Exposing, Investigating and Inoculating Against Hate Discussion with Lisa Borden and Susan Corke from the Southern Poverty Law Center on hate and extremism groups throughout the United States. We discuss rising right radicalism, including religious and white nationalist groups and their means and methods. We also discuss \"parental right groups\" a…

A Celebration of Civics and Connection Amidst Crises and Consternation Discussion with Shannon A. Mullen on her recent book In Other Words, Leadership: How a Young Mother’s Weekly Letters to Her Governor Helped Both Women Brave the First Pandemic Year which looks at agency, representative democracy, socioeconomic and environmental crises within a p…

How Grassroots Movements for Climate and Environmental Justice Are Critical to Surviving the Climate Crisis Discussion with Vivek Maru on the importance of community paralegals in extending access to the law, enforcing rights and aiding in structural change. We discuss the Customary Land Rights Act in Sierra Leone, the Community Land Act in Kenya a…

Climate Change, Subterfuge and Building a Broad Climate Coalition Discussion with Dr. Michael Mann on the subterfuge tactics by the fossil industry to prevent systemic and structural decarbonization. We discuss how the fossil fuel industry promotes doomsday theories to engender apathy and deny agency. We also discuss how the fossil fuel industry fo…

People in the lower Colorado River basin are now witnessing drastic cuts to their allotments. In many cases, developers find alternate sources of water by drilling into underground aquifers. But in places like Pinal County, Arizona, that groundwater is already becoming scarce. We hear from Stephen Q. Miller, who sits on both the Pinal County Board …

Cattle Ranching, Palm Oil Plantations and Other Agrobusiness Drivers of Deforestation, Fraud and Violence Against Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples, Bolsonaro's Crimes and the Need for Due Diligence and Accountability in Financing and Supply Chains Discussion with Gabriella Bianchini on the importance of the Amazonian biome to the local envi…

The meat and dairy industries are some of the biggest water users in the American West, thanks to one of cows' favorite foods – alfalfa. As aridification continues across the American southwest, water is becoming far more scarce on the Colorado River. A critical source of water for roughly 40 million Americans, we look at why so much of the Colorad…

Neocolonialism, Democratic Deficits and Regulatory Chill of the Investor State Dispute Settlement Mechanism Discussion with Lisa Sachs on the regulatory chill and democratic deficit of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS). We discuss the structural issues of ISDS, including conflict of interest, lack of transparency and lack of ac…

Palestinian Human Rights Defenders, SLAPP Suits, Anti-Boycott Laws and Human Rights Abuses in Israel and the OPT Discussion with Maria LaHood on the curtailment and criminalization of advocacy on behalf of Palestinian human rights and criticism of Israeli government policies and their conflation with antisemitism. We discuss SLAPP suits, prevention…

When Autumn Peltier was eight, she learned the tap water on a neighbouring reserve wasn’t safe to drink, or even to use for hand-washing. That injustice triggered her decade-long advocacy campaign for safe drinking water. She made headlines as a 12 year-old, admonishing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at an Assembly of First Nations event for the cho…

Can we really “tech” our way out of freshwater shortages, scarcity, and pollution? In our Season 4 finale, we’re asking the big question of the season – will new water technology be enough to solve wicked water problems? Will Sarni joins Jay for a look back at the bright ideas and inventions we’ve heard about this year, sharing his view on technolo…

In this episode, we’re going underground, undersea and into your water and sewer pipelines with science fiction’s favorite problem-solvers…robots! Jay sits down with Vanessa Speight, a professor of Integrated Water Systems at the University of Sheffield, to learn how new, spider-like robots have the potential to locate and fix leaks in aging water …

On this episode of What About Water? an entrepreneur in Austin, Texas turns his dishwasher sensor into a tech startup that’s feeding water utilities snapshots of their water quality in real time. Jay sits down with Seyi Fabode, the CEO and co-founder of Varuna, to discuss how his company’s cloud-based software is helping cities keep track of their …

If it’s not stuck in glaciers or polar ice, 99 per cent of the world’s freshwater is groundwater. Water underground supplies nearly half of the world’s drinking water. But what happens when dangerous chemicals and waste – polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), oil, gasoline and road salts – percolate down into that supply? On this episode of What About…

Call the fashion police! In this special holiday edition of What About Water? we dive into the apparel industry’s dirty secret: its water use. Behind oil and gas, fashion is the single most polluting industry on the planet. It accounts for 8 per cent of all carbon emissions and 20 per cent of global wastewater. We start by catching up with shoppers…

How can we measure water when it disappears into thin air? On this episode of What About Water? we’re looking at evapotranspiration, or “ET” for short. It’s the combination of water evaporating from the soil, combined with the measure of water transpiring through crops’ leaves. Accounting for this water loss helps farmers know exactly how much wate…

