Water is life, right?

Yesterday, beneath a gray, cloud-covered sky, we witnessed a flock of five swans flying toward something, somewhere. The silhouettes of white necks, wings, and bodies, against the pale gray background, was enough to make even an unbelieving observer consider angels. In my mind there is no doubt they are harbingers of Monday’s arrival of the Vernal Equinox. The early arrivals are probably seeking open water on which to rest. Many of us are looking for open water for a variety of reasons.

open water in a week or two?

Photo by J. Harrington

There is a Lakota phrase “Mní wičhóni,” which means “Water is life,” The Ojibwe have a comparable phrase, Nibi gaa-bimaaji’iwemagak“ “Water gives life.”  When water is frozen, life becomes difficult to maintain because water is less readily available. According to a recent report, water will soon be less available for many.

An article in the Guardian today notes:

The world is facing an imminent water crisis, with demand expected to outstrip the supply of fresh water by 40% by the end of this decade, experts have said on the eve of a crucial UN water summit.

Governments must urgently stop subsidising the extraction and overuse of water through misdirected agricultural subsidies, and industries from mining to manufacturing must be made to overhaul their wasteful practices, according to a landmark report on the economics of water.

Since Minnesota is a "water rich" state, some may think we needn't pay attention to yet another world crisis. However, one of the major action items in the report is to “Reduce the more than $700bn of subsidies in agriculture and water each year, which often fuel excessive water consumption, and reduce leakage in water systems.” The states that have been reliant on Colorado River water are already in trouble. California is experiencing either too little or too much water or both. Are our water rights adequate to protect our resources from gluttonous ranchers and farmers?

The political fragmentation we’re experiencing isn’t helping US resolve major issues such as water or other liquidity shortfalls. Why should we tolerate those who would use dissemination of disinformation as a basis foor governance. Is that the patriotic solution, to yield influence to foreign adversaries? Might  that not become our swan song?

The Swan

by Mary Oliver

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

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