Water Rites

✍ Scribed by Ellis, Jim; Parr, Adrian; Laidlaw, David

• Publisher: University of Calgary Press
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: de-DE
• Weight: 3 MB
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

What are the challenges we face around water in Western Canada? What are our rights to water? Does water itself have rights? This wide-ranging book documents the many ways that water flows through our lives in Western Canada, connecting the humans, animals and plants that all depend on this precious and endangered resource. Essays from scholars, Indigenous activists, environmentalists and human rights advocates explore issues around access to clean drinking water, the competing demands of the resource development industry and Indigenous communities, and the dwindling supply of fresh water in the face of human-caused climate change. Statements from community organizations detail some of the challenges facing our watershed, and the actions they are taking to mitigate these problems. These essays are complemented by full-colour portfolios of work by contemporary painters, photographers and installation artists who explore our relation to water. Reproductions of historical paintings, engravings and film stills demonstrate how water has shaped our country’s cultural imaginary from its beginnings. Together this collection shows how water is both fundamental to our lives, and a vital resource for our imagination.