Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
Maude Barlow
Language: English
Pages: 304
ISBN: 1565848136
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A truly shocking exposé that is a call to arms to people around the world, Blue Gold shows in frightening detail why, as the vice president of the World Bank has pronounced, “The wars of the next century will be about water.”
The Perfect SalesForce: The 6 Best Practices of the World's Best Sales Teams
All In Startup: Launching a New Idea When Everything Is on the Line
How to Make a Fortune with Other People's Junk Paperback
value that are often deemed insufficiently profitable. www.thenewpress.com
over the past three decades has been staggering. Between 1970 and 1992, according to the World Investment Report, foreign direct investment by transnational corporations in nonindustrialized countries grew twelvefold. In the next five years (1992-1997) it tripled again, rising to US$149 billion out of a worldwide total of US$400 billion in foreign direct investment. The corresponding push to open markets worldwide by promoting a combination of foreign imports and export production has generated a
water-goddess of the Inuit, it will not tolerate this abuse forever. The signs are all present. If we do not soon change our relationship to water and the ecosystems that sustain it, all our wealth and knowledge will be meaningless. We are as dependent on fresh water for life as our ancient ancestors were. But many do not seem to be aware that this precious resource is disappearing. The clock is ticking, but they do not know it. FINITE SUPPLIES We’d like to believe there’s an infinite
to 60 percent of total revenues. Characteristic of its global reach, 58 percent of Vivendi’s revenues are now generated outside of France — 18 percent of those in the U.S. alone. The conglomerate’s next largest revenue generators are its water companies — notably, Générale des Eaux (Vivendi’s main international water company) and U.S. Filter (the largest water services company based in the United States). In building its empire, Vivendi Universal is now pinning its hopes on its communications
water increased from 84% to 91%, the population receiving sewage services increased from 64% to 73%, and non-functioning accounts plunged to 8%.” Overall, the operating costs of the public water utility were reduced by 45% and SABESP is now in a position to finance its investment programs through loans and its own funds (although the Brazilian currency devaluation of 1999 did have a negative impact on the company’s finance capacities). At the same time, SABESP has expanded its environmental