Water

I never thought I’d get excited about a water fountain.  But I am.

The library just replaced the first floor water fountain with an advanced filtration fountain that also has a water bottle filler.

We think our water fountain is pretty awesome.  Here’s why:

• The UN General Assembly declared that access to clean water and sanitation is a human right.[1]
• Unclean water and poor sanitation are the world’s second biggest killer of children.[2]
• Bottled water corporations treat water as a private commodity from which to profit by selling water at the market price, rather than as a human right that must be universally available at prices all people can afford.[3]
• People living in the slums of Jakarta, Manila and Nairobi pay 5 to 10 times more for water than those living in high-income areas in those same cities and more than consumers in London or New York.[4]
• If you buy a 20oz. bottle of water at $1, that works out to 5 cents an ounce.
• If you buy a gallon of gasoline for $3.59, that works out to 2.8 cents an ounce.
• That’s why water is Big Business.  Water is cheaper to produce than gas, and it sells at a higher price.[5]
• In 2009, 48.7% of all bottled water came from municipal tap water supplies.[6]
• Between 2005 and 2009, the volume of tap water bottled grew by 66% while the volume of spring water bottled increased by only 9%.  Tap water bottling expanded at more than seven times the rate of spring water bottling.[7]
• In 2009, Americans spent $10.6 billion on bottled water, and paid up to 1,000 times the cost of tap water.[8]
• Independent testing of bottled water conducted by the Environmental Working Group in 2008 found that 10 popular brands of bottled water, purchased from grocery stores and other retailers in 9 states and the District of Columbia, contained 38 chemical pollutants, with an average of 8 contaminants in each brand.[9]
• Tap water is regulated by the EPA.  Bottled water is regulated by the FDA only if the water crosses state lines.  Bottled water sold within states is regulated only by state agencies.[10]
• The FDA only has one bottled water inspector, so the industry does its own ‘inspections’.  The FDA regulations do not prevent bottling companies from drawing water next to industrial sites, underground storage tanks, or dumps.[11]
• In 2006, more than 900,000 tons of plastic was used to package 8 billion gallons of bottled water.  Most smaller bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which generates more than 100 times more toxic emissions than an equivalent amount of glass.[12]
• In 2000, Consumer Reports found that “eight of the ten 5-gallon jugs we checked left residues of the endocrine disruptor, bispehenol A, in the water”.[13]
• In 2005, 28 billion bottles of water were sold, mostly in PET containers, according to the Container Recycling Institute.  In 2004, 85% of all non-carbonated PET bottles ended up in landfills or as litter.  That’s 24 billion empty water bottles, or 66 million every day.[14]
• Water bottles will take up to 1,000 years to decompose.[15]
• The Pacific Institute estimates that production of bottled water for U.S consumption in 2006 required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy used for transportation.  This released over 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.[16] 

Bottled water is no safer or better than tap water.  In many cases, it’s much worse.

Want clean water on the go?  Bring your own bottle.  Fill it here. 

Our fountain uses the Newport water supply[17], which is regulated by the EPA[18], and the Elkay WaterSentry Plus filter that conforms to NSF/ANSI Standard 42 and 53 for the reduction of Aesthetic Chlorine, Taste and Odor, Particulate Class I, and Lead.[19]

1. UN Resolution 64/292. http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/64/292
2. http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/human_right_to_water.shtml
3. http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/bottled_water.pdf
4. From the UNDP, Human Development Report 2006. See The Right to Water, Fact Sheet No.35 from the United Nations: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet35en.pdf
5. http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/5-reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water
6. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/bottled-water-bad-for-people-and-the-environment/
7. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/briefs/bottling-our-cities-tap-water/
8. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/bottled-water-bad-for-people-and-the-environment/
9. http://www.ewg.org/reports/BottledWater/Bottled-Water-Quality-Investigation
10. http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/bottled_water.pdf
11. http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/
12. From the Berkeley Ecology Center.  See http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/bottled_water.pdf
13. http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/bottled_water.pdf
14. http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/bottled_water.pdf
15. http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/bottled_water.pdf
16. http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/bottled_water/bottled_water.pdf
17. http://www.cityofnewport.com/departments/utilities/water/quality.cfm
18. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/index.cfm
19. http://www.elkayusa.com/cps/rde/xbcr/elkay/WaterSentry_Plus_Manual.pdf

