Blog 01

In the first week, we had a lot of class discussion relating the reading and Guy Meadow's presentation on the Great Lakes water; especially on the possible uses of the Great Lakes water. What I noticed is that most of our class conversations were focused on the general question of, are the uses of the water ethical? Is it ethical on an environmental level and on a humanitarian level. And what I noticed with our discussion is that, there is no one perfect solution to these issues. Pumping water to the southwestern portion of our country will provide water to people with a high need for water, but at a potentiality devastating environmental cost. But not pumping water to them could lead to major water shortages in those regions. But what is interesting is if you look at city like Phoenix from overhead, you will see green yards covering the entire city, water in those regions is primarily used cosmetic purposes. So as Great Lakes residence we would think "why would we give them our water if most of it is just going to a wasted use like watering their lawns in the desert. They would be sustainable with their current water source if they just used water for drinking, bathing, cleaning needs, and not for changing the landscapes in their city." And this seems to be a fair argument. But in those areas real estate and residential construction is the largest industry, so it is crucial to their economy to have lush green lards. As you can see, these issues have many ethical issues that aren't clear cut