Anita Roddick Quotes

Many of the wars this century were about oil, but those of the next century will be over water

Water links us all as human beings. Everyone needs water, and we all have challenges about it, no matter where we live. Yet even in the U.S., people aren't aware of problems facing water.

According to the U.N., more than 2.7 billion people will face severe water shortages by 2025. Many social scientists predict that the next big wars will be over water. Nevertheless, the average American family blissfully consumes 300 gallons a day, when you add in watering the lawn and washing dishes, clothes, and cars.

Having lived in the arid deserts of Southern California since the 1970s, my interest in water conservation is a very personal concern. Water! The source of life! Some people are squandering the world's most precious resource while others have too little clean water to drink.

There is a liquid more precious than oil – water!

Mankind runs a major risk of the shortage of fresh water. Water is a major source of life but could well be a major source of conflict.

I want people to have clean water. People in this country take it for granted, the ability to drink clean water whenever they want. There are millions of people far less fortunate in this world, and it's my duty to do as much as I can to change that. I don't see that as insurmountable at all.

People are saying that the next war will be about water. Let's make sure there will be no next war, and let's make sure that we treat water the way it deserves.

You talk to people, and they don't understand our water. They come and turn on a tap and drink clean water, and to them, that's amazing. Millions of people around the world have to carry water miles and miles, and that's all they have. It's hard for fat Americans like myself to even understand that.

To think that some people don't have clean water was mind-boggling to me.

As with oil, water exploitation raises an inter-generational debt that will be hard to repay.

I couldn't imagine not having clean water.

It's tough to know the value of water until it's gone.

Truly, we do live on a 'water planet.' For us, water is that critical issue that we need. It's the most precious substance on the planet, and it links us to pretty much every environmental issue, including climate change, that we're facing.

Water, like many other resources, is harvested, transported and used throughout all aspects of society. Unlike other resources, water is critical to the survival of all forms of life. The underlying question that sits at the core of my exploration is to what degree can we shape water before it begins to shape us.

In 2000, twice as much water was used throughout the world as in 1960. By 2050, half of the planet's projected 8.9 billion people will live in countries that are chronically short of water.

Some countries have more water than others - some can afford to use clean water to flush their poop away, and some can't.

Few if any countries understand the growing importance of water as fully as Turkey does.

My suggestion is that we should first work to ensure the Third World has clean drinking water and sanitation.

The two defining issues of this century are both universal but felt locally: the global water crisis and the resources boom.

The poor people drink water which is very good and very common in this country.

At about 9.5 billion people, the world will run out of fresh water.

War over water would be an ultimate obscenity. And yet, unfortunately it is conceivable.

I have little need to remind you that water has become one of our major national concerns.

Fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict.