Professor John Anthony Allan, We Salute You!

by ScienceDave | March 19, 2008 at 12:50 pm | 1363 views | 8 comments

The Stockholm Water Prize, often considered the 'Nobel Prize" of the environmental sciences was awarded to Professor John Anthony Allan this year for his innovative "Virtual Water" concept. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute:

Professor Allan pioneered the development of key concepts in the understanding and communication of water issues and how they are linked to agriculture, climate change, economics and politics.

Virtual water is only unlike real water insomuch that it accounts for all the uses of water hidden from the everyday consumer. For example, a cup of coffee isn't just a cup's worth of water; instead, about 140 liters of water are required to grow, harvest, package, and ship that cup of coffee to you.

The motivation behind developing something like virtual water lies in its socioeconomic utility:

Virtual water has major impacts on global trade policy and research, especially in water-scarce regions, and has redefined discourse in water policy and management. By explaining how and why nations such as the US, Argentina and Brazil ‘export’ billions of litres of water each year, while others like Japan, Egypt and Italy ‘import’ billions, the virtual water concept has opened the door to more productive water use. National, regional and global water and food security, for example, can be enhanced when water intensive commodities are traded from places where they are economically viable to produce to places where they are not.

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Rachel Nixon

at 13:41 on March 19th, 2008

good stuff:

Virtual water - now that's a fascinating concept.

ScienceDave

at 13:52 on March 19th, 2008

These sort of choices - which coffee (or tea, or any other product really) should I buy - based on the product's "life history" (here's a great review on the subject - link) of a given product haunt me! I just know there's information floating around out there about a particular technique used, method of transportation, etc. that would ease my conscience into, "Ok! Yes! This product is the most ethical one to buy!"

ryan

at 21:13 on March 19th, 2008

Is ethical really the best term rather than ecologically responsible?

ScienceDave

at 22:29 on March 19th, 2008

Well, is polluting the environment (and thusly polluting your neighbour's environment) not an ethically questionable act?

ryan

at 22:32 on March 19th, 2008

It's not nice but I'm not sure if it's a thing of ethics. I see us spiraling into the nasty well of semantics. Obviously, it depends on how you define ethics.

ScienceDave

at 22:36 on March 19th, 2008

I perceive polluting the environment as "wrong" because it is irrational to assume polluting doesn't ultimately cause suffering.

ryan

at 21:12 on March 19th, 2008

good stuff:

ScienceDave, fascinating stuff...but I don't understand. Is this a website or archive where you can look up certain foods and get the virtual water count? Or is just a theory?

With the Omnivore's Dilema dominating many coffee shop conversations, many people are starting to better appreciate what goes in to the food we eat.

ScienceDave

at 22:33 on March 19th, 2008

The basic idea is, "How much water is required to make the products we use?" That said, this is fresh water I'm talking about - a resource. What virtual water has done is put a number to water usage over the life history of any given product. From the SIWI site:

National, regional and global water and food security, for example, can be enhanced when water intensive commodities are traded from places where they are economically viable to produce to places where they are not. While studying water scarcity in the Middle East, Professor Allan developed the theory of using virtual water import, via food, as an alternative water “source” to reduce pressure on the scarcely available domestic water resources there and in other water-short regions.