World Water Week is in full swing in Stockholm again and the theme for 2013 is “Water Cooperation – Building Partnerships”. It takes its inspiration from the United Nations declaration that 2013 is the “International Year of Water Cooperation”.
YEEEHAAA! It’s a fait accompli!
By the end of this year, nothing more will need to be said about the water challenges the world faces since we all know that a declaration coming from an external power of appointed (non-elected) officials and impressed upon the masses changes habits, right?
“Yes. Of course,” you agree as you nod your head robotically.
International forums such as this are extremely important for discussing issues, presenting scientific findings, and forging relationships between benefiting parties, but do they really change our individual relationship with water itself? Isn’t that where the problem lies in the first place? And what is that relationship?
Our resource?
Our human right?
Our commodity?
Our treasure?
Our? Really? Hmmm.
There is no doubt in my mind that water is alive…and she remembers what you did last summer. But no worries. She speaks a language humans choose not to understand so your secret is safe with her…and the dolphins 
.
She remembers how embarrassed you were when you thought it logical to remove your muddy pants at school in grade 1 only to realize after you sat down in class that you had no pants on. “It’s a dress, really. See?” You mutter to the boy you have a crush on sitting at the desk next to you as you yank on your pink blouse trying to stretch it past your hips.
She remembers how many needlepoint canvases your mother created when she was pregnant for you thus instilling an in vitro affinity for hypnotic repetitive tasks like ballet, running, haute couture, martial arts, or spending hours on the computer sifting through code without blinking, or eating, heck even breathing.
So who is this being called Water?
Water is intelligent or in the very least responsive.
The frozen water crystal experiments from Masaru Emoto provides pseudo-scientific evidence that water responds to vibrational energy from human intention differently based on the particular frequency of the thought. Positive thoughts and their associated emotions create beautifully symmetrical crystals while negative thoughts and their associated ill-feelings create incoherent mutant crystals. His work is however the subject of much debate.
Water is a nature photographer.
Ice core samples from the Antarctic are time popsicles of information about Earth’s history which has provided us with atmospheric information from millions of years ago as a snapshot of Gaia’s “health” trapped and preserved within water’s structure.
Water is generous and kind.
She falls from the sky and fills our aquifers, lakes, rivers, streams, glaciers, and oceans. We take what we need and waste what we don’t, yet she keeps on giving despite our ignorant ways. She breathes life in every cell of our body even if we do not show the same kindness to ourselves.
Water is mischievous.
A day at the ocean is her opportunity to connect with us humans on a grander scale. She licks our heels or the backs of our knees as we stroll along the beach, and serenades us with calming waves until we turn around to pose for a vacation shot. Before the shutter winks, a 6 foot foaming monster appears behind us and pulls our biking bottom off. Say cheese!
Water is mysterious.
Just when you thought you had all her favourite hangouts figured out, she makes a public appearance on the moon! Perhaps she is casing out the rock in case she decides to move there to escape humanity as we slowly poison her with our garbage. Life always finds a way.
Water is…
…what you want her to be.
She is flexible, rigid, and free spirited.
A resource? A human right? A commodity? A treasure? I think not.
Who is Water to you?
Please share your own “Water is…” as a comment below.
Then challenge yourself to develop a relationship with Water that will last an eternity for ALL inhabitants on this planet, not just humans. Only then will the “International Year of Water Cooperation” have a lasting impact.
Great job! I admire anyone who follows their passion. One of my papers I wrote in college was on Water Wars in the Middle East. The research stayed with me. Now I am working to get people to have a relationship with what they eat. It all goes hand in hand. Keep up the work. You’ve given me a new way of looking at water.
Hi Gail
Thanks! and Wow!That must have been a very difficult piece to write. War always makes me sad and angry at the same time. The food certainly goes hand in hand with water since water is almost part of everything we come into contact with. I totally support your initiative.
[…] Maybe we have just forgotten Who Water Is. […]