that by 2025 (not so far away) that over one third of our world will be WITHOUT WATER. That means , NONE. Just how precious is water to you? Could you live in Kenya now in the heat of the midday sun, watching your herd fall on the dry patched red ground as your child cries for that life giving force that heals all with none to be found? To have to get down on your hands and knees scratching in the dirt as far down as you can, hoping you will reach water? Even enough for a handful? To have to get any water you can get from a poisoned feces ridden river after walking two+hours just to get there to collect it? And to then have to wonder if you will even make it back home alive?

Something must be done for these people, and it must be done now. And to facilitate that, we all must make as many people as we can aware of this water crisis in our world, and stand up to those who would take this resource and use it for their own economic gain at the expense of the Lokaalies who will die because they have none. This is the moral issue of our time, and our response to this crisis will surely show what we are made of.

In previous entries I noted links to sites that provide aid to countries suffering from water insecurity and scarcity. And while they are doing a good job in alleviating much suffering, this crisis is getting away from them as well. Again, should we not heed the warnings, we will pass the point of no return. Droughts are a direct repercussion of extreme climate change, and Africa is feeling those effects worse than any other continent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4504244.stm

So the logical lead in to this is, what can we do? Are we to simply sit and watch while more people in this world die because our politicians are too busy with their own needs to worry about it? Here are a couple of things you can do to hlep bring this issue out:

*Write, call, or fax your Congressional representatives and your Senators
and tell them that the global water crisis is something that needs our utmost attention. This is not only an environmental issue, it is a security issue and a health issue.

War also only exacerbates this crisis, and our current policies are not properly addressing this crucial situation that is also leading to war, famine, and political unrest. It is time in our Congress to see REAL legislation on this climate crisis! As Al Gore has stated as well, the science is in, and it is REAL. And it is killing people... That then means it is our MORAL DUTY to act.

*You can also write to the American Embasy in Nairobi, Kenya to express your outrage that this human rights abuse is not being addressed by the State Department. In reading the report from 2005 there was NO mention of the current water crisis facing Kenya, nor any attempts on the part of our State Dept. regarding any solutions to mitigate this crisis. Not In Rice's statement regarding their 2005 report, nor in the report of Ambassador Bellamy. We need to know why. It is all well and good to throw around phrases like, "freedom and Democracy," but quite another to see it in action.

*Support an organization such as Water Partners International that is doing all it can with the resources it has to alleviate the suffering of those in this world who go without this precious resource every day, even thought there is enough water to sustain us all.

*And yes, be more aware of your own usage and become aware of where your water comes from. It DOES make a difference.

And above all, keep hope. We CAN help these people if we really put our minds and hearts together, and continue to push our leaders. It is no longer a question of do they have the will. This is something that they must do for all of the Lokaaleis of this world NOW who have no one else to speak for them.

Thank you.

In a survey conducted of 900 people nationwide by Luntz Research Companies and Penn, Shoen, & Berland Associates dated March 2005, 86% of those polled support legislation by the U.S. Congress that would create a longterm, sustainable and reliable trust fund for clean and safe water infrastructure, which do not have nationwide at this time.

Regardless of age, sex, or political affiliation, Americans in the majority believe that the right to safe clean water is universal. When asked, " which of the following programs do you think is in greatest need of a dedicated trust fund that would guarantee Federal money to help state and local government pay for maintenance and improvements?"

The results were:

71%=Clean and safe water
20%=Roads and highways
3%=Airports and aviation

And:

The five key findings per this survey were:

1: Americans want clean and safe water to be a national priority.

2: Voters expect the Federal government ro carry their fair share of the burden of protecting our nation's water.

3: The Federal goverernment has a responsibility to invest in water alongside investment in our nation's highways and airports.

4: Americans understand this investment has costs and they are willing to pay for it.

5: Voters are more likely to vote for members of Congress who support legislation to create a Federal Trust Fund for clean and safe water...and more likely to vote against those who don't.

