Provocative, passionate and populist, RMB Manifestos are short and concise non-fiction books of literary, critical, and cultural studies.

In February of 2013, as reported by major media from all around the world, Lake Winnipeg was recognized by the Global Nature Fund as the world’s “Threatened Lake of the Year” for 2013. It is not just Manitoba and Canada, however, that deserve a black eye as a result of Lake Winnipeg landing up on this dreadful shortlist. While representative of serious economic threats to the economy of the Central Great Plains region in both Canada and the United States, the condition of Lake Winnipeg is a symbol of a much larger problem. The cyano-bacteria that now form huge blooms in Lake Winnipeg each summer are among the oldest known photosynthetic micro-organisms. Recent research demonstrates that the toxin this bacteria produces has been now been detected in water bodies all across Canada, at levels exceeding maximum guidelines in every province. The deteriorating condition of Lake Winnipeg and the pervasive presence of these toxins is a challenge to the future vitality of our crucial agricultural sector, and thus an issue of growing national health and economic concern.

In his third book in this RMB series, internationally respected water analyst Robert Sandford has given the people of the Central Great Plains a true manifesto that can be used to convince government, industry and society that drastic change is needed if we are to avoid the troubles currently plaguing Lake Winnipeg from spreading to other bodies of water throughout North America.

Robert William Sandford is the EPCOR Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the United Nations "Water for Life" Decade and also sits on the Advisory Committee for the prestigious Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy. He is a director of the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative, an associate of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan and a fellow of the Biogeoscience Institute at the University of Calgary. As well, he sits on the advisory board of Living Lakes Canada and is co-chair of the Forum for Leadership on Water and a member of the Advisory Panel for the RBC Blue Water Project. In 2011 he was invited to be an advisor on water issues by the InterAction Council, a global public policy think tank composed of more than 20 former national leaders, including Jean Chrétien, Bill Clinton and Vicente Fox.

Robert is the author of some 20 books on the history, heritage and landscape of the Canadian Rockies, including Water, Weather and the Mountain West (RMB, 2007), The Weekender Effect: Hyperdevelopment in Mountain Towns (RMB, 2008), Restoring the Flow: Confronting the World's Water Woes (RMB, 2009), Ethical Water: Learning to Value What Matters Most (RMB, 2011), Cold Matters: The State and Fate of Canada’s Fresh Water (RMB, 2012), Saving Lake Winnipeg (RMB, 2013), Flood Forecast: Climate Risk and Resiliency in Canada (RMB, 2014), and Storm Warning: Water and Climate Security in a Changing World (RMB, 2015). He is also the co-author of The Columbia River Treaty: A Primer (RMB, 2015) and The Climate Nexus: Water, Food, Energy and Biodiversity (RMB, 2015). Robert lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Robert William Sandford's profile page