With worsening water scarcity in the US and around the world, pressures to share Great Lakes water will grow.
The Great Lakes Compact allows water to be diverted outside of the watershed basin for “short-term humanitarian emergencies.”
But what does this mean, and who defines it? What are the ethics of sharing water? Is it right, and under what conditions?
These questions are explored in a webinar hosted by FLOW featuring experts in environmental ethics and policy.
This webinar was recorded on April 17, 2024. Watch the recording:
Guest Speakers
Dr. Susan Chiblow
Dr. Susan (Sue) Bell Chiblow is Anishinaabe, born and raised in Garden River First Nation, Ontario. She has worked extensively with First Nation communities for the last 30 years in environmental related fields. She is an assistant professor at the University of Guelph in their new Bachelor of Indigenous Environmental Science and Practice program. Sue has been appointed as a Commissioner to the International Joint Commission.
Dr. Cameron Fioret
Cameron is on the Board of Directors of the Windsor, Ontario-based nonprofit Windsor of Change; and a Policy Analyst in the Government of Canada. Previously, he was a Policy Analyst in the Canada Water Agency, a Virtual Visiting Research Fellow at the United Nations University (UNU-CRIS), and a Visiting Scholar in the University of Michigan’s Water Center in the Graham Sustainability Institute. He completed his PhD at the University of Guelph under the supervision of Dr. Monique Deveaux, Canada Research Chair in Ethics and Global Social Change.
Dr. Caitlin Schroering
Dr. Schroering is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Studies at UNC Charlotte. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Denison University. Her primary line of research is based on extensive fieldwork with two movements fighting against water privatization, one in Brazil and one in the United States. She is the author of Global Solidarities Against Water Grabbing: Without Water, We Have Nothing, forthcoming with Manchester University Press this September.
The discussion is moderated by FLOW senior policy advisor, Dave Dempsey. Dave is the author of Great Lakes For Sale, which provides historical context for the issue of Great Lakes diversions and chronicles the region’s internal wars over bottled water.
With thanks to:
This webinar is presented with sponsorship by the Barton J. Ingraham & Gail G. Ingraham Foundation.