ABSTRACT

Resource overconsumption is one of the most pressing issues facing societies today (Foster, Clark and York 2010; Rosa, Diekmann, Dietz and Jaeger 2010). Although societies depend on nature for survival and growth, we have long been consuming at an unsustainable rate (Foster 1999; Schnaiberg 1980). Unprecedented global growth has pushed us to a precipice, where we are beginning to see the disastrous effects of overconsumption in the forms of climate change and scarcity. Water scarcity, in particular, has become a global problem. As a necessary resource, clean drinking water is often thought of as a right. However, in our current capitalist system, access to clean drinking water is limited or diminishing in developed and developing regions throughout the globe (Barlow and Clark 2005).