New leaf
A fresh take on water
Is
water a resource or is it the source? Is it something to be consumed
or does it have a life of its own?
Recent histories of environ-mental misunderstanding and exploitation shadow our current regime of water management and use. While governments grapple with how to respond to widespread drought, the situation worsens.
There is something amiss in current approaches to water.
A timely collection of essays, Fresh Water - New Perspectives on Water in Australia, addresses the critical and contentious issue of water in Australia today and suggests a need to radically rethink our relationship with this fundamental substance.
Fresh Water was edited by Dr Emily Potter (Postdoctoral Fellow in Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne), Emeritus Professor Alison Mackinnon from UniSA’s Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies (HRISS), Dr Stephen McKenzie and Professor Jennifer McKay (Director of UniSA‘s Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws).
It was officially launched in Adelaide by Pro Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation, Professor Caroline McMillen and HRISS Director Professor Alan Mayne at a function in the Bradley Forum last month. There were more than 80 guests from all three SA universities, the judiciary, the private sector and three State Government Departments. The International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management, ICEWaRM, co-sponsored the launch. Fresh Water was also launched in Melbourne by Professor Paul Carter from the University of Melbourne.
Fresh Water
is a multidisciplinary affair, with contributions
from specialists in fields ranging from anthropology to visual arts
who discuss the various ways in which we are caught up with water,
and challenge us to take up the cultural and legal transformations
that underpin a sustainable ecological future.
Five of the book’s 18 chapters were written by UniSA academics across HRISS, the Division of Business and the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences (EASS) - Associate Professors Robert Hattam and Phil Cormack, Professors Barbara Comber, Kay Lawrence and Jennifer McKay, Emeritus Professor Alison Mackinnon and Nici Cumpston.
At the launch, the editors acknowledged the support of the Australian research council Network grant, Academy of the Humanities in Australia, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the HRISS, UniSA’s Divisions of Business and EASS, and the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne.
Fresh Water is published by Melbourne University Press. In addition to the paperback format, Fresh Water is available in its entirety or as individual chapters as an e-book (downloadable PDF files) or a d-book (print-on-demand).
For further information, visit www.mup.unimelb.edu.au