In the quest to find clean, renewable sources of energy, we turn to a familiar method: hydroelectricity. Today, the ancient method of harnessing the power of flowing water is hitting enormous new heights. Hydroelectric dams are some of the biggest human-made structures in the world. As humans dam more and more rivers, the scale and sheer size of th…

Regulatory Capture, Lobbying, Astroturfing, Greenwashing and the Failure to Clean up LA’s Toxic Secret Discussion with Daniel Hirsch, Denise Duffield and Melissa Bumstead on the history and current contamination of the nuclear experiment and rocket testing site, Santa Susana Field Lab, above Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. We discuss how the resp…

It’s estimated that by 2050, we’ll have over 9 billion people on earth. To feed everyone, we will need to produce 60 per cent more food - and we'll need to grow it using less water. On this episode of What About Water? we’re looking at new technology that can make that shift possible. Jay sits down with colleague and friend Bruno Basso, an agro-eco…

By 2025, experts predict over half the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas. With a number of our freshwater resources on land receding, is it time to look to the ocean - or, rather, underneath it for fresh water? Jay sits down with Brandon Dugan, the Associate Department Head and Baker Hughes Chair in the Department of Geophysics a…

For Nik Kowsar, civil unrest in Iran is not new. As a geologist and journalist, he's been sounding the alarm about water shortages and censorship in his home country for decades. After being arrested and jailed for one of his cartoons and receiving death threats from pro-regime Islamists, Kowsar fled Iran in 2003. Today, he is an award-winning Iran…

Can water risk disclosure move the needle on corporate water stewardship? And what does that risk mean for our own retirement funds? In this very special episode of What About Water? - recorded on location at World Water Week - Jay sits down with Cate Lamb in Stockholm, Sweden to discuss valuing water. We hear how companies with high water-related …

In the first episode of our fourth season, Jay sits down with renowned scientist and IPCC author, Virginia Burkett, to talk about technology, its pitfalls and its promises for a water-secure future. Burkett is the Chief Scientist for Climate and Land Use Change at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), where she’s worked for over three decades. She is …

The Nexus Between Environmental Health and Social Justice Discussion with Dr. Jimena Díaz Leiva on the health and environmental impact of fracking, forever chemicals, flame retardants and glyphosate. We discuss how trade secrets are being utilized to protect against disclosure of all toxic chemicals in fracking, the exemptions the industry obtained…

Our planet is in crisis. When it comes to water, there are many promising solutions. But in a world full of new technologies, what innovations should we pay attention to? And will they be enough? On Season 4 of What About Water? we're diving into New Technologies, Water Realities. Host Jay Famiglietti will sit down with the experts, innovators and …

What happens when tensions over water reach their boiling point? In our final bonus episode of the summer season, we explore the causes of water conflicts and what we can do to stop them. We start with the Middle East, a water-scarce region where conflict brews over shared water resources. We then turn to Latin America, where migrants are spurred b…

In our third bonus episode of the summer season, we look back at the innovative ways people are sourcing their freshwater, from building home water systems on the Navajo Nation to engineering a state of the art wastewater treatment facility in Orange County. We hear what improvements need to be made to America's aging water infrastructure. And we l…

From farmer’s fields to the high arctic, from your morning cup of coffee to a glass of wine – everything we eat and drink depends on water. In the second episode of our summer mini season, we draw from our past interviews about water scarcity and its effect on our food supply. We take a look at last year’s drought and withered crops on the Canadian…

Drafting and Establishing the 5th International Crime Against Peace Discussion with Darryl Robinson and Kate Mackintosh on the history of ecocide and the gravity and culpability elements necessary for it to be the fifth international crime against peace. We also discuss the process of establishing ecocide as an international crime, including the pr…

In our first mini-episode of the summer season, we turn to three guests from our past seasons to explore Indigenous ways of knowing, and to look more closely at the sacred nature of water -- how various people understand it, conserve it and co-exist with it. Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster shares how climate change is affecting Indigenous reconciliation …

This summer on What About Water? we bring you some of our most compelling interviews from the past three seasons. We're releasing four mini episodes spanning four different themes that continue to resonate in the world of water. This special summer edition of What About Water? launches May 18, with one episode dropping each month.…

On our final episode of Season 3, we hear how a 6th grade science fair project led to receiving the Order of Nova Scotia for youth environmentalist and clean water advocate, Stella Bowles. At just 11 years old, Stella learned about the 600 straight pipes flushing unprocessed sewage from homes directly into the LaHave river behind her home. What sta…

Adam Hochschild's Ghosts of Rapacity and Resistance Discussion with Adam Hochschild on the historical movements and moments throughout Adam’s books. We discuss the First World War, the Spanish Civil War, the turmoil and anti-immigrant and anti-labour purges in the United States during and after the First World War, apartheid, the Stalinist purges a…

