Water – a life giving force

What makes our planet unique is the pure and simple fact that we have water, which is considered to be one of most important resources to our very existence. We really can’t think of life without thinking of water since we are all so dependant on it even though in our modern cultures we don’t give it much thought. Water is so important, that we actually have travelled all the way to Mars to see if there was life-sustaining water on that planet. So, with this knowledge that water is so important to us, why are we wasting it like it isn’t important to us at all? Here in New England, where we get quite a bit of rain/snow, it seems like water is a never ending resource so why should we worry about it? Well, the fact is that with our ever expanding population, our fresh water resources are being stretched to its limits. My wife and I lived in Medway for a while and it seemed like every summer there was water rationing because the town water supply was being stretched so thin. Obviously our population will only continue to grow, and with fresh water on this planet being a finite resource, it is going to become more and more scarce. The scariest part of this is that huge corporations are starting to buy up water rights so that they can profit from this scarcity. To me this is downright unethical; water is a life force, not a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder, but yet this is what starting to happen all over the world. Even here in the United States where fresh water is almost always available at the turn of the tap, we are being sold millions of gallons of ‘fresh’ water in single serving containers. Not only is this a waste of money, and waste of extra packaging, it also is encouraging the sale of water for profit.

Want to make water accessible for everyone? Sign the article 31 petition here so that water can be protected for everyone. This is a UN human rights issue and shouldn't even be up for debate since water is truly a right, not a priviledge.

Need more information about how water is becoming a ‘for profit’ commodity? There is a relatively new documentary titled “Flow: For the Love of Water”, that I have not yet seen, but talks about this very topic. It is available on Netflix, and probably elsewhere. You can see the trailer here.

Want to see how bad bottled water is for our environment? Watch this short film clip here, and you will see why carrying your own reusable water thermos is the way to go.

Ever wonder how much water you really use? My wife and I are trying to reduce our water ‘footprint’ and so we took this water quiz to see how we were doing. You can take this same quiz here to find out your water usage compared to average Americans. It only takes about 5 minutes, and at the end gives you some good tips on things you specifically can change.

Water is way too precious to be wasting, and definitely should not be a for profit business. Let us do everything we can to conserve, and appreciate this life giving force, and make sure that businesses do not profit from it. Then again, this is just Life According To Troy.