Americans Overwhelmingly Support Trust Fund For Safe Clean Water

This proves to me that this issue is vital to the American people and is not just environmental, but moral and personal. Water is our life's blood, and we not only as Americans but as human beings in a global environment want nothing less than the cleanest and safest water. That is also the case in Somalia, Kenya, South America, China, Europe... etc. And that is also something that everyone in this world should be guaranteed and should have. This is a HUMAN issue.

We have the technology, the resources, and the ability to make sure all people in this world have the water they need to survive. However, the one thing we lack is will on a global scale. The will to stand up to those who would seek to undermine this basic right out of greed, from the World Bank to the corporations in collusion with them and governments to market this right as a commodity for their own profit over the costs to those who are now sick, dying and fighting for it in many places in our world, particularly in Western Africa, where this crisis is at its worst.

And in this country that is actually happening, and it is something we as Americans should be proud of. We are standing up to those who would seek to take our right to clean safe water away in this country for a price. We need to continue to do this and to also stand up for people around the world who now suffer daily in a severe global water crisis brought on by climate change/ pollution, political upheaval, and privitization schemes.

And this survey gave me hope, even though I am ambivalent about it. On the one hand, I believe the Federal government should be responsible for the maintenance of our water on a national level and in working with local, municipal, and state governments to provide funds. Especially in light of the fact that many states and municipalities have had to cut public works funding to put it towards other measures because the Federal government has cut funding to states leaving them to twist in the wind.

On the other hand, I would not be for this in regards to privatizing our national water supply, and as we have seen in regards to everything from our votes, to our healthcare system, to our military, that is exactly where I believe this would lead us. While I tend to be wary of that however, I took hope in that Americans in the majority see this issue for the moral issue it is as well as seeing the importance of water in our lives and the responsibility we all have in preserving it.

If we could only join forces in demanding this throughout our world in one loud voice, I do believe we could see our way through this crisis.

WATER IS LIFE.

The wars for water our most precious resource are predicted to be worse than any wars down through history for any other resource. This has been predicted for the last twenty years or more, yet this remains the forgotten crisis of our planet even while the amount of people without clean potable water continues to rise as the availabilty of water goes down.

Fresh water on our planet compromises less than one half of one percent of all the water available on this planet. The rest is sea water unfit for human consumption and use (unless put through the process of desalinization (which takes the salt out by various methods (more on that process in a future entry,)) with 90% of all fresh water frozen in polar ice caps (more on that also in a subsequent entry. And I did write about the exploitation of this as well in another entry regarding the Arctic thaw.) This is not a good trend for our planet as we also now face the consequences of the climate crisis that also effects the water cycle.

Consumption of water is doubling every twenty years, which is twice the rate of population growth. The repurcussions of this trend continuing at present levels for another twenty years is astounding and frightening for our future. It is not only frightening in that disease, famine, dehydration, despoiling of the environment, economic unrest, and the breakdown of social structures is what comes of it, but also and even more frightening because multi-national corporations in league with governments that care not for those who are suffering the repercussions will seek and are seeking to control this precious resource and market it as a commodity, thus perpetuating these repercussions rather than recognize that water and its use by all mankind is a HUMAN RIGHT that they should never be allowed to take away. However, once again we see human nature is all its evil glory. Greed trumping morality.

Corporations have also insinuated themselves in territorial disputes around the world including the United States, with designs to reroute supplies away from poor communities to richer communities and those customers who can afford to pay their exhorbitant blackmail prices. This in turn leaves the poor to seek out other methods of obtaining this resource which leads them to walk hours a day to collect water at a source that is polluted with toxins which in turn make them sick. They also have to contend with governments, militias, terrorists, warlords, and others seeking to take what they have collected as even though it is polluted, it is considered gold because it is so scarce. And women and children are dying simply because they dared to collect water for their families.

This is then where water wars come into play. I have been writing about this for a good five years already myself, especially in regards to the brave and wise words of Dr. Vandana Shiva, a woman who has long been fighting this attack upon the poor in India by corporations and others who seek to control a human right. Her book Water Wars clearly lays out the truth about the exploitation by corporations and the various socio-economic repercussions and human rights abuses that result from this assault on those less fortunate.