This week on What About Water?, we look at water infrastructure – from broken water pipes across America to the redistribution of water rights in Chilé – and what role governments play in fixing the systems that distribute our water. Newsha Ajami, Chief Development Officer for Research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, joins us as our first re…

Coffee is one of the most widely-consumed beverages in the world. But with climate change threatening the world's two main coffee species, will that change? Coffee scientist and researcher Dr. Aaron Davis says even with rising temperatures, and more drought -- that doesn’t have to be the case. This week on What About Water? we hear why reintroducin…

On this episode of What About Water? we’re learning from traditional knowledge. Jay sits down with Tasha Beeds, a grassroots Indigenous academic and Water Walker. She takes us through the origins of Water Walking - an Indigenous ceremony recognizing and connecting with water. Beeds enters into ceremony for the water - discussing what it means to ra…

On this episode of What About Water? we take a look at the state of our rising seas from space, and learn what coastal communities on the ground are doing to adapt. Jay speaks with long-time colleague Dr. Steve Nerem, a principal investigator on NASA’s Sea Level Change team. We learn that by 2100, we could see around one meter of global sea level r…

With climate change threatening freshwater sources, water demand across the globe is likely to increase by 20 - 30% between now and 2050. In this episode, we’re looking at two promising solutions to create clean drinking water from surprising places: our sewers and our oceans. We speak with General Manager of the Orange County Water District, Mike …

Transboundary waters - the rivers, lakes, and aquifers shared by two or more countries - are found in 153 of the world’s 192 countries. They account for an estimated 60 per cent of global freshwater flow. As a critical component of our survival, water has long been a source of conflict between nations. The stakes are higher with a rapidly increasin…

The Noxious Nexus of Environmental Destruction, Corruption, Conflict and Human Rights Abuse Discussion with Patrick Alley on the intersectionality of environmental destruction, human rights abuse, conflict and corruption. We discuss how our banks and institutional funds finance deforestation while concomitantly publicly rallying against it. We disc…

We’re already reaping the financial repercussions of climate change. Four Twenty Seven projects that by 2040, roughly $78 trillion, equivalent to about 57% of the world’s current GDP, will be exposed to flooding. On this episode of What About Water? we ask the question: can market incentives align with climate priorities? And how do we hold big cor…

For centuries, we have built big dams, reservoirs, and levees. Humans have steered and shaped the flow of water to irrigate deserts, prevent floods and access groundwater. But through big engineering, we’ve also created breaks in the natural flow of freshwater from source to sea. The good news is: we can look back to nature for solutions. In this e…

It’s no surprise growing food uses lots of water. One cow needs anywhere from 3 to 30 L of water a day. It takes 3200 L of water to grow one pound of lentils. In this episode we ask, what do we do when there's not enough water to feed our food? Here in Canada, 2021 made history as prairie farmers experienced one of the worst droughts Western North …

Democratic Resistance in Hong Kong Discussion with Alex Yong-Kang Chow and Brian Leung on China’s increasing control over Hong Kong and its breaches of the Sino-British Declaration. We discuss the student democratic protests in 2014 and 2019 and the arrest and trials of the protestors. We discuss the enactment and use of the National Security Law t…

In this episode, we visit the city of Iqaluit in Canada’s northern territory of Nunavut, which is battling a water crisis on multiple fronts. This month, residents were alerted not to drink or cook with water due to contamination. But for years, the city’s main water supply - Lake Geraldine - has experienced dropping levels. And overall, climate ch…

On this episode: Katharine Hayhoe’s new book, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, is a practical and compassionate guide for talking about climate change across differences. Combining her research with thousands of conversations with everyday people, Hayhoe shows us how shared values can activate ordinary …

Water is one of the main ways we experience the effects of a changing climate. As flooding, drought, and climate extremes grow widespread, the way we use every drop counts. This season, join What About Water with host Jay Famiglietti, as we meet the people adapting to our planet's new water realities, with innovative ideas, strategies, and most imp…

Join our guest host, Professor Graham Strickert, as he hosts a panel of experts to discuss the pitfalls and problems of hydropower dams. Inspired by our screening of the award-winning Patagonia film "DamNation."By Global Institute for Water Security - University of Saskatchewan

Abandoned Australians, Cultural Restitution and Human Rights Accountability Discussion with Geoffrey Robertson QC on how Australia’s COVID response, including its border closure to citizens abroad, has violated human rights and Geoffrey’s petition on behalf of abandoned Australians before the Human Rights Committee. We also discuss the lack of cons…

Join us as some of Canada's leading water scientists and experts discuss how testing wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 can help us detect emerging community outbreaks. It's a dirty subject that is saving lives.By Global Institute for Water Security - University of Saskatchewan