Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink!

Your current mailing regarding water is absolutely on the mark. Yet I am confused. If as they say three quarters of the earth surface is made up of water -- oceans, etc, and 95-98 percent of all living beings are made up of water, and we are going dry.

PET bottles proved to be the least costly way to transport bottled water and water bottling was the fasted growing business in the 1980s. I guess it still is. Most large food packaging firms jumped into this business. There is a cost and benefit to it. I do not like the idea of paying 3 times more than gas for water. I wonder if people ought to travel to water pumping stations (like we do with gas) in all residential areas to get their drinking water to prevent the use of those oil based PET bottles. I do not see why not.

The old fashioned glass containers are the healthiest way to transport any food item, but then it is too bulky, and adds weight. I think our main problem is the excessive reliance in oil as the fuel for transportation and energy production. If we can find a safe way to harness the nuclear technologies, and the use of solar energy and wind power, we can reduce our addiction to the damned Arab oil.

Would Americans ever imagine getting rid of their automobiles if there was an all out campaign to increase public transportation to reduce auto transportation? I'll bet you it will be a boon for the society as it will force the people to have to learn to get along once again, increase people to people interaction, and improve human relations in our society.

I can not believe that by making airplanes capable of flying 1000 passengers at once is the solution (Airbus is working on this). The idea is to increase the efficiency of our energy use. If we can do that there will be no mining disasters, and no unhealthy conditions in which human beings will be required to work (VA coal mines, CHinese coal mines) nor will there be any further need for strip mining in KY or MN or elsewhere in the world to deface the earth. We have abused the gifts of God that came with the Earth to us, and nature will take its toll out on the whole humanity.

Greedy capitalism has a lot to do with this, because they want the path of least resistance to achieve their highest possible profits, they do not care about nature, nor do they care about putting investments to improve the infrastructure. Increasing urbanization all over the world, without proper infrastructure, has increased the depletion of ozone because of the excessive abuse of nature, burning fossil fuels that pollute the air (come and see the situation in Cairo).

The whole humanity is guilty of what is going on in the world. I do not want to put the blame on the nations that developed their economies earlier than many of the others during the last 200 years. This is a continued learning exercise, and as we learn about the implications of our own economic evolution and development and what is costs to our earth, the studies like the ones you mentioned in your newsletter emerge.

We have to do more to stem the tide. What are the alternative ways to produce the energy? Could the capitalists become more socially responsible to stop the ways they have now developed to gauge the humanity? I am talking about the automobile manufacturers, and its sister industry the oil companies. They are together in this.

Auto manufacturers pushed their products on the people and to increase their market share they increasingly went into new and more countries. The number of autos per 1000 inhabitants was considered a measure to judge the advancement of the society. Well, Europeans have seen the light and have a different model than us. As you know they are more public transportation oriented. At least I believe they are doing something.

In the US we pay relatively little to buy a gallon of gas at around $2.20. Let me tell you, I was shocked at the gas pump to see how much it cost me to fill the tank for a small Hyundai auto I had rented in Turkey this past summer: I paid $100. They told me most of this is taxes. I understand this is pretty much the same around EU countries also.

Well, when your fingers get burned you learn to use your resources more wisely. I am not so sure if the Turks have still learned this, because i hear there are more autos hitting the streets in that country, and it shows their increasing affluence but these cars seems to me like they are tiny 4 wheeled toy cars, like a go-cart or something.

Anyway the situation is real dire. I can see the Nile at very low levels. They say that the water level at the Nasser lake has dropped. That huge dam in Aswan has prevented the Nile form doing its millennia long duty of spreading the fertile top soils to the region. IN Turkey they have been saying this all along at the Southeastern Anatolia Project the so called "GAP" where the waters of Tigris and Euphrates have been harness to irrigate the dried valleys and flats in that region as well as generating power. Well now they say there signs of salinization of the soil out there.

I tell you Ben, you and I may not see the end of this, but this is affecting our livelihoods already. I do hope that there will be some solutions in our lifetime to resolve this. The economic implications will be enormous.

Demir Global Economic Consultant Posted from Egypt

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