Latin America; Korean War; Middle East & North Africa

Encyclopedia of Latin America / Thomas M. Leonard, general editor. New York : Facts On File, 2010. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The encyclopedia of the Korean War: a political, social, and military history / Spencer C. Tucker, volume editor ; Paul G. Pierpaoli, Jr., associate editor and editor, documents volume ; Jinwung Kim, Xiaobing Li, James I. Matray, assistant editors. 2nd ed. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 2010. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Encyclopedia of the modern Middle East & North Africa / Philip Mattar, editor in chief. 2nd ed. Detroit, Mich. : Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Crime and punishment; environmental history; religious history

Crime and punishment around the world.Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 2010. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Encyclopedia of American environmental history / edited by Kathleen A. Brosnan. New York, N.Y. : Facts On File, 2010. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Encyclopedia of American religious history / Edward L. Queen II, Stephen R. Prothero, and Gardiner H. Shattuck, Jr. ; Martin E. Marty, editorial adviser ; book producer, Marie A. Cantlon. 3rd ed. New York, NY : Facts On File, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

[Library lessons] Choosing a topic

We have a section of our Smart Student Library Guide that is devoted to choosing a topic.  There are some examples there to get you started on thinking about how to narrow your topic.

The guide is really helpful, but I also want to throw in my two cents here.

Does this sound familiar?  You are told that your paper has to be on a certain topic (usually the topic of your course).  You could write a book about it, it’s so big.  But instead of trying to narrow down your topic, you go look for an article.  If you can find an article, you could build your paper around that, and – voila! – your topic will magically be narrowed in the process.

I wish.

I have written too many papers to know this will happen.  Your professors have written and read too many papers to know this will happen.  You really have to narrow down your topic a bit in advance, or your research time is going to be wasted, and you’re going to have a hard time writing anything.

Figure out your topic first.  Sure, you might get started and then realize that, no, this topic bores you to tears and you’d rather switch to this other topic you’ve discovered along the way.  That’s okay.  (As long as your professor doesn’t mind you switching topics.)  Just don’t try to research a really general topic and hope to find one perfect article and build a paper around it.  That’s really hard.  Don’t make things harder on yourself.

Be bold. Stake a claim.  Find evidence to support it.  You might find that taking a stance and arguing a point is actually kind of fun.

[Library lessons] Research steps

Research steps?  Really?!?!  Don’t you just sorta think about your topic?  Or just go Google it or something?

Well, that’s one way of doing research.  That’s usually not the approach that is the fastest, or gets you the best results, but, hey, we’re not going to stand in your way of doing it that way!

If you want to try a more efficient way, we’ve got some concrete steps you can follow.  These might be the sort of steps that are “common sense”:  if you’ve done a few research assignments before, you know how this works.  But it’s like anything else you want to do efficiently: having a checklist makes it better.*

Until you’ve done something so frequently that it has become second nature to you, it’s a good idea to follow a checklist.  Save your brain for the heavy lifting, like reading, analyzing, and writing.  Let us help you with the Research Basics.

*(For more on checklists, check out Atul Gawande’s The checklist manifesto.  Believe it or not, it’s really fun to read!)

[Library lessons] It’s research time!

If you’ve ever assembled a piece of furniture, you have probably learned that here are two ways of doing it:

1. You ignore the directions and do it yourself, just using your ‘common sense’.  This approach usually means that you are going to have to take things apart and put them back together several times, until you figure out the best sequence.
2. You read the directions and get everything done in the best order, with the right pieces, on the first attempt.