And corporations such as Bechtel, ENRON, Suez, Nestle, Coca Cola, and a host of others are backed by the World Bank which encourages privatization of this resource for their own benefit, even though the UN declared that water is a human right. And they are also using the scarcity of this resource for their own benefit in seeking to control its sources to market it as a commodity that is traded like any other commodity when it is not such. And it is killing people.

I then came across this organization in my travels and wanted to share it with you:

Blue Planet Project

This organization based in Canada seeks to empower and support people, and hold accountable those who do not recognize that water is a human right, and to deny anyone this precious resource is a human rights abuse as life cannot be sustained without it. They have activists across the globe who seek to work together to make sure that this precious resource is not exploited for the benefit of the few rich over the many. Please read this site and the work they do, and consider joining their cause.

This site allows you to endorse their work.

Blue Gold

This is the link to a tremendously comprehensive report on the entire global water issue entitled, Blue Gold, published in 2001 by Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, Council of Canadians and Chair of IFG Committee on the Globalization of Water. Anything you may wish to know about this crisis is covered in this 67 page report.

This is a must read for anyone who is as concerned about this issue as I am. I hope reading it inspires you to action, whether it be joining this site, supporting Water Partners International in their work, or simply working in your own way to educate yourself about the pervasive attack by corporations against this most precious resource that belongs to us and standing up to it.

In other entries on this topic I have posted sites and information regarding corporate takeover of water and the privatization of it that is leading this world to war. They did it with oil, they do it with everything they think can bring them profit. We cannot allow them to get away with doing it regarding something that is inherently the right of all people to use regardless of race, class, or creed.

This is the moral challenge of our time. This is the forgotten crisis of our planet that has now become so pervasive it can no longer be ignored.

WATER IS LIFE. WATER IS SACRED. WATER IS OUR LINK TO EARTH.

If we cannot respect it and stand up for our Earth, we then betray our very existence. Let us show those who seek to bring us to that point, that they will not succeed.
Thank you.

Wars for water will be more prevalent this century as water resources become scarcer due to the effects of the climate crisis, overuse, waste, and privatisation. These conditions are already causing drought, famine, war, illness, disease, and lack of clean safe water to over a billion people around the world, with that figure estimated to almost double by 2025 if current conditions prevail.

However, there is hope that these conditions won't prevail, as there is always hope... And that hope is in people. People like those at Water Partners International who work tirelessly to see the day when all people on this planet have enough safe potable water to survive and stay healthy. I do not know what I would do without water, and those of us who live in countries like America surely do take this liquid of life for granted.

Therefore, I've decided to post this quiz I found to test your water IQ. Just what do you know about this liquid of life that sustains us all?

How Water Wise Are You?

And as you answer those questions, think of these questions:

What can you personally do to raise awareness of this issue?

What are you willing to do in your own personal life to conserve this most precious of resources?

How much can you afford to give to an organization such as Water Partners International to help bring this life giving resource to those less fortunate?

Did you know that people in rich countries use 10 times more water than those in poor countries?

How often do you wash your car? Fill up your pool? Water your lawn? Is it necessary to do it the number of times you do it? Do you even think of the amount of water you are using when you do these things? Do you drink bottled water? Do you know where it really comes from? Do you know what the corporations involved in bottling it are doing in these poorer countries to exploit the people to make a profit?

This is part of the hope we can all have that working together we can beat this crisis and restore faith in mankind. And this is also why I believe the movie An Inconvenient Truth is so important. The water crisis faced in many countries is a direct result of climate change. People must be made aware of this in order to be empowered to action to find solutions to this problem that will effect the lives of those who come after us much more than our own. I am hoping this movie is the catalyst for that change.

I was then very gratified to read Al Gore referring to the water scarcity problem in a Wall Street Journal article he wrote this past April with David Blood (Generation Investment Management) regarding sustainable investment. For People And Planet.

I had just written to Mr. Gore a couple of weeks prior to that article to express to him my great concern about this issue, so It was good to see him mention this. This is then what we must also do regarding our local, state, and federal governments. It must be the PEOPLE who put the pressure on governments and corporations to let them know that the old policies will no longer suffice for the changing world we live in.
And it can't wait until 2008.

