Nanoscientist Seth Darling discusses the global water crisis, some of the factors that contribute to it, and research that Argonne Labs is working on to better utilize water as a resource and a human right.
Water is embedded in the products we consume and he offers some comparisons to better grasp that as well as why solutions to water shortages will largely be local.
He mentions Israel's achievements in desalination and irrigation technology. Water and energy use are interconnected he explains, industrial agriculture consumes most water while energy production withdraws most water and contributes to thermal pollution of the ecosystem. During the Q&A he is asked about Israel's confiscation of Palestinian water and how that comports with his thoughts that water is a human right. In the talk he refers to waters misuse due to poor planning and policy but fails to note that in Israel, the Jewish National Fund campaign of planting pine forests over the historical sites of Palestinian villages, destroyed by Israel's ethnic cleansing of the native inhabitants, has introduced a nonnative water thirsty species of tree which acerbates the water stress common to the arid geography.
Argonne OutLoud - Argonne National Lab - www.anl.gov International House - University of Chicago
Seth Darlingâs current research blends chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering, and nanoscience to create and study materials for energy and water.