Doing research is like building furniture.  Sure, some of it is common sense.  Here at the library, we’re interested not only in getting things done, but in being efficient, too.  If you want a quick overview of the best approach to doing research, with the steps all neatly explained for you, check out our Smart Student Library Research Guide.

This guide walks you through some basic steps.   The guide is particularly designed for students who are new to library research here at Salve Regina University, but it’s a helpful overview for all students.

One of my favorite features?  There’s an “assignment calculator” on the first page.  You enter what day you’ll start working on your assignment, and what day it is due, and the guide will give you an estimate of when you should meet certain goals on your way to finishing your assignment.

As always, if you need any help, be sure to contact us.

[Tech tips] Qiqqa

Qiqqa is a free software program designed for academics and the way we need to use PDFs.  It’s available for Windows and Android.

I couldn’t imagine going through graduate school without it.  Seriously.  It’s that good.

Qiqqa helps organize your PDFs in a library.  It uses GoogleScholar to help you quickly import citation information into the library, so you don’t have to type it.

You can annotate your PDFs and produce annotation reports that can make paper-writing a breeze.

You can backup your data online and sync your data across computers.

It is hands-down one of my most favorite pieces of software – ever  - and if you are a Windows user and you haven’t taken it for a spin, you are missing out on one of the secret weapons available to you in your academic career.

(If only this had been available when I was an undergraduate!)

Want to learn more?  Check out my instructional video (below), and visit Qiqqa.com.

(Watch the video in the full screen view so you can see what I’m demonstrating.)

Animal welfare, animal rights

The encyclopedia of applied animal behaviour and welfare / editor-in-chief, Daniel S. Mills ; editors, Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde … [et al.]. Wallingford: CABI, 2010. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Methods in bioengineering : alternative technologies to animal testing / Tim Maguire, Eric Novik, editors. Boston, Mass. : Artech House, 2010. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The sexual politics of meat : a feminist-vegetarian critical theory / Carol J. Adams. 20th anniversary ed. London : Continuum, 2010. (Publisher’s description)

Animals and agency: an interdisciplinary exploration / edited by Sarah E. McFarland, Ryan Hediger. Leiden: Brill, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Animal rights: a reference handbook / Clifford J. Sherry. 2nd ed. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Cleveland Amory : media curmudgeon & animal rights crusader / Marilyn Greenwald. Hanover : University Press of New England, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The death of the animal : a dialogue / Paola Cavalieri ; foreword by Peter Singer. New York : Columbia University Press, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Eating animals / Jonathan Safran Foer. 1st ed. New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Book website)

Filling the ark : animal welfare in disasters / Leslie Irvine. Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The missing peace : the hidden power of our kinship with animals / Tina Volpe and Judy Carman. Flourtown, Pa. : Dreamriver Press, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Recognition and alleviation of pain in laboratory animals / Committee on Recognition and Alleviation of Pain in Laboratory Animals, Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, Division on Earth and Life Studies. Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press, 2009. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The animal ethics reader / edited by Susan J. Armstrong and Richard G. Botzler. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2008. (Publisher’s description)

Animal Subjects: An Ethical Reader in a Posthuman World / Jodey Castricano, editor. Waterloo : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Crimes against nature : environmental criminology and ecological justice / Rob White. Cullompton: Willan, 2008. (Publisher’s description)(Also available in an electronic copy)

In defense of dolphins : the new moral frontier / Thomas I. White. Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2007. (Publisher’s description)(Book website)

Nature ethics : an ecofeminist perspective / Marti Kheel. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. (Publisher’s description)

Nature red in tooth and claw : theism and the problem of animal suffering / Michael J. Murray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. (Publisher’s description)

The bloodless revolution : a cultural history of vegetarianism from 1600 to modern times / Tristram Stuart. 1st American ed. New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. (Publisher’s description)

A cultural history of animals / general editors, Linda Kalof and Brigitte Resl. Oxford: Berg, 2007. (Publisher’s description)(Also available in an electronic copy)

