Despite what you learned in science class in school, Maude Barlow says, it is in fact possible for the Earth to be running out of water. Pollution and population are on the rise, and corporations encroach on the water rights of people around the world, fencing off and bottling up a natural resource that should be available to all.

Barlow is a longtime activist for water rights, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and a longtime fighter against globalization. She joins Laura in studio to explain how the water crisis happened, why it's getting worse, and why we must act now to ensure access to water before the resource wars get any worse.

Speaking of water, the story of the fight over hydraulic fracturing--hydrofracking or "fracking"--for natural gas in New York contains some familiar villains, it turns out. It was Dick Cheney's Halliburton that discovered the technique, and Cheney's pressure that got it approved by the EPA.

Last week, Mike Papantonio told us that there was no fund from BP to pay for the oil disaster, and raised some questions about Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of the damages to Gulf residents.  Today investigative journalist Greg Palast answers some of those questions--and raises a few of his own.

Palast has been investigating BP for years, and right now is working on The Amazon to Arctic Investigation (and could use your help). He's also got a bit of his own experience with Kenneth Feinberg, and he joins us in studio to lay out the history of cases like this, where the people hurt by corporate negligence end up getting doubly screwed when it comes time to get their benefits.

Finally, this week was the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Laura has some personal memories of how it could've helped her own life to have a law like this around.