ARTICLES BY JIM LAURIA

• Water Is Energy

  6/21/2022

  More than 2,000 years ago, Greek and Roman engineers harnessed the power of water to drive grain mills, and the technology soon spread as far as China, where it was used to forge iron. By the 4th century, the Romans had scaled up water wheel technology to build a massive flour plant in Arles, France, powered by 16 overshot water wheels. During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci sketched out visions of water-driven sawmills, forges, factories, and spinning works.

• Water Is Food

  4/28/2022

  Celebrating Earth Day always reminds me of the great Arthur C. Clarke's observation that we shouldn't have called our planet "earth," but "ocean" instead — after all, it's mostly water. The same is true of food: most food is literally largely water, and every morsel of our food figuratively floats on a sea of water that was necessary to produce it.

• Community Voices: California Farmers Are Key To Carbon Capture

  4/22/2022

  "Getting to Neutral" by the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLNL) draws a roadmap to California's carbon neutrality by 2045, removing 125 million tons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere (and the economy). But unlike the actual map of California, LLNL's carbon roadmap barely includes the 27 million acres of cropland and 16 million acres of grazing land. And that's a massive oversight.

• A Perilous Choice: COVID Patients Or Safe Drinking Water?

  4/20/2022

  In August 2021, as Florida's hospitals were filling up with COVID-19 patients, the mayor of Orlando pleaded with local residents to reduce water use to free up liquid oxygen to provide life support for victims of the pandemic.

• Water Is Health

  3/22/2022

  World Water Day both celebrates clean water and reminds us that 2 billion people live without access to it. Safe drinking water is one of the most fundamental elements of health — healthy water keeps people healthy; sick water makes people sick.

• The Age Of Aquarius

  2/14/2022

  The cast of Hair seemed to know the start date of the Age of Aquarius — "when the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars" — though astrologers have argued for centuries about when the sun would be lined up with the constellation of the water carrier and signal the start of an era of enlightenment.

• Water Is Life

  1/21/2022

  In the Beginning, there was water. The first couple of lines of the Bible describe a newly formed earth covered in water, a swirling deep. From there, the rest of creation emerged.

• Are You A Water Player? Be The Brand.

  1/4/2022

  Leading innovators in the water industry share tips on creating strong branding for water companies and their personnel.

• Cannabis: A Unique Perspective

  9/22/2021

  The cannabis industry is riding sky-high and heading for the clouds as legalization expands and markets grow. Cannabis growers are also poised to lead agriculture in water use efficiency and gain an upper hand in long-term contests over access to precious water.

• Telling Water's Story; Selling Your Story

  9/7/2021

  Why good storytelling is important for improving the state of municipal water service.

• My Favorite Water Podcasts

  7/20/2021

  When I pitched my idea of a water podcast to Adam Tank — marketer, storyteller, and millennial — he was skeptical because there were so many other water podcasts out there. I believed the world needed a podcast about telling the story of water, so I tackled the challenge just like I would take on any professional opportunity. I surveyed the landscape and created a mind map to get a sense of who else was in the space, and made it my business to learn from the best.

• Water Quotes From Environmental Advocates

  4/22/2021

  Today, on Earth Day, I thought it appropriate to post my favorite water quotes from environmental advocates…

• Water Quotes From Scientists

  4/8/2021

  The last post in my “Water Quotes from…” series was Water Quotes from Funny People. So this time I’d like to post water quotes from people who do serious work, scientists. The definition of a scientist is a person who is studying or has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences. That sounds like serious business to me.

• Water Quotes From Funny People

  3/22/2021

  Water is a serious matter, but when I was traveling around the world, meeting with people, and benchmarking the best global water management practices, I found that humor, like water, is the universal solvent.