Building an ark : 101 solutions to animal suffering / Ethan Smith with Guy Dauncey ; foreword by Jane Goodall. Gabriola Island, BC : New Society, 2007. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Delinquency and animal cruelty : myths and realities about social pathology / Suzanne R. Goodney Lea. New York : LFB Scholarly Pub., 2007. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Issues in green criminology : confronting harms against environments, humanity and other animals / edited by Piers Beirne and Nigel South. Cullompton: Willan Pub., 2007. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Making a Killing : The Political Economy of Animal Rights / Bob Torres. Edinburgh : AK Press, 2007. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The moral menagerie : philosophy and animal rights / Marc R. Fellenz. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2007. (Publisher’s description)

Why animals matter : the case for animal protection / Erin E. Williams & Margo DeMello. Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2007. (Publisher’s description)

The WTO, animals and PPMs / Laura Nielsen. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

For the Prevention of Cruelty : The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States. Athens : Swallow Press, 2006. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Frontiers of justice : disability, nationality, species membership / Martha C. Nussbaum. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006. (Publisher’s description)

In search of consistency : ethics and animals / by Lisa Kemmerer. Leiden: Brill, 2006. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Just a dog : understanding animal cruelty and ourselves / Arnold Arluke. Philadelphia, PA : Temple University Press, 2006. (Publisher’s description)(Also available in an electronic copy)

Making burros fly : Cleveland Amory, animal rescue pioneer / Julie Hoffman Marshall ; foreword by Wayne Pacelle. Boulder, Colo. : Johnson Books, c2006. (Publisher’s description)

Stereotypic animal behaviour : fundamentals and applications to welfare / edited by Georgia Mason and Jeffrey Rushen. 2nd ed. Wallingford: CABI Pub., 2006. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Animal passions and beastly virtues: reflections on redecorating Nature / Marc Bekoff. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Brute souls, happy beasts, and evolution : the historical status of animals / Rod Preece. Vancouver : UBC Press, c2005. (Publisher’s description)(Also available in an electronic copy)

Confronting Cruelty : Moral Orthodoxy and the Challenge of the Animal Rights Movement. Leiden : BRILL, 2005. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Nonviolence in theory and practice / Robert L. Holmes, Barry L. Gan. 2nd ed. Long Grove, Ill. : Waveland Press, 2005. (Publisher’s description)

Animal pragmatism: rethinking human-nonhuman relationships / Erin McKenna.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Animal Rights and Moral Philosophy / Julian H. Franklin.New York : Columbia University Press, 2004. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Animal rights: current debates and new directions / edited by Cass R. Sunstein and Martha C. Nussbaum. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Brute Force: Policing Animal Cruelty / Arnold Arluke. West Lafayette : Purdue University Press, 2004. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Children and animals : exploring the roots of kindness and cruelty / Frank R. Ascione. West Lafayette, Ind. : Purdue University Press, 2004. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The great compassion : Buddhism and animal rights / Norm Phelps. New York : Lantern Books, 2004. (Publisher’s description)

Without a tear : our tragic relationship with animals / Mark H. Bernstein. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2004. (Publisher’s description)

Animal rites: American culture, the discourse of species, and posthumanist theory / Cary Wolfe ; foreword by W.J.T. Mitchell. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2003. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Awe for the tiger, love for the lamb: a chronicle of sensibility to animals / [compiled by] Rod Preece. Vancouver : UBC Press, 2002. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Dominion : the power of man, the suffering of animals, and the call to mercy / Matthew Scully. 1st ed. New York, N.Y. : St. Martin’s Press, 2002.

