ABSTRACT
Fresh waters and their socio-natural textures are a vital part of ecological ethics in the twentyfirst century. As geographer Jamie Linton puts it: “We mix language, gods, bodies, and thought with water to produce the worlds and the selves we inhabit” (2010, 3). Yet as recently as 2003, environmental philosopher Michael Nelson remarked that water existed in a “metaphysical blindspot” for ethics: it was largely out of sight but signified a crucial direction for ethical reflection (Nelson 2003). Now, scholarly spheres of vision expand across disciplines and methodologies to explore fresh water, oceans, and the brackish zones where they meet. Relentlessly dynamic and shape-shifting, the many forms and functions of water condition geomorphologies, shape ecosystems, augment or inhibit the lives of flora and fauna-including the survival of human beings and our varied societies, economies, and cultures.
