Yesterday, much of our hotel was without water. Needless to say, it was a major inconvenience. What a subtle reminder of how a third of the Earth’s population lives in “water stressed” countries and that the world water crisis is one of the largest public health issues of our time. According to The United Nations nearly 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and this lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day.
Our son, Robert, is a civil engineer who specializes in water resources. He shares about the “water crunch” through a blog. As we celebrate Earth Day we need to consider whether we are part of the problem or the solution and give thanks for God's creative goodness.
3 comments:
I appreciate Robert's blog. I am opposed to lawn watering for many reasons, and it irks my soul to see water running down the streetside gutters as folks wash thier cars and ATVs and water their lawns almost daily.
I am opposed to lawns PERIOD, as they support only limited and non-indigenous species. They feed no myriad of life and poison most plants and animals. Lawns contribute to species extinction and to water pollution etc., etc., etc. They fragment the biosphere and preselect but a handful of plant and animal species for survival. My yard may look like grass, but it is a close cropping of all the species that lived in the aftdune that once was my yard. I do not fertilize it or poison it to avoid runoff ionto the ocean. Please think about the fact that we live on a planet and not a cosmic retreat.
I published this comment on an older post, but I am compelled to paste it here again. So sheepishly and almost ashamedly, here we go.
Was delighted to see new blog. Am concerned that humans are thirty years too late waking up. It could easily be that even if we started today and produced zero pollutants of any kind, that the richochet effect of what is already in our atmosphere would continue on a scale that would still destroy much of life. The real solution, unfortunately, is a delicate ethical issue. It is entirely related to human population. The only answer for our planet, realistically, is an immediate cessation of population gain and an immediate movement toward a much smaller global community. This topic needs to be researched, understood and discussed as a plan by every congregation on earth, NOW! Our standard of living must be lower. Our self- awareness better look hard enough to see self- preservation, or we could all end up as our own Anti-Christ. Intelligence has never been tested on this planet as a survival technique. It just might not work when it is not used in conjunction with wisdom. We must not depend on artificial intelligence and technology to save us. Sacrifice saves. Does that sound familiar? We all must sacrifice everything that fits into the category of more than is practical for an individual to have. If you have more of anything than is your share, you have too much.
Intelligence could grow up to be the cancer of the universe. I do not mean to sound too bleak, and I am not the Unibomber's cousin, but neither am I blind, or stupid, or completely selfish. We need to need less. I am so bruised from falling off that soap box. Could someone move it, or take it away? I fear it clutters the landscape.
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