Water Risk in Supply Chains Draws Investor Scrutiny

[JJMcClure]

It's been my opinion for a while now that what we laughingly call 'the news' is actually at best entertainment, and at worst a deliberate distraction from what's really going on. So, if you want the real news, go to sites like Bloomberg.com because if it affects the money, it really matters. This story is a case in point -

Water Risk in Supply Chains Draws Investor Scrutiny

You can bang on about the environment to business managers all you want and they'll listen with glazed eyes, or sometimes with open hostility (I encountered both in my days as an environmental consultant), but point out the financial side to an environmental issue and suddenly you have an interested audience. It's why I used to discuss environmental impacts in terms of what looking at them could save a company, rather than as issues of conscience.

the issue of water supplies dwindling has been on my radar since I did my degree 12 years ago, but it's suddenly on the business radar because it might affect their hedge funds.... nuff said really.

As Justin Halpern's dad said "There won't be humans in 500 years. Enough people choke themselves when they jerk off we gave it a name. We ain't a species made to last."

[JJMcClure]

I guess the despite addressing two issues (how the money feels about environmental issues AND how the 'news' has turned into entertainment for the masses) it's not as interesting as I thought it was...

It's interesting that companies like Coca Cola, who aren't particularly ethical (in fact they've been accused of murdering trade union leaders in the past) probably have more information about projected water supplies than most Environment agencies. When it affects profits, it matters....

[Clinton]

It seems you are trying to deliberately distract us from what's really going on!

Big business and the eternal quest for greater profit is one of the world's major problems. Money is the root of a lot of evil. That big businesses have big money gives them leverage over the politicians who make our laws and to whom we trust our planet and our children's future.

This is a big mess. What are your solutions?

I've been researching intentional communities recently and there are several that have sprung up around organic farming, veganism etc., but interestingly around self-sufficiency as well (Diggers & Dreamers). They aim to be self-sufficient with not just food, but energy and water as well. All very well but if there's a water shortage in the rest of the country you can bet your bottom dollar the government will appropriate the rights to the watertable/lake/stream that you have acquired/registered/bought.

[JJMcClure]

It seems you are trying to deliberately distract us from what's really going on!

Huh... what? Did I miss something? I never know what's going on.....

This is a big mess. What are your solutions?

Actually I've listed my solution in quite exhaustive detail on that thread about mining the asteroids. Unless we remove the need for competitive advantage (note I use the word 'need', that's not the same as banning it like communism does) then we'll always be victims of our own nature.

I was just curious to see what people might come back with on this thread.