That is why I took the two week pledge to drink only water and pledge the money saved to an organization I believe is doing good work. I also received a mail from Water Partners International to tell me that they had seen my other entries on this topic and thanked me for my work. To them I say, THANK YOU for your work for our world and for people who otherwise do not have a voice.

We can make a difference. The time to start is now.
WATER IS LIFE.

For the past couple of months, I have voluntarily not been drinking soda, tea, etc.,(I've been drinking tap water, and I'm still here) and placing the corresponding money I saved in a "water jar". I am now close to having one hundred dollars saved, and believe me, as much I LOVE Snapple iced tea, this was a sacrifice for me.;-) Anyway, when that milestone is reached, I will be sending what I saved to Water Partners International on behalf of Patriots for Al Gore, my PAC. I have also decided to go back to drinking only iced tea, and am boycotting Coke, Pepsi, and all other companies that are exploiting the water supplies of indigenous peoples for profit.

Bringing potable water and the ability for people to dig their own wells to access it that do not have it for their survival is an important moral obligation of us all. I am firmly dedicated to this cause. The time has come to truly work to make this world a more sustainable place in which to live. Water is life, and I cannot think of any better way for me to give of myself.

Water Partners International

The update about my taking this challenge will follow this entry.
This was written in May of this year.

There is no discounting that this crisis is real and it looms large upon the landscape of our world. And that is not good for our future if we continue in our current ways. For as we all know, humans and others species cannot live without water, and it is the one resource people have and will kill for to have. It is why women and children in these drought and pollution ravaged countries walk four, sometimes more hours everyday just to fetch water from lakes and rivers that are so polluted, drinking it can kill you.

Would you bathe in sewerage? Would you let your child? Would you even be willing to walk 4-7 hours a day just for one large pitcher of water that you don't even know you would live to see delivered to your family? They have no choice. Water is why people risk their lives to go to wells in provinces where tribal lords shoot them on sight. It has even been the cause of death in places like Kenya and Somalia for men who simply have gone fishing in rivers to provide food for their families, because their sources have dried up and there are no more fish. 1.1 billion people in this world currently are without safe clean water.

A child dies every 15 seconds from a water related illness in this world. Rivers in China (approximately 1/5 of them) are so polluted that the water is totally unusable. And in a country whose population is booming, it is causing water shortages and misuseespecially regarding irrigation, that it is at a dangerous level. This was written about by a Chinese environmentalist named Ma Jun, who was also listed as one of the 100 people in TIME who are shaping our world. Water sources are also drying up in the Middle East, South America, and in the U.S, as was relayed in the HBO special on global warming, Too Hot Not To Handle

This article talks of how much water is wasted on irrigation of vegetables shipped to other countries that could be put to better use in drought stricken countries. It all comes down to US changing our ways to save our planet. Of course, that would then mean that human nature itself would have to be changed. Is that even possible?

Where do we stand in solving this problem? How do we as world citizens also fight against those institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, the governments in collusion with them, and those corporations which exploit this most precious of resources for their own gain at the expense of innocent people? At the expense of a child every 15 seconds!? For me personally, this issue touches my heart deeply.

For I feel a sacred bond to water and see it for the wonderful mysterious life force it is. It sustains the fetus in the womb. It cleanses our souls. It nourishes our Earth to bring forth the food that sustains our bodies. Yet we do not appreciate this most wonderful gift. We are killing it, and in the process we are killing each other.

That is why I wish to tell you all about a challenge I am going to take and wish to propose to all of you.The H2O Challenge calls for drinking only water for two weeks. Then you take all of the money you saved by not drinking coffee, tea, sodas, and other beverages and send it on to a water charity of your choice to help build wells in countries that lack safe clean water. The link above lists sites they are affiliated with, but I cannot vouch for any of them. If you should decide to do this, you can however, most certainly check out any of the sites listed at the link and support them. I am going to take this challenge starting next Monday, May 8, and on May 22, I will report how much money I have saved, and will then remit it to Water Partners International. I think it is one way we can help to bring safe clean water to those who need it, and it really is not a big sacrifice in the long term.

