Pachamama's Water
Since we moved into our little house four years ago, our water heater has broken three times. We have now been without hot water for nearly six months. One month after the heater broke, our kitchen sink clogged. I did everything I could to fix it, with no luck. I disconnected the trap and we had a bucket under the sink for about four months. Next, our toilet began leaking which required us to shut the water off at the wall between uses. Thanks to the help of some friends, our kitchen sink is functioning again. The heater and the upstairs toilet are still broken.It has been an interesting adventure and a long "teachable moment" for my family. It may seem to other urbanites as if we're roughin' it. Our funds are limited, plumbers and water heaters are expensive! We have certainly become more radical conservationists as well as opportunistic bathers. Still, we are so very abundant! Clean, drinkable water comes right to our house - on demand, as much as we want. We have electricity to heat small amounts of water on the stove to cook with, wash dishes, clean our faces and feet before bed. There are so many places around the world where people lack these most basic of human rights, the very essence of our survival.
When my son was three and I was pregnant with my daughter, we lived in an old Finnish homestead in northern Wisconsin that did not have running water or electricity. I hiked to a spring everyday, carrying two five-gallon pails and trailed by a toddler who wanted to be carried as well. The water was not drinkable and it had to be boiled for dish washing and bathing. I chopped wood for our stove, lit candles for light and emptied pots into the privy rather than flushing a toilet (obviously, we didn't have one to flush). It was a hard life that year, yet quite peaceful and beautiful in many ways. When my son was still a baby, we lived in a small cabin in the redwoods of Northern California. Because the cabin was on community owned land, we did have access to solar electricity and water pumped from a spring farther down the mountain, though it did not come right to our cabin. It was also a longer hike to the privy but there was one shower in the old school house. Now we live in the middle of a big town, flanked by neighbors on all sides. Light turns on with the flip of a switch, same with the heat. It is interesting how quickly we can become accustomed to convenience and how easily we use more and more and more, without even noticing.
You realize very quickly how much water you use when you have to carry the buckets down the stairs and out the back door. Suddenly compost duty becomes much more laborious and we find simple ways to make our water stretch. If it had been a dry year, the kitchen water would have been a welcome addition to the gardens; we had almost too much rain this year.
My children and I have become quite appreciative of hot tap water and are very good at conserving the water we do use. Still, of all the palatable water used in the world, only 10% is human household consumption. 70% is used by Industrial Agriculture which is poisoning the water, land, air and creatures. So, we grow our own food and buy local organics. How many people, making these kinds of lifestyle choices, will it take before we reach a new critical mass? The kind that will shift our current paradigm into something more ecologically sustainable - for the Earth as well as for our species?
I could list statistics in hopes that it will inspire some of you to make whatever changes you can in your homes, in your workplaces, in your schools and churches. It has been my experience however, that shock is numbing. Our culture has become so desensitized to violence, we don't even see it as real. But this is real:
People Lack Drinking Water and Sanitation
- Photo by ADMVB bokidiawe@yahoogroupes.fr
This is very real and will be coming closer and closer to home for all of us, in the not-too-distant future (unless we make drastic changes in policies, politics and practice NOW!) Start by becoming more aware of your own personal habits of consumption, be thankful for the abundance in your life and find ways to use less, to "need" less. VOTE with your dollars for local businesses that are accountable to their communities and environment.
Water is the fundamental ingredient necessary for all life. It is our responsibility, as stewards on this beautiful planet, to protect and preserve the water. NO ONE ought to be allowed to stake a claim on water, yet corporations across the globe are doing just that. Every time you purchase a bottle of water, or can of soda, or head of lettuce that has traveled over a thousand miles to get to your plate, you are saying "yes" to the privatization of water.
We are made of at least 70% water. Be the Change!!!
