Thirsty, life is thirsty, with no clean water left...

©copyright LillyGrillzit all rights reserved  July 11, 2010

You have been sitting reading and writing for a long time.

Will you take a few minutes to do an experiment with me? All that coffee has left your mouth needing some relief. Go on and get a nice, big cool glass of water. Make sure it is clean and pure, throw a couple of ice cubes in there.

Thirsty? OK, set the glass at eye level. Focus on that clean, cool glass of water. Just look. Please do not take a sip yet.

Are you thirsty yet?

Consider how good it is going to feel, not only in your mouth, but as it goes down your parched throat. Go ahead and reach for the glass.

Stop! Do not drink yet.

Touch it lightly with your fingertips, feel the life giving force with the end of your fingers.

That is going to taste so good...

Now, pick up the glass, put it to your lips, just wet your lips. Stop! Now, walk outside, and water a plant with the precious liquid you were about to gulp down. See how much the plant appreciates that little drink..

While you are outside, sacrificing your drink, go get some soil. Grab some compost from the kitchen. Add a couple of Tablespoons of salt to the mixture. If you have any ash in your house, dump a little of that in there too. Raise the glass toward your face. Get a good whiff of what is in the glass.

Your body is having an adverse reaction if you have done each previous step. Look at the glass, you are still very thirsty. Maybe more thirsty than ever before.

You only have one glass. In this experiment, you have a choice, you can only use 8 more ounces of water. What will you decide? Will you clean out the glass, or drink water through the debris. (Do not drink this yucky mixture!)

This is a simple exercise, but shows the drastic result of what happens to us, our systems, and our bodies concerning the ever shrinking world water supplies.

The problem begins with the unwise use of land.

Land?

Wasn't this whole thing about water? Lilly, what are you Grilling here? Thank you for asking!] Newton's Law of Motion, states, "...for every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction."

When I respect and take good care of my land; wildlife, trees and other fauna (plants), the land will be healthy. When land is healthy and thriving, it is more likely to stay in place. When the land 'stays in place', it keeps nutrients it needs to continue promoting life.

As long as the land remains healthy, it can sustain human life. When it rains, or floods come, what drains; groundwater is clean. As the waters flow through this 'in-place', healthy land, it is being filtered of germs and other bio-pollutants that may be traced in the waters.

If we are careless in our treatment of Land, Waters and Skies, when we stockpile waste, and other bad stuff that is supposed to be disposed of properly, we have made our only vessel for good water turn foul.

All systems are connected. When drought conditions occur in a given area, every person and creature in the circle of life suffers. Crops fail, and humans through agricultural losses, lose another season of food. Our life system becomes out of balance. This causes other chain-reactions. When one portion of our systems are unbalanced, the Earth attempts to compensate due to this imbalance. This compensation usually results in another chain reaction, throwing everything and all systems out of balance.

When a place, has not had any good rain in several years. The ground is parched. Creeks and rivers are low, the aquatic life has suffered. All of a sudden, this place gets rain for a week. The dry locals think, "Good, we need the rain". The rain is needed, but since the land is so dry, it has been in drought. The green grasses, plants and trees that normally would keep the land in place, allowing the water to soak down to the roots, and into the ground are mostly gone. All this much needed water, is running off into a gutter somewhere, It is taking valuable sediments (soils) with it. Sediment, are tiny pieces of rock or silica. Depending on the soil-type of an area, the sediment grains are made up of minerals that still undergo chemical changes.

When top-soil is lost, the less healthy layers, have a run-off and erosion that will probably increase salinity in fresh water. Aquatic life; fish, crabs, frogs, protozoan, grasses, kelpandreefs have to try to adapt again, this throws our Earth systems out of whack. Then we are left with land that can no longer support life. When land is lost, habitat is lost. Each time a species loses thier habitat, Human beings are closer to their own demise.

Did you get a drink of clean water yet? This exercise made me thirsty as a camel. It made me want to always be able to get a drink clean water whenever I want. If I could not, how would that change me? What kind of person would I become? How long will I be able to survive without this healing liquid to clean out my body's toxins? What about an entire town of people, a State?, a Nation? What will become of a People who cannot satisfy their thirst with a simple glass of clean water?

The Earth gets thirsty just like we do. I think that we Humans are standing at a Crossroads. We have a short time to make a decision. Will I fill my glass with ash and other inedible trash?

Will I be a voice for having the cool, refreshing, and life-giving gift of Water for our Earth?

Please join together with others who value life more than profits. We must make solutions for our lands, or we will not have what we need to sustain human life on our Globe.

Let us heal the Land and give it the long overdue respect Earth deserves. A step in this direction is to make sure we have a Clean Energy future. Drink up! Cheers!