By Shawnee Baldwin
Looking over your life how many ways have you experienced water in all its forms?
Crossing a bridge and seeing the river or brook below? Fishing in a lake or the ocean? Sailing, jet skiing, kayaking, swimming? A baptism, ritual washing, or other sacred ceremony? Washing a car or watering a lawn, garden, or thirsty houseplants? Washing dishes or clothes or cleaning up a spill? Brushing teeth? Taking a shower? Adjusting bodily fluids? Making tea, coffee, lemonade? Walking in the rain? Sledding down a hill in winter? Moving by the power of a steam engine?
Walking through a gas slicked puddle? Flooding in your neighborhood and homes rushing downstream? The island where you live completely submerged making you a climate refugee? Your sacred lands flooded and destroyed by the building of a dam? Stranded by a blizzard? Covered in an avalanche? Severe drought? For most of us we have only seen the last few on TV.
When was the last time you consciously thought about where your water comes from?
What would you do if you turned on your tap and nothing came out? Or if what did come out was a funny color, had a pungent smell, or was full of invisible bacteria or toxic lead?
Water is a sacred resource.
Water is a powerful force.
We take water for granted and yet our water sources continue to be compromised right under our noses.
When will we take steps to protect this precious resource?
Growing up in the Virgin Islands water was scarce, available if it rained; your roof captured and channeled it into a cistern. In our house, showers were short, tubs did not exist, water did not run while brushing teeth, and toilets were flushed for solid waste only. Sometimes we had to boil our water from the tap before we could drink it. Old habits die hard!
Our water sources are in trouble and we continue to ignore the warnings.
Rachel Carson in Silent Spring (1962) warned us about pesticides in our water, land, and food supplies.
Movies and documentaries have warned us of the high cost of contaminated water, fighting the corporations that produce it, and policies and government departments that defend its continued denial of toxic water: Erin Brockovich (2000), A Civil Affair (1998), Dark Waters (2019). A Battle for Water in Hawaii (Red Hill), and No Defense (Camp Grayling, Wurtsmith Air Force Base) exposes multiple heath issues from Air Force gas tanks that were never cleaned up that are now leaking toxic waste and sickening folks in the neighborhood.
Children’s books warned our youth: Wump World (1970) by Bill Peet “and in time the green growth would wind its way up through the rubble. But the Wump World would never be quite the same”. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (1971) – “You are glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed! No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed. So, I’m sending them off. Oh, their future is dreary. They’ll walk on their fins and get woefully weary in search of some water that isn’t so smeary.”
When will be heed these warnings?
Corporations are buying up land for the water rights, promising jobs and tax incentives, and then selling us bottled water – what should be a free gift from nature – while some towns begin to experience sink holes from the large amounts of water extracted from the ground. Fossil fuel companies lay pipeline over sacred tribal lands despite resident objections. Pipelines or oil carrying vessels are breaking, leaking, and forever changing the eco systems. These stories top the headlines for maybe a week and then we go back to life and business as usual. Long term activists for water rights are reviled, attacked, ignored, or denied a voice at the table as corporate greed takes center stage.
It is time we take heed of the decades old warnings or everything that uses water will be gone.
“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It is not.”
- Be conscious and cautious of what you put down the drain (medications, paints are toxic).
- Reconsider washing your car and watering your lawn.
- Consider a rain barrel to store and water your plants.
- Take shorter showers. Do not run the water.
- If you run the water to get it hot, put a container in the stream and use it to water house plants (after it cools off).
- Full loads of laundry.
TALK Environment group seeks to promote conversations about the environment and climate change in our community. If you have a related topic which you are passionate about, please send your ideas and suggestions for future articles to: prez@talk-action.org. All articles are archived on the Talk website http://talk-action.org