Circle of Blue News

It's fast become one of the world's leading places to address and solve some of the world's most challenging problems. For three days in late September, former President Bill Clinton gathers international leaders in government, business, academia, and non-governmental organizations for the Clinton Global Initiative, an unparalleled confab that's quickly earned a reputation as the Academy Awards of the global public interest community.

We're delighted to share the news that Circle of Blue has been selected to participate in this year's session, which convenes in New York Sept. 26. The Initiative joins non-traditional companies and funders with significant projects of impact that are original, have clear and feasible objectives, and in which success can be readily measured.

Clinton founded the initiative in 2005 to convene non-traditional allies, and prompt them to commit to specific actions that accelerate solutions to four global challenges: Education, energy and climate, global health, and poverty. As an invitee this year, Circle of Blue is part of the energy and climate program. For its part in the Clinton Global Initiative, Circle of Blue is recruiting new partners that are central to analyzing and acting upon the global freshwater crisis, and to support the project's communications, data and journalistic organizing infrastructure.

As an example, Circle of Blue is actively working with SustainAbility, a London-based non-profit consulting organization founded by John Elkington, as part of the CGI commitment process. SustainAbility is a global leader in helping governments and business around the world develop more energy-efficient and environmentally-sensitive economic strategies. Circle of Blue is working with especially innovative partners. Stay tuned for the latest -- it's a great honor and we'll keep the news flowing.

Dr. Jerry Linenger, flight surgeon and former astronaut who completed two orbital missions in his career — including spending 132 harrowing days in 1997 aboard the Russian Mir space station – knows about conserving freshwater. Aboard Mir, water was so precious that two drops on a cloth served as the source for his irregular space “baths.” Dr. Linenger, a Circle of Blue board member, is speaking next month to 1,500 delegates about his space experiences and Circle of Blue in Dalian, China at the first New Champions meeting held by the World Economic Forum.

A respected global convening organization founded in Switzerland in 1971, the World Economic Forum is committed, like the Clinton Global Initative, to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape new thinking in business and government. Linenger has plenty to tell the 1,500 executives invited to attend, including how he viewed his orbiting space station and the blue circle below him, both set against a vast blackness, as ”closed ecosystems” similarly vulnerable to disruptions in the supply of water, energy, and oxygen, the basic life-sustaining resources. He'll also focus his presentation on collaboration and partnerships, which was how Linenger and his Russian Mir comrades survived energy and water shortages, equipment failures, and a perilous fire.

WASHINGTON (Wilson Center news) — World Water Week kicked off in Stockholm earlier this month, but more than one billion people still lack access to safe water and more than 2.6 billion live without basic sanitation. These numbers are rising, as a growing global population and more intensive water use further tax already-stressed water resources. In light of these trends, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Navigating Peace Initiative released Water Stories: Expanding Opportunities in Small-Scale Water and Sanitation Projects, a report that examines the success of small-scale, community-based water and sanitation efforts. The report includes an essay by Circle of Blue's managing director, J. Carl Ganter.
In past decades, most funding for water and sanitation projects has gone into the construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as dams and pipelines. These mega-projects have been criticized for a wide variety of shortcomings. Yet even if they functioned perfectly, they still would not be able to provide clean water and sanitation to many remote rural communities.

To address the limitations of large-scale initiatives, the international community has increasingly focused on small-scale and community-based projects, but more research on these methods is urgently needed. Water Stories assesses NGO and community-based water and sanitation efforts and explores how lessons learned from these projects can be effectively communicated and replicated worldwide.

•Water and Health: In “Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage Options in Developing Countries: A Review of Current Implementation Practices,” Daniele S. Lantagne, Robert Quick, and Eric D. Mintz summarize five of the most common household water treatment and storage methods—chlorination, filtration (biosand and ceramic), solar disinfection, combined filtration/chlorination, and combined flocculation/chlorination—and describe the pros and cons of implementing each one.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living, national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds and engaged in the study of national and world affair.