Great Lakes for Sale

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Great Lakes for Sale by Dave Dempsey

“Lake Michigan may be coming to Idaho.”

That’s what an Idaho radio commentator said in June 2021. Holding approximately 20% of the world’s surface freshwater, the Great Lakes are once again a target for the drought-ridden West, which is facing climate change, massive fires, and shrinking water supplies. And in a potentially far bigger threat, Wall Street is creating markets that could lead to the trading of freshwaters as a commodity like corn or oil. The Great Lakes are in danger of becoming privately exploited on a large scale by those who have priorities other than stewardship.

In Great Lakes for Sale, Dave Dempsey offers surprising, even controversial, ideas on how to prevent the fulfillment of this nightmare scenario. They include an attack on water commercialization, curbing abuse of the Great Lakes Compact, and devising plans for limited sharing of the Great Lakes to forestall humanitarian disasters. If the Great Lakes are to remain great, new thinking and action will be required.

“This is an excellent narrative history of the faltering fight to protect the Great Lakes from the international water bottling industry; the rising failure of the Great Lakes Compact to prevent nonessential water diversions to communities outside the basin; and a provocative consideration of what it means to treat water as a human right.” -Lana Pollack, former U.S. section chair, International Joint Commission

“The Great Lakes sustain us, and Dave Dempsey is our most important voice for their protection. In this important update to Great Lakes for Sale, Dempsey shows us why we need to prevent our public trust from being sold for profit.” -Nancy Langston, author of Climate Ghosts

“A call to action for every Great Lakes resident to recognize the lakes as our most immense gift from nature, something to be cared for as if our lives depend on them-because they do. This is a must-read for every resident of the Great Lakes region.” -Sally Cole-Misch, author of The Best Part of Us, a 2021 Readers’ Favorite International Silver Medal in Literary Fiction