Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest citizen’s advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada as well as the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works to stop commodification of the world’s water. She is also a Director with the International Forum on Globalization, a San Francisco based research and education institution opposed to economic globalization. Maude is the recipient of numerous educational awards and has received honorary doctorates from six Canadian universities for her social justice work. In addition to being nominated for the “1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005” she is also the recipient of the “2005/2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship”. Most recently she received the prestigious “2005 Right Livelihood Award” given by the Swedish Parliament and widely referred to as “The Alternative Nobel.” She is the best-selling author or co-author of fifteen books. Her most recent publications are Too Close For Comfort: Canada’s Future Within Fortress North America; Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World’s Water (with Tony Clarke), now published in 40 countries; and Profit is Not the Cure: A Citizens’ Guide to Saving Medicare.