And while you are doing that, you can keep track at this site of places around the world where fresh water resources are dwindling. It may be an incentive to keep going. And should you decide to take this challenge to help those who need water the most in our world, make sure that every time you take a drink of water you remember how precious it is to our lives. How precious it is to our souls. How precious it is to our Earth, and let it fill your soul.We have the resources necessary to provide EVERY man, woman, and child in this world with safe clean water to drink, bathe in, use for medicinal purposes, and for sustinence.

The fact that we as a species would deliberately work to keep that water from those who need it out of greed, or be selfish enough to continue to ravage our water thinking it is endless, is totally immoral. I have written this in every entry I have previously written on this topic and I will write it again:

WATER IS LIFE.

It is the AIR WE BREATHE.

It is a HUMAN RIGHT.

It is our LIFE FORCE.

Click here for pictures from International Year Of Fresh Water. No one should ever have that taken from them, and I am willing to sacrifice for two weeks or even longer if I have to in the hope that the small amount I can give will give that gift of life to someone else who needs it more. I fervently hope you will too.
Thank you.

This issue hits at the core of the environmental crisis we now face in this world as well. While much of the water scarcity being experienced is due to economic and political reasons, climate change is also having an adverse effect on water in many parts of the world. In South America, China, Africa, and even in the United States, rivers are drying up, water tables are receding, and the lifeforce that sustains us and our only home is slowly being taken from us drop by drop by predatory private corporations seeking profit over people.

It is then especially important not just on Earth Day that we remember all that is happening around our world in this regard that does effect our lives. It goes to taking action every day to work to see these problems dealt with because as I reiterated in a previous entry on this subject, we have the resources necessary if we would only use them accordingly.

To many however, reading articles about wars over wells in Somalia,and children being killed in Kenya to take the water they walked miles to collect, and people dying in the Sudan not just of genocide, but of famine, drought, and lack of water because of that drought and the political tyranny that exists, believe they are not effected by it at all because it doesn't effect them. Or so they think. Perhaps on a physical level it doesn't effect us here. However, on a human and moral level it most certainly does effect us all, and on an economic level as well. You pay more for your water here, because of what goes on over there.

And you can thank the World Bank for that.
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Consider this from the Food and Water site:

World Bank Watch
Statement at the World Bank Spring meetings April 2006: World Bank Finances Corporate Corruption

As the water crisis grows, there is increased pressure on World Bank staff to push larger loans faster in order to meet the funding targets. This pressure has lead to a significant inequity on how World Bank funds are allocated. For example, while all of sub-Saharan Africa received US$289 million (US$200 million is in a single loan to Nigeria) in March to June 2005, China alone received US$510 million. And India and Indonesia are also both contenders for first place. Under preparation are loans totaling US$560 million for China, US$322 million for Indonesia and a whopping US$1.344 billion towards water projects in India. Sub-Saharan Africa is arguably the continent in most need of water investment, but the World Bank is increasingly focusing on middle-income countries and ignoring the needs of the poorest countries.
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In other words, if you are poor, YOU DIE.
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Press Release: World Bank Must Deal with Corruption
April 20, 2006
Activists Demand Stronger Anti-Corruption Measures at World Bank

“World Bank finances corporate corruption,” say critics

WASHINGTON ⎯ The World Bank should stop financing projects with negative social and environmental impacts and seek rapid action to disbar companies found guilty of malfeasance, fraud or bribery say a coalition of human rights, environmental, and development advocates. Unfurling a banner that read “World Bank Finances Corporate Corruption,” activists interrupted today’s press conference featuring World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, whose crusade against corruption at the bank has been a flagship of his presidency.

A statement issued today by more than 70 organizations charges that Wolfowitz‘s campaign ignores the corruption that routinely impacts countries that are dependent on World Bank loans. “Fighting corruption in international finance requires that the World Bank accept accountability for its practices. For more than sixty years, the Bank has facilitated the control of public infrastructure and other assets in borrowing countries by U.S. corporate interests and other powerful World Bank shareholders.” said Steve Hellinger of The Development GAP.

