Today Is World Water Day. What Will You Do?

World Water Day

Today, March 22, is World Water Day. The theme for this year is sanitation. Every 15 seconds another child dies in this world from a waterborne disease due to lack of potable water and proper sanitation. This is the most crucial environmental crisis we face along with the climate crisis, and water shortages in many parts of our world due to lack of infrastructure, mismanagement of resources, and now climate change only lend to this crisis.

Please, take time today to do something to take action to save water and call for clean water for the children of our world. I will be sending letters to my Senators today and also sending a message to all of the presidential candidates to stand up for water and to make its conservation and availability and sanitation part of their environmental platforms, and that includes not supporting energy sources that pollute our waterways ( like coal and nuclear.)

This is so close to my heart. I will talk about this everyday until people get sick of hearing it. It is the only way to get it out here. The simple truth: without water we die. Without the moral and poltical will to address this crisis as well as the climate crisis we will forever alter this planet for our children and other species, and that is simply not an option. There is nothing more important than this. Without a planet we have nothing else.

Water is a human right, and all children of this world deserve to live in a world at least having the water they need to survive. This crisis is thankfully getting more exposure thanks to the UN, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, and others who are spreading the word, and also Al Gore who addressed it in An Inconvenient Truth and has talked about freshwater resources . For years people have been warning that we better start conserving this resource because it is even more precious than oil...and we are now getting closer to that tipping point as well.

We are one with the Earth. What we do to her we do to ourselves. We are seeing that much more with each passing day. What we then do with that knowledge will determine our future.

Also, take a look at this site: http://www.water.org/ and consider pledging to give clean water to those in our world who need it. Water is our most precious resource. Water is life.

Thank you

The Right To Water For Women

The Right To Water And Women

My comments:

The responsibility of women and girls in being the sole gatherers of water for their families is taking a great toll on them in Africa, South America, and India. Not much attention is paid to this, but it is an integral part of the socio-economic problems that keep them in poverty, uneducated, and feeling their hope dissipated.

In many parts of the world it is simply expected that women will do these kinds of tasks and in the case of water gathering, it is a task that presents health concerns and security concerns.

Therefore, it is integral to any convention on water rights to address the rights of women particularly to have the right to an education and not be chained to fetching water 6 hours a day, many times under dangerous conditions and in ways that impair their rights to an education and a healthy lifestyle.

The 21st Century needs to see a great change not only in water policy for the sake of all and our planet, but also for the sake of human rights and preserving them for all, and that means the women of our world.

No young girl should have to go without a proper education simply because she is menstruating and has no sanitation available to her in the school. No young girl should have to risk her health and life fetching water.

We have the technology to change the world. All we need is the will and for the women of the world to stand up for the right to water and to life.

And that is exactly what they are doing:

Water & Women

World Water Council/DHI's Women's Water Fund

Philanthropist Brings Hope, Safe Water To Women

Women joining together in a common cause have and can truly change the world.

Flow: For The Love Of Water

This is a good interview with Maude Barlow, co-chair of The Blue Planet Project, and a preview of the documentary: Flow: For The Love Of Water that looks at privitization and the effects of our behavior in disrespecting our most precious resource.


The Blue Planet Project

World Water Forum-Davos

Water War Between Georgia And Tennessee?

Drought-stricken Georgia eyes Tennessee's border -- and river water


The borderline between Northern Georgia and Southern Tennessee that separates the Tennessee River is under dispute due to Georgia claiming the borderline originally was meant to be higher, thus giving Georgia rights to the Tennessee River as well. Legislators in Georgia hope to remedy that to allow thousands of gallons of the Tennessee River to flow to drought stricken Georgia.

However, the Tennessee legislature and some Tennesseans are determined to not allow it to happen, even to the point of some residents claiming they will buy guns and shoot their rifles off if any encroachment occurs.

Are we seeing the making of a water war in the Southwest due to the drought? And in perspective, is it really so hard to come to some sort of understanding between states to provide water for residents of this country who are suffering from a drought? Should the border be moved, or does the human right to water supercede boundaries? What do you think?

This will set a precedent I fear for many disputes to come due to water scarcity as a result of climate change and wasteful practices. For those who think it can't happen in the U.S. think again. People here are just as human when it comes to seeing their water dwindling away.

Human Activity Blamed For Water Woes In The West

Human Activity Blamed For Water Woes In The West

Excerpt:


By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 31, 2:00 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Human activity such as driving and powering air conditioners
is responsible for up to 60 percent of changes contributing to dwindling water
supplies in the arid and growing West, a new study finds.

Those changes are likely to accelerate, says the study published Thursday
in Science magazine, portending "a coming crisis in water supply for the western
United States."

The study is likely to add to urgent calls for action already coming from
Western states competing for the precious resource to irrigate farms and quench
the thirst of growing populations. Devastating wildfires, avalanches and drought
have also underscored the need.
Researchers led by climate expert Tim P.
Barnett at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of
California, San Diego, studied climate changes in the West between 1950-1999.
They noted that winter precipitation falls increasingly as rain rather than
snow, snow melts faster, river flows decrease in summer months, and overall
warming is exacerbating dry summer conditions.

The researchers used statistical modeling to compare climate changes that
would have happened with natural fluctuations over time, to climate changes with
the addition of human-caused greenhouse gases and other emissions from vehicles,
power plants and other sources.

They found that most changes in river flow, temperature and snow pack
between 1950 and 1999 can be attributed to human activities, such as driving,
that release emissions including carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into
the atmosphere.

end of excerpt.

"It is not until the well runs dry, that we know the worth of water." Ben Franklin.

The population explosion in the Southwest is causing the one thing we up to now have only seen in third world underdeveloped countries. The Southwest is running out of water due to population increase, waste, and climate change. The time has come for evasive action to conserve water resources, provide for more water storage, and to invest in irrigation methods that save water, along with doing something about the tremendous population increase in this area.

Those who move there to have huge swimming pools in the desert and water their fake lawns need to understand what calamity they are precipitating by their actions. Will it have to come down to fines and forced restrictions? And notice in Las Vegas when you pass a casino all you see are huge fountains, pools, and water displays. Are they truly necessary at a time like this?

This study is a red flag that should lead people to truly think of the consequences of their actions. The water problems we are facing now in this country will not go away if we just pray for rain. We must be the catalyst in taking a moral responsibility for conserving water.

Drain On The Mediterranean

When is the international community going to get into a serious discussion about population growth and its contributions to this crisis? Is it not irresponsible to continue population increases without adequate resources to sustain humans? If people in these regions wish to have water they must realize THEIR part in the problem and work to be the solution. It is simply insane to keep pumping all of this water out knowing the conditions it is creating while continuing population increases. Especially in light of warnings from the IPCC for this region in relation to climate change which is now also a great factor in lower water levels.

Drain On The Mediteranean/Water Usage Up

Excerpt:

Freshwater has always been a scarce commodity in the semi-arid Mediterranean. It has 7 percent of the world's population, but only 3 percent of its freshwater resources. And the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report predicts that global warming may lead to less rainfall and more evaporation in the region, further reducing the supply of water.

Half the world's "water poor" -- that is, people whose access to freshwater is deemed inadequate -- live in the Mediterranean region, mostly on the sea's eastern and southern shores. By 2025, the Blue Plan predicts that due to population growth and expanding agriculture, the number of water poor in the region could be as high as 165 million in 2025, up from 108 million in 2000.

End of excerpt.

When will we learn?