Today it is becoming clear that water is more valuable than gold or oil. We are just beginning to realize that water is as necessary as our air to sustain life as we know it. Gold adorns us. Oil makes “junky plastic toys,” as my grandson would say as another toy he has purchased with his allowance breaks. Practically every industry uses oil to turn machines into air polluters. Our lives can exist with out gold or oil, but nothing living can exist with out water.
Water can turn a tiny seed into food, create shelter and be used for travel. We cannot get anywhere nor do anything that has not been involved water. Water was here on this planet long before we were even a glint in evolution’s eye. In the past 200 years one species, man, single handedly has caused increasing degradation of this once clean resource. Can we as a modern educated culture protect our waters by reversing what we are doing? Yes we all can!
Being surrounded by water on three sides where I live is a constant reminder of how precious our water is as it gives life to all living matter being sustained by fresh, brackish or salt water. From the two small ponds right down the street, one a vernal pool, and the other home to frogs, turtles and fish, as well as many small creatures I have never seen but still learning about, water is something that is necessary to all life. These two small ponds, once owned by Olga Owens Huckins, was a bird sanctuary that Rachael Carson wrote about in Silent Spring. Huckins called Carson’s attention to the dead birds on her property resulting from DDT spraying here in Duxbury. Carson tried to warn us that “one species – man – acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.” What would she write about today if she saw the earth almost 49 years after that book was published?
Present conditions have caused many organizations across the country and around the world to focus on the goal of trying to protect water. In Kingston the Jones River Watershed Association, among one of its many goals, has struggled with EPA’s rule that allows the transfer of polluted water into clean water. At our high school, Casey Reinhart wrote in the school paper, The Flyer, there would soon be a hydration station in the high school thanks to Sustainable Duxbury and Island Creek Oyster Foundation to help do away with water bottles. This hydration station will provide a place to refill reusable water bottles with chilled filtered water. ICOF will gift this hydration station to the high school. The Island Creek Oyster Foundation also managed, with the help of Sustainable Duxbury, to eliminate all water bottles for their fund-raiser on Duxbury Beach where 3,500 people attended. They worked with the town on this event to hook up our own water. Just imagine how many water bottles they did away with! Nice work, especially since the distributor offered to supply free water bottles! Down in Texas, Rio Bravo Wildlife Institute has been assisted by Wal-Mart to help them provide important information about their water problems in the South Texas. There are no aquifers in that area to tap into as we do in other parts of the country. This program will educate about water so they can help migrating wildlife as well as how to conserve the little water they do have.
More good news and bad news about our precious endangered water supply surrounding our earth is the amazing efforts of Roger Payne’s Ocean Alliance soon to be headquartered in Gloucester. The 5-year trip of 87,000 miles by Odyssey, the alliance’s 93-foot research vessel with scientists, reported on conditions of the world’s oceans and whales, among other marine life. Payne’s research revealed contaminants that threaten the human food supply. Fish is the primary source of animal protein for 1 billion people. The good news? We can pay attention to these findings and rethink the way we live our lives and protect this valuable life giving life-giving resource!
The land, sea, air and all living things are interdependent. While protecting and ensuring the health of our planet we are also protecting our own health. When our planet is healthy then we will be also. As we begin to turn the tide towards a protective and sustainable goal for water, we will see the effects in nature all around us in the process. Water has always helped heal us and now it’s our turn to heal the waters. This is not something that we can expect our government to do all by itself. It all started with each individual contributing and now each of us must take those healing steps to protect water in the way we live our daily lives. It’s time to change how our water is used and abused. Looking out to the ocean we can think about all the plastic flip-flops, bottles, trash and chemicals we release into our oceans. Think about that the next time you sit on the beach enjoying your day in the sun.
Think about the streams polluted from run off from the land as you enjoy fishing in our waters flowing to the oceans. Look and see all those plastic bags blowing in the breeze attached to branches of a tree along the highway, see the advertising and party balloons used everywhere. Where will they end up? When we all decided not to use balloons for celebrations or advertising we can make a huge difference. How exciting to know that we can change our seemingly small actions and make a big difference. I’m certain that you can think up even more. We can stop feeding the oceans our trash.
Yes, they say “what comes around…goes around” and everything we throw away is coming back to us. There is no “away.” Man’s health and nature’s health are all connected. Treat our water as if it was as precious as gold or oil and we’ll have a healthier life and Mother Earth will also.
If it seems like I’m spouting off – I am, for a whale of a big reason!
