Move over oil addiction. America's got a whole new habit we're getting hip to -- the global water crisis.

"If you think the oil shortage has caused stress -- emotional, financial, political -- wait to you see people fighting over water," offered serial inventrepreneur Dean Kamen on the "Colbert Report" which dedicated an entire episode to the subject.

A brilliant move, Kamen demo'd his water purification system on the show. Capable of purifying any water source -- from poison to a 50 gallon drum of urine, Colbert mused -- the unit, which will cost $1,000 - $2,000 per unit can supply a village with 1,000 liters/day of clean water. Fifty percent of human disease are caused by waterborne pathogens.

And don't miss this hilarious segment on Aqua Colbert, Stephen's own bottled water brand blended from the finest waters of the world.

The West isn't just starting to rethink its own (bottled water) drinking habit, evidence suggests the West can be part of solving the world water crisis:

• Nearly 2,300 restaurants nationwide participated in The Tap Project, an effort to help bring clean drinking water to children around the globe, during "World Water Week," March 16 -22.

• The 2008 TED Conference invited WaterPartners International Executive Director Gary White to speak about the WaterCredit Initiative, an innovative program to provide loans for water and sanitation to people in developing countries without ready access to credit.

• If you haven't visited a landfill lately, then check out Running the Numbers, a large-scale visual art created by artist Chris Jordan. His work aims to help people feel vs. cognitively process the consequences of our disposable society.

• Or join others and pledge to stop drinking bottled water here on Facebook.

"The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet." says Jeffrey Sachs, author of Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, as reported by Time magazine.

"The world is likely to experience growing conflicts between haves and have-nots, intensifying environmental catastrophes and downturns in living standards caused by interlocking crises of energy, water, food and violent conflict. Yet for a small investment of world income, undertaken cooperatively across the world, our generation can harness new technologies for clean energy, reliable food supplies, disease control and the end of extreme poverty."