PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Environmental anthropologist Barbara Johnston, a research fellow with the California-based Center for Political Ecology, will deliver a lecture titled “The Precarious State of the Hydrosphere” at Rhode Island College on Wednesday, April 20, at 12:30 p.m. in Clarke Science, Room 125, 600 Mount Pleasant Ave., Providence.
Sponsored by RIC’s Department of Anthropology and the RIC Environmental Studies Program, Johnston’s talk will focus on the ways global consumers can conserve various forms of water – liquid, vapor and ice.
“We are at a unique tipping point with the hydrosphere,’’ Johnston said. “If we exceed the proposed boundary for freshwater use, we risk collapse of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, but also major collapse in cultural diversity and human sustainability. Water is a human need and an economic good. We have a societal imperative to provide for that need and a human rights perspective that demands it.’’
Around the globe, 884 million people lack clean water and more than 2.5 billion suffer without proper sanitation, according to the United Nations’ 2015 World Water Development Report.
RIC's Earth Week events are part of the college's continued sustainability efforts, which include recycling promotion, green housekeeping practices, energy- efficient lighting and much more.
Established in 1854, Rhode Island College serves approximately 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students through its five schools: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, the School of Social Work, the School of Management and the School of Nursing. For more information, visit www.ric.edu.
