Over
the years, I’ve tried to put together essays and such that dove
into things like the environment… climate change, recycling, and,
simply put, just the overall need for awareness and action when
it comes to treating the planet better.
While
some of the efforts reached a point where I was ready to post
the finished work, I have hardly ever felt as though I completely
connected with the material and expressed my thoughts. Most of
it is decent and I still agree with almost all of my initial premises,
I just have this inner voice telling me something is missing here
or doesn’t seem fully developed there.
So…
at it again. This is the first of three that will be posted together.
The idea is to take observations and realities, combine it with
sarcasm and cynicism, and hopefully find myself satisfied with
the result.
Above
all, let me be clear: On the whole, we treat the planet horrendously.
We’re awful. I truly believe we could make massive waves of improvements
to the environment if all of us simply learned the proper use
of a waste basket and getting trash to it. (Wrappers belong in
a bin, folks, not tossed to the roadside from the window of a
moving car.)
We
aren’t just capable of doing better, we need to do better, and
we
need to do better NOW.
~ ~
~ ~ ~
Where
does your water come from?
The
answer is different for all of us. Many might direct the attention
out to the well pump in the yard. Some might talk about a local
reservoir. And, depending on a bit of clarification, others could
go through buying bottled water in a store to having a truck deliver
thousands of gallons to fill the pool.
Point
is, we don’t all obtain water for our personal needs and uses
the same way. Or from a local source. The Colorado River Basin
provides water to places from California to New Mexico, Arizona
to Wyoming.
So
not only do we all get our water differently, it is not at all
unusual for the places where we live to need water brought in
from hundreds of miles away to fill the needs of a community.
Water.
A
very simple idea. A very basic item. And yet so much of it is
confusing, ignored and more.
Within
that concept is a great example of why I think so many people
have difficulties with climate change, the pursuit of clean energy,
and all sorts of subjects that cover the ground of taking better
care of the planet.
If
you head to the kitchen sink, turn the faucet, and water appears,
chances are good that ends your concerns about water. Your plumbing
is working, life is good. But this possibly the ultimate haves
against have not scenario.
If
you live in an area that has decent reserves for a supply, your
views are quite different than those that don’t have enough and
need to find a source. I’m using the United States for examples,
where the realities of water have led beyond political grandstanding.
The subject of water worldwide can be even more extreme.
There
are many studies that say certain realities have been hidden.
That Colorado River Basin? There are reports that the agreements
in place for water supplies actually far exceed the annual flow
of the Colorado River. Reservoirs like Lake Mead and Lake Powell
held enough water to compensate for the difference, concealing
the dilemma. Now, however, as a result of conditions traced back
to a drought that began in roughly 2000, Mead and Powell are estimated
to be below halfway filled. And, sources of water such as rainfall
and snowmelt are not replenishing things the way they once did.
(Dilemma exposed.)
This
brings about a situation where, if you are questioning the need
to improve how we treat the planet and the environmental conditions
around us because you don’t see it as important (or you don’t
believe the warnings to be real), you are most certainly at least
one of these three: Naïve, ignorant, very lucky.
Naïve
because you don’t understand what is happening all around us.
Ignorant because you don’t want to extend your knowledge beyond
a narrow scope (if your knowledge even includes the narrow scope).
And lucky because it’s possible that when you head to the kitchen
sink, you get water.
It’s
the mind-boggling approach that if you don’t see a problem, there
can’t be a problem. (Even if the reason you don’t see it is because
of the monkeys covering your eyes and ears while you loudly hum
and run away.)
There
are problems, and all of us need to work on solutions.
~ ~
~ ~ ~
The
other parts:
“Do
you have enough AA batteries to mow your lawn?: A global climate
review, part two”
“Take
a breath, make a difference, and contribute to the solutions:
A global climate review, part three”