Blue Planet Run (Book Review)
The global resource of water has been on my mind for a number of years and its a question that I feel bound as a human being to work towards some consensus of a solution. I’m critically aware that everything consists of spent resources… like they say in business, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Only, when you think about water and our reliance on it for existence on this planet, we’re pretending to eat that free lunch every day. How much water does it take to produce a litre of milk, or a cup of coffee, or a cotton shirt?
In Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World by Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt the focus is on solving the fresh water issue that is confronting the entire planet. With the human race set to double in size in 50 years and then keep doubling ever faster we’re realising that the world’s potential to supply us with fresh water needs to be captured. Our current strategies have been the sledgehammer and anvil approach; however, this book looks at the issue and the growing number of innovative local solutions to the issue.
Blue Planet Run is also a book about a team run around the world carrying a baton to raise awareness of the 1.1 billion people without access to clean water. Within the book there is awesome photography from some of the world’s best photojournalists and a range of short essays and facts about the crisis and the solution. Co-author Rick Smolan is a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer and along with his partner Jennifer Erwitt they have achieved a lot.
This book is based on the 2007 run and so the 2009 book should be in production so keep an eye out for that one in the bookshops. In the meantime, be aware of the small things we can each do to improve the planet’s resources… everything has a cost… there are no free lunches.
Highly recommend this book and its awesome global photographic experience.
