I almost missed Blog Action Day, which for me would have been unforgiveable. If we have any one resource in this world that we we rely on for our continued existince, it is a tolerable climate. You know, one that allows us to breathe. And one that keeps our water from drying up. And one that keeps the sun from scorching us if we leave the house. And I just wanted to write a little note about the most important thing that we can do to assist.
Shelve your indifference.
I have a friend who leaves the water running while she does the dishes. I mean, while she does it, the water runs constantly. She scrubs the dish beneath the running tap, and then when she is done scrubbing, she rinses it beneath the running tap. Then she stacks it while the tap is running, grabs another while the tap is running, the washes it again, while the tap is running. If it takes half an hour to do the dishes, then the tap is running for the whole time. Over the course of the year, this habit wastes a lot of water. Over the course of a lifetime, the habit is unforgivable.
Forget, if you can, that there are women and children in some countries that need to walk ten hours per day (often carrying large, heavy, containers) so that the family can have water to eat and wash, have clean clothes and drink enough fluid to remain hydrated. Think of that sacrifice, and of having to make that sacrifice when the water that you are working so hard to get is impure, dirty, or downright brackish. You may be forgiven for thinking that under such circumstances, dirty water is prized, as it continues to provide subsistence level living.
In a city, uneducated children could be forgiven for going through their childhood believing that water came from a tap, and that it was naturally clean. And globally, as more and more homeowners are being forced to pay for their water usage, they may be forgiven for thinking that they can use as much as they like as long as they pay. Whenever it is pointed out that it is a shared resource, they are prone to get defensive.
So my message is this. Be diligent. Everything you use takes away from a common resource. Sorry it isn’t more insightful, but perhaps, just perhaps, it doesn’t need to be.