The coalition criticized the World Bank for ignoring fundamental causes of corruption and dragging its feet in responding to allegations of corruption in Bank-funded projects. “The World Bank has financed many projects riddled with corruption such as the Enron power plant in Guatemala, the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline and Shell in Nigeria” added Wenonah Hauter of Food & Water Watch, “Many of these corporations are engaged in highly questionable activities, financed by the World Bank, that involve influence payments, human rights abuses, and projects with damaging social and environmental impacts. Who holds the World Bank accountable for continuing to reward corrupt behaviour?”

Critics also responded to Wolfowitz’s recent anti-corruption programs, pointing to the World Bank’s corrupting influence in client countries. “Corruption also occurs when democratic processes are bypassed to influence legislation for private gain – similar to Jack Abramoff’s crimes in the U.S.,” said Sameer Dossani of the 50 Years Is Enough Network, “Economic policies for countries around the world are effectively written by the World Bank and the IMF, disrupting what should be a democratic process, and making governments accountable to foreign entities rather than their own people. Worse, most World Bank- and IMF-imposed policies benefit transnational corporations and local political elites.”

The groups also demanded debt cancellation for impoverished countries which have incurred debts to the World Bank due to the bank’s corrupt lending to illegitimate regimes. “What about the corruption of the past?” asked Debayani Kar of the Jubilee USA Network, “Billions in World Bank loans have gone to prop up corrupt regimes such as Suharto’s in Indonesia and Marcos’ in the Philippines. The U.S. Senate found that as much as $100 billion may have been lost to corruption in Bank projects. Yet today the impoverished citizens of impacted countries must continue to repay these odious and illegitimate debts. We call for the World Bank to take responsibility and cancel these debts.”
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Paul Wolfowitz, you are killing people. This is also what we have seen in Iraq (which BTW is also a country on the list of those experiencing such water scarcity) with bags of money (YOUR tax money) just walking away, projects being left unfinished, (except of course for their "embassy" which shows we haven't occupied their country) malfesance, human rights abuses, and fraud. And it is the POOR who are the victims of these crimes, and the World Bank that continues to get away with such practices.

This is how far and how deep the corruption goes, American people. From the hallowed halls of Washington D.C., to the poor villages of Africa and South America. This is also what is faced in running anyone for President of this country. Don't then even think for a second that a man or woman of true decency would EVER be allowed to sit in that position with organizations like the World Bank and the IMF counting on them to look the other way and enable their MURDER FOR PROFIT. Not as long as WE TOO only sit and watch it happen!

That is what I have also tried to impart with the diaries on this topic. THIS IS IMPORTANT. BY 2025 over one third of this world will NOT have water. If you think that isn't going to spark more war, think again. People are now killing each other to have access to their well water. Droughts are deadly in Africa and other parts of the world. Corporations are raking in billions of dollars worth of profits from construction schemes, to rerouting schemes, to bottled water. And other corporations like Coca Cola have plants in these countries where their practices are actually causing the scarcity to the residents who live there and who cannot afford to pay for their water, if they even have water. And this is really what irks me the most. WATER is a HUMAN RIGHT, and on this Earth Day we as citizens of the world must pledge that we will NEVER allow that human right to be taken away.

That is why I applaud organizations like Water Partners International which is linked in my other diary, and the Food and Water Site. There are people out here working hard to preserve that most basic of human rights, but they can't do it alone. So on this Earth Day as you search for a way to make a difference, think about this...Think about what we are here on this Earth for. Is it simply to wile away the days hoping something will change when "someone else" does it? Or is it to be the instrument of that change? I say, it is most definitely the latter, and anyone deprived of water in this world is a victim of a most heinous crime and human rights abuse that must not be tolerated by good people of conscience. The time for justice has come. For whether you believe it or not, it is happening right here in the United States of America. Greedy corporations are out to STEAL YOUR WATER and make you pay dearly for it. Let us then not squander all of the positive strides we have made on Earth Days past. This is not only our mission, this is our duty. WATER IS LIFE.

Global Water Policy
Here is another site that may be of interest.

Thank you.

It's your world, and will be what you make of it.