The Biblio File
March 21, 2022
Happy spring! Just take a look outside your window and you will see all of the green…oh wait. Okay so maybe spring isn’t here quite yet but it’s definitely in the air. Some folks have undoubtedly already started their seeds inside or are thinking about it. Why not get inspired with some books or colorful magazines about gardening? You can find both at the PPL.
World Water Day is Tuesday, March 22nd. This annual United Nations observance day addresses water scarcity, the need for sanitation, and highlights the importance of fresh water. Globally about 1 in 10 people do not have access to safe water, and nearly two-thirds of the world population experience severe water scarcity during at least once month of the year.
Water is essential not only to health, but also to poverty reduction, food security, peace and human rights, ecosystems and education. We are very fortunate to have access to this precious resource but should not take it for granted. There are many ways to access information on how to be more conscious of valuing, conserving, and not over-using this precious supply. Here are just 2 of the many books we have on this subject.
A Long Walk to Water is a YA book written by Linda Sue Park that blends the true story of Salva Dut, and the fictional story of Nya. The story is told in alternating sections, about Nya in Sudan in 2008 and Salva in Sudan in 1985. “Nya is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. Salva becomes one of the “lost boys” of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.” Park uses this book as a platform to support Salva Dut’s organization, Water for South Sudan.
“Far more than oil, the control of water wealth throughout history has been pivotal to the rise and fall of great powers, the achievements of civilization, the transformations of society’s vital habitats, and the quality of ordinary daily lives. Today, freshwater scarcity is one of the twenty-first century’s decisive, looming challenges, driving new political, economic, and environmental realities across the globe.
In Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization, Steven Solomon offers the first-ever narrative portrait of the power struggles, personalities, and breakthroughs that have shaped humanity from antiquity’s earliest civilizations through the steam-powered Industrial Revolution and America’s century. Water is a groundbreaking account of man’s most critical resource in shaping human destinies, from ancient times to our dawning age of water scarcity.”