For love of water

Magnet #966 - Mystic Seaport

For some reason, I keep finding myself back in Mystic, Connecticut. This magnet was from my last trip there, a part of my floaty magnets section. What? Doesn't everyone divide their magnets into sections?

I picked it for today, because it's Blog Action Day, the day of the year when bloggers unite around a single cause. This year's cause is Water.

I'm not gonna go into a whole big diatribe about the importance of water, and how the earth is made of seventy-something percent water and somehow we still can't manage to get our heads around it being a precious resource - you can learn more about water here.

But, I will recommend one documentary whose trailer scared the living crap out of me a while ago, and got me to watch it the second I could get my hands on it - FLOW. It's a great film on how privatization of the world's fresh water supply is affecting every aspect of society. It also asks the question "Can anyone really own water?" I think the answer varies depending on the individual, the society and the company, but it's an interesting question to ask.

FLOW seriously scared me into watching how often I turn on my tap, even though admittedly, it shouldn't have taken a movie to do that. On top of that, I've noticed it's also affected my purchasing decisions in the store - rethinking how often I buy bottled water, and when I do, which brands to buy.

It's also given me something more to think about. In a world where water is everywhere, (to the tune of 236 million, trillion gallons), how is it that we can't get ourselves ahead of the problems associated with ownership, cleanliness, and accessibility?

How is it that almost a billion (!) people out there don't have access to clean, safe, fresh water, while I can run around the corner and buy gallons of it at any given store on Broadway?