The Big Thirst Ch. 5-7

In Charles Fishman's book, The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water (2011), he discusses that while people in many places are dying and suffering because they have no water, people who do have it just waste it. Fishman also discusses that people don't notice how much water is wasted on their everyday items or their everyday activities. His purpose is to demonstrate that rather to waste water on things we don't really need, we should learn to conserve it so it can last a really long time. He seems to have people in mind because they are the ones who consume the most water and also use it for a lot of items.

Vocabulary:

• spigots- (n). the plug of a faucet
• climatology- (n). the science that deals with climates and their phenomena
• benign- (adj). showing kindness and gentleness 
• indulgence- (n).  remission of part or all of the temporal and especially purgatorial punishment that according to Roman Catholicism is due for sins whose eternal punishment has been remitted and whose guilt has been pardoned
• triumph- (n). the joy or exultation of victory or success
• phenomenon- (n). an observable fact or event
• conglomerate- (adj). made up of parts from various sources or of various kinds
• altruism- (n). unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others

Tone: The author's tone is concerned and very informative.

Rhetorical Strategies:

1. Epigraph: "The 'yuck factor' is a deeply ingrained physiological thing. -Alan Kleinschmidt, manager of water operations, Toowoomba, Australia" (145).
2. Statistics: "On average, the yield from raw wool is 55 percent - 100 pounds of greasy wool yields 55 pounds of unusable wool and 45 pounds of dirt, debris, poop, and landin" (113). 
3. Anecdote: "Back in the 1980s, we were using in excess of a gigaliter of mains water a year" - a billion liters, three times what they use today- and 'we asked ourselves, is that a sensible place to be? (114). 
4. Simile: "As IBM has discovered, the measuring alone creates and imperative for curiosity and innovation, for changing behavior- just like when you keep track of every calorie you eat, you start cutting back, just like when there's a real-time miles-per-gallon number on a car's dashboard, you can't  help but drive in such a way as to keep the mpg number high (129).
5. Rhetorical questions: "How do you make choices that are fair when those needs are competing directly against each other for the very same water, in a very short time?" (188).

Discussion Questions:

1. What are ways you think other countries can stay out of droughts?
2. Do you think consumers should buy less water bottles and just use there regular tap water?
3. Why do you think Fishman is so concerned with the way people use their water?
4. How do you think America stays out of droughts?
5. How does Fishman appeal to his readers?

"Bottled water has become the indispensable prop in our lives and our culture. It starts the day in lunch boxes; it goes to every meeting, lecture hall, and soccer match; it's in our cubicles at work; in the cup holder of the treadmill at gym; and it's rattling around half-finished on the floor of every minivan in America" (133).