Only 2.5% of all the water on earth is freshwater. 70% of that freshwater is frozen into glaciers and snowpacks in mountainous regions, leaving a tiny fraction of all water on earth available for every living thing that needs a drink.
How do we protect and preserve this precious resource? Can a future featuring a booming human population also be one in which we are good stewards of one of the most necessary elements of life?
Addressing big questions like these is all part of Sandra Postel’s job. Postel is the director of the Global Water Policy Project and lectures, writes and consults on global water issues. In 2010, she was appointed the founding Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society, where she serves as lead water expert for the Society’s Freshwater Initiative.
She’s also the author of the books Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? and Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity.
On Tuesday, April 9th at 7:00 p.m., she will be in Madison to give a talk entitled “Our Freshwater Future: Peril and Promise” at the Overture Center for the Arts, Capitol Theater.
The talk will cap off a day of freshwater discussions at the University of Wisconsin’s Pyle Center, an open-to-the-public forum called “Waters of Wisconsin: Taking Stock, Looking Forward.”
The event is a very special launch of the Wisconsin Academy’s renewed Waters of Wisconsin initiative, with Postel returning to Madison to discuss the threats to our precious freshwater resources—and what we can do about them. She will discuss the challenge of feeding and sustaining seven billion people in a warming, water-stressed world—while at the same time preserving the freshwater ecosystems that support our economies and the web of life on the planet.
To reserve your free seat for this talk, visit wisconsinacademy.org. You’ll also find information about registering for the daytime forum – Waters of Wisconsin: Taking Stock, Looking Forward. Although the event is free, registration is required to guarantee a seat.
Below is a TEDx Talk entitled “Water is Life” that Postel gave in 2010. A good primer for the amazing talk she’ll give on April 9th.
This event sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy and the Madison Community Foundation
