“Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting.” This is an old Western saying that was commonly used on the prairies of the United States a long time ago.
The Problem:
It has been a precious, essential resource humans have been fighting over since the beginning of the human race. Today, we are facing a world water crisis; and there are basically two schools of thought on water.
- One group says that water is a basic human right. To this community, water is a shared human element, just like the air we breathe.
- Another group believes that water is a privilege, a commodity, that can be bought, hoarded, owned and sold.
Corporations are buying up water and its rights to sell for a profit. This is taking this precious resource away from communities that rely on this water. Farmers use 80% of our water today for agriculture. This is a great challenge for everyone on the planet. The animals we eat use much of this food that in turn uses water.
Currently:
Do we learn to decrease our need for edible meat to reduce the pressure on our water supply? Currently, there are other concerns. Groups of people in Colorado are complaining that using the fracking technique uses an enormous amount water.
I live in Atlanta where water is in short supply. Atlanta’s supply for a metro area of over 6 million people comes from one river, the Chattahoochee River. This fragile water supply is not adequate to supply the growth that Atlanta is experiencing. As a result, I believe there will come a time when the movement of our population will be regulated by the water supplies of areas of the United States.
At the present time people in this country are able to move to any city they choose regardless of the water supply there. I believe in the future we will no longer be able to arbitrarily move wherever we wish. As a result I believe that if I want to move to Atlanta in the future there will be a few options:
- I will either be part of a lottery where a particular number of people each year are chosen to move there,.
- Each area will set an exact number of people they will allow to move in that area.
- Another method they may use is deciding what professions or jobs are needed in a community and allow that particular needed group to move in.
The Future:
We are approaching interesting times ahead where we must learn to be more mindful, creative and innovative concerning our water supply and usage through Mindful Green Living. It is liquid gold, source of life and truly a Divine gift to each of us. Only when we begin to have reverent respect for every drop will our future shift from fear and scarcity to confidence and abundance.