TED Talk- How the market can keep streams flowing

Rating: ***

In this TED talk, Rob Harmon tries to tell his listeners about the loss of water in our streams and rivers. Throughout his presentation he talks about a small stream called Prickly Pear, reaching from Lake Helena to East Helena in Montana. This stream contained many types of trout at one point but now the stream is almost dry. In 1865 Montana passed a water law stating that everybody that lives near the stream can share it. Although with there not being enough of the water, some brought in lawyers. In 1921, Montana supreme court ruled the "Senior water right", meaning that the first settlers had the right to the water usage. Today, big beer companies are starting to worry about thier water footprint. In order for them to produce 1 pint or beer, they need to use 5 pints of water. Rob Harmon and his came up with the business water stewardship in practice; first they measure the water, then they reduce the amount of water they use, and last they restore the areas that they used the water from. For this procedure to work, the farmers were paid to leave the water in the Prickly Pear stream, this was thier choice. In doing so the beer companies have restored over 4 billion gallons of water, and now Prickly pear stream is full of water.

I liked this TED Talk because they came up with a really smart idea and with all the water that has been restored, now outdoors adventurists can fish, kayak, and canoe down the streams and rivers that Mr.Harmon and his team have saved. The presentation was really well done, they explained everything using pictures, graphs, and comparisons to help explain his idea.

Harmon, Rob. How the market can keep streams flowing. Filmed November 2010. Posted March 2011.
http://www.ted.com/talks/rob_harmon_how_the_market_can_keep_streams_flowing.html