In Nature’s Interests? : Interests, Animal Rights, and Environmental Ethics. New York : Oxford University Press, 2002. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

The biology of animal stress : basic principles and implications for animal welfare / edited by G.P. Moberg and J.A. Mench. Wallingford: CABI Pub., 2000. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Introduction to animal rights : your child or the dog? / Gary L. Francione ; foreword by Alan Watson. Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 2000. (Publisher’s description)

Rattling the cage : toward legal rights for animals / Steven M. Wise ; foreword by Jane Goodall. Cambridge, Mass. : Perseus Books, 2000. (Publisher’s description)

The scalpel and the butterfly : the war between animal research and animal protection / Deborah Rudacille. 1st ed. New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2000. (Description from GoogleBooks)

Animals and nature : cultural myths, cultural realities / Rod Preece. Vancouver : UBC Press, 1999. (Publisher’s description)(Also available in an electronic copy)

Attitudes to animals : views in animal welfare / edited by Francine L. Dolins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. (Publisher’s description)

Child abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse : linking the circles of compassion for prevention and intervention / edited by Frank R. Ascione and Phil Arkow. West Lafayette, Ind. : Purdue University Press, 1999. (Publisher’s description)(Also available in an electronic copy)

Darwinian dominion : animal welfare and human interests / Lewis Petrinovich. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1999. (Publisher’s description)

Ethics, animals and science / Kevin Dolan. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1999. (Description on GoogleBooks)

The lives of animals / J.M. Coetzee … [et al.] ; edited and introduced by Amy Gutmann. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1999. (Publisher’s description)(Also available in an electronic copy)

What should we do about animal welfare? / by Michael C. Appleby. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1999. (Publisher’s description)

Animal rights: a philosophical defence / Mark Rowlands ; consultant editor, Jo Campling. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. (Publisher’s description)

Cruelty to animals and interpersonal violence : readings in research and application / edited by Randall Lockwood and Frank R. Ascione. West Lafayette, Ind. : Purdue University Press, 1998. (Publisher’s description)

Encyclopedia of animal rights and animal welfare / edited by Marc Bekoff with Carron A. Meaney ; foreword by Jane Goodall. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1998. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Ethics into action : Henry Spira and the animal rights movement / Peter Singer. Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, 1998. (Publisher’s description)

Animals and their moral standing / Stephen R.L. Clark. London: Routledge, 1997. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Beyond animal rights : a feminist caring ethic for the treatment of animals / edited by Josephine Donovan and Carol J. Adams. New York : Continuum, 1996. (Publisher’s description)

The heretic’s feast : a history of vegetarianism / Colin Spencer. Hanover, NH : University Press of New England, 1996. (Publisher’s description)

Rain without thunder : the ideology of the animal rights movement / Gary L. Francione. Philadelphia, Pa. : Temple University Press, 1996. (Publisher’s description)

Animal theology / Andrew Linzey. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1995. (Publisher’s description)

Animal Welfare and Human Values / Rod Preece. Waterloo : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1995. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Beyond prejudice : the moral significance of human and nonhuman animals / Evelyn B. Pluhar ; foreword by Bernard E. Rollin. Durham : Duke University Press, 1995. (Publisher’s description)

Against liberation: putting animals in perspective / Michael P.T. Leahy. Rev. pbk. ed. London: Routledge, 1994. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Neither man nor beast : feminism and the defense of animals / Carol J. Adams. New York : Continuum, 1994. (Publisher’s description)

Ecology, policy, and politics : human well-being and the natural world / John O’Neill. London: Routledge, 1993. (Publisher’s description)(Click here to access resource)

Sorry!

I am working on a presentation and a Camtasia video this week, so I have not had a chance to add information to the blog.  I’ll be back early next week with some new content.

In case you’re wondering what I’m doing, I’m preparing to demonstrate one of my favorite pieces of software, Qiqqa.  (I’ll do a one hour demo at 4pm and again at 7pm on November 15th, in Room 106 (the electronic classroom) at McKillop Library.

If you’re interested but you are unable to attend, send me an email and I’ll let you know once the video presentation is available.

History, journalism, women in popular culture, ethics in war

More bad news from Israel / Greg Philo and Mike Berry. London : Pluto Press, 2011. (Publisher’s description)

Those girls : single women in sixties and seventies popular culture / Katherine J. Lehman. Lawrence, Kan. : University Press of Kansas, 2011. (Publisher’s description)

Ethics for enemies : terror, torture, and war / F.M. Kamm. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011. (Publisher’s description)