Group presentations I

This week's lesson covered the topics of cosmetic surgery, cybercrime and water.

Some thoughts:
Earlier on this year, the UN declared that access to clean, safe drinking water is now an official basic human right. I managed to find some pretty cool technologies that have been invented to make clean, drinkable water out of  undrinkable water:

Lifesaver Bottles: They were initially designed to help of natural disasters. Today, they come in many  shapes and sizes and are being used around the world to help people gain access to safe, drinkable water without the need of complex machinery and filtration systems. This technology would give a possible solution to providing drinkable water for those in developing countries or water-scarce areas.


Lifestraw: It takes dirty water and through the use of a filter in the straw, turns it into safe drinking water. It is also very very cheap, at $3-$4 a piece.


These two inventions seem to have one thing in common, they are disruptive technologies. They have made water more accessible to those who do not have the financial ability or infrastructure to gain access to safe,drinkable water. The invention of disruptive technologies is thus probably the most effective short-term solution for those who have no access to drinkable water due to natural disasters, war or poverty.

If water is so precious and essential for survival, I wonder why it was not established as a basic human right until now? This then begs the question: Why was the right to water contentious in the first place? I think there a few reasons for this. The first is that water is a scarce resource, so for countries that have an abundant supply of water resources, making water a human right would bring up fears that they would have to share their water supplies with others. The next reason would be the privatisation of water. Water would no longer be commoditised and would cease to be profitable anymore. Many companies that provide water supplies will no longer make as much money as before. Some may even close down and many employees will be out of a job. Furthermore, nobody likes to be told how much water they can use, even knowing that those in the developed world use much more water than those in developing countries.

Overall rating 6/10