Are You Ready To Take The Challenge?

The update about my taking this challenge will follow this entry.
This was written in May of this year.

There is no discounting that this crisis is real and it looms large upon the landscape of our world. And that is not good for our future if we continue in our current ways. For as we all know, humans and others species cannot live without water, and it is the one resource people have and will kill for to have. It is why women and children in these drought and pollution ravaged countries walk four, sometimes more hours everyday just to fetch water from lakes and rivers that are so polluted, drinking it can kill you.

Would you bathe in sewerage? Would you let your child? Would you even be willing to walk 4-7 hours a day just for one large pitcher of water that you don't even know you would live to see delivered to your family? They have no choice. Water is why people risk their lives to go to wells in provinces where tribal lords shoot them on sight. It has even been the cause of death in places like Kenya and Somalia for men who simply have gone fishing in rivers to provide food for their families, because their sources have dried up and there are no more fish. 1.1 billion people in this world currently are without safe clean water.

A child dies every 15 seconds from a water related illness in this world. Rivers in China (approximately 1/5 of them) are so polluted that the water is totally unusable. And in a country whose population is booming, it is causing water shortages and misuseespecially regarding irrigation, that it is at a dangerous level. This was written about by a Chinese environmentalist named Ma Jun, who was also listed as one of the 100 people in TIME who are shaping our world. Water sources are also drying up in the Middle East, South America, and in the U.S, as was relayed in the HBO special on global warming, Too Hot Not To Handle

This article talks of how much water is wasted on irrigation of vegetables shipped to other countries that could be put to better use in drought stricken countries. It all comes down to US changing our ways to save our planet. Of course, that would then mean that human nature itself would have to be changed. Is that even possible?

Where do we stand in solving this problem? How do we as world citizens also fight against those institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, the governments in collusion with them, and those corporations which exploit this most precious of resources for their own gain at the expense of innocent people? At the expense of a child every 15 seconds!? For me personally, this issue touches my heart deeply.

For I feel a sacred bond to water and see it for the wonderful mysterious life force it is. It sustains the fetus in the womb. It cleanses our souls. It nourishes our Earth to bring forth the food that sustains our bodies. Yet we do not appreciate this most wonderful gift. We are killing it, and in the process we are killing each other.

That is why I wish to tell you all about a challenge I am going to take and wish to propose to all of you.The H2O Challenge calls for drinking only water for two weeks. Then you take all of the money you saved by not drinking coffee, tea, sodas, and other beverages and send it on to a water charity of your choice to help build wells in countries that lack safe clean water. The link above lists sites they are affiliated with, but I cannot vouch for any of them. If you should decide to do this, you can however, most certainly check out any of the sites listed at the link and support them. I am going to take this challenge starting next Monday, May 8, and on May 22, I will report how much money I have saved, and will then remit it to Water Partners International. I think it is one way we can help to bring safe clean water to those who need it, and it really is not a big sacrifice in the long term.

And while you are doing that, you can keep track at this site of places around the world where fresh water resources are dwindling. It may be an incentive to keep going. And should you decide to take this challenge to help those who need water the most in our world, make sure that every time you take a drink of water you remember how precious it is to our lives. How precious it is to our souls. How precious it is to our Earth, and let it fill your soul.We have the resources necessary to provide EVERY man, woman, and child in this world with safe clean water to drink, bathe in, use for medicinal purposes, and for sustinence.

The fact that we as a species would deliberately work to keep that water from those who need it out of greed, or be selfish enough to continue to ravage our water thinking it is endless, is totally immoral. I have written this in every entry I have previously written on this topic and I will write it again:

WATER IS LIFE.

It is the AIR WE BREATHE.

It is a HUMAN RIGHT.

It is our LIFE FORCE.

Click here for pictures from International Year Of Fresh Water. No one should ever have that taken from them, and I am willing to sacrifice for two weeks or even longer if I have to in the hope that the small amount I can give will give that gift of life to someone else who needs it more. I fervently hope you will too.
Thank you.