Keep a SAVE WATER Mindset
Like Mizzfit, I feel very fortunate to have lived in drought-stricken countries in southern Africa, one reason being that I feel equipped to cope with the dwindling water supplies in California. We had an 800 liter per day allotment of water—and acquired all sorts of ways to reduce our use of the transparent treasure. Some areas of the country—Zimbabwe—had it worse off than others, where people had to survive on one bucket of water per day. Water to drink, brush teeth, wash essential body parts, wash dishes/laundry, mop floors, flush toilet—all from one bucket??
My SAVE WATER!! mindset stays with me whether I’m in parched Botswana, California or the less water-challenged Florida, Hawaii or the Great Lakes. Whether H2O is plentiful or not, it shouldn’t be squandered or taken for granted—and sometimes I do try (and mostly fail) to avoid having a judgmental attitude towards people who seem to thrive on having the greenest expanse of lawn in the neighbourhood.
It’s hard to mention water without recognizing how it has been abused and polluted, where regions of oceans have become garbage dumps for plastic, toxins from factories and whole swaths have become dead zones because of pesticides and fertilizers.
We all know the huge percentages of water that make up our planet and our very own bodies. One wonders how our bodies would function if the water they contained became as tarnished as the waters on our planet.
Because of our dependence on H2O, it’s no small wonder that we earthlings gravitate to water in all its various forms, even to the extent of having indoor or outdoor water features. It’s how we cope, escape and submerge ourselves in positive pursuits.
And just think of the array of water sports that people engage in: swimming, water polo, surfing, skiing, sailing, white-water rafting, canoeing, diving, snorkeling, scuba diving, wading, kayaking, yacht racing, fishing. And those are just some of the sports involving water in its liquid form. The list grows even longer when one freezes the stuff.
My own intimate experience with this precious liquid goes beyond my fanatical obsession to save it. Talk about water, and my mind is flooded with images of the shorelines of Pacific coast beaches, Lake Malawi, Hillside Dams, hiking along various creeks, lakes and lately the Carquinez Strait, the spray of rain from Victoria Falls, floating along on the Okavango Delta, photographing water birds in Morro Bay, coaching swimming teams, sporadically watering my plants, running through sprinklers, diving into pools and having the thrill of my skin being embraced by water.
[Img.Src: Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, Japan. Fukushima Containment Radiation.]
