Water scarcity and the environmental impacts of energy use are challenges of great and increasing importance to the future of human civilization. A rapidly expanding global population and an accelerating increase in the standard of living for a growing middle class have put relentless pressure on water and energy resources. We live at a critical time in human history, when technological advancement, economic globalization, and the rapid spread of consumer capitalism have led to an unprecedented increase in the
world's population.
Tremendous opportunities now exist to change our methods of using and producing clean water and power. There is a great need to do this, as a growing population, changing climate, and modernizing global civilization all demand more resources today at the expense of our ability to continue to meet these demands into the future. We live unsustainably and have no choice but to act or wait for the consequences of inaction.
We must develop additional water resources; reuse, to the extent possible, the water resources we have; and ensure that the quality of this water is sufficient to prevent the spread of pathogens and ingestion of contaminants. This effort will include the need to desalinate seawater and brackish waters, and we must carry out this effort without relying on energyintensive methods that will worsen the causes of the water scarcity we are attempting to address.
Desalination of water near the dense coastal populations of the world may further allow for higher levels of natural freshwater availability in inland regions and in those areas which do not have urban power generation infrastructure. This technology, and others that may also contribute in similar ways to the sustainable production of water, must be aggressively pursued.
We must also improve our use and production of sustainable energy resources. A combination of a number of energy technologies will likely be necessary: nuclear and geothermal energy, capable of providing substantial baseload power; as yet to be developed energy storage technologies, coupled with renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and tidal power to provide consistent mid- and peak-level power supply; and the use of transportation-compatible biofuels that do not compete with food production.
