Cynthia Barnett, award winning water journalist and author, to speak at UNC Charlotte

I’m excited to announce that Cynthia Barnett will be speaking on campus next week. She’s an outstanding thinker and writer about water conservation, particularly as it pertains to the eastern United States, where our sense of water-richness has lulled us into complacency.

From the press release:

Award-winning journalist and author Cynthia Barnett will visit UNC Charlotte to discuss water ethic for America at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 21, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 128.

Barnett’s talk is the first stop for a tour about the book “Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis,” scheduled for national release Sept. 20. “Blue Revolution” is said to be the first book to call for a national water ethic. Barnett uses the Catawba River as an example to illustrate the important role that water plays in America’s energy supply. The book combines investigative reporting with solutions from across the country and the globe to show how communities and nations have come together in a shared ethic to reduce consumption and live within their water means.

Barnett also is the author of “Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.” A veteran journalist, she won the national Sigma Delta Chi prize for investigative magazine reporting and a gold medal for best nonfiction in Florida book awards.  A book signing follows this free, public presentation, which is cosponsored by the UNC Charlotte Ethics Center, IDEAS Center and the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences.

Cynthia will also be available to meet with students and faculty in CHHS 128 from 4 to 5 pm. Please stop by, say hi, and ask your water questions.

I’m currently devouring a copy of Cynthia’s new book, so look for a review of the book here or elsewhere in the coming weeks.