Theology

©  2009  Rose George

From Ekklesia, a church news service, a report from the 3rd World Forum on Theology and Liberation, which met in Brazil recently. We all know that cleanliness is next to godliness, but it was still a surprise to read that South African academic Steve de Gruchy had given a speech in which he said, “Previous civilisations may have got away with flushing the problem downstream, but in a globalised world there is no downstream, or, more correctly, we all live downstream.” The question of sewage, he continued “is the place where economics and ecology collide … Outside of our ability to deal with our s**t, there can be no real talk of sustainability.” Common sense to anyone who knows anything about sewage and sanitation, but a revelation, still, to most politicians who are in the the position to do something about it. Talking of which, President Obama’s stimulus package, according to this report, will build 1300 new wastewater projects. Many mentions of repairing and building roads and bridges, but nothing specifically about crumbling, overloaded sewers, though various local authorities seem hopeful that they can use stimulus funds to sort out their sewer issues. Money for infrastructure is a good thing. So how come when I search for “wastewater” on Whitehouse.gov, it finds nothing and suggests only, “Did you mean tidewater?”