Canadians have in our boundaries the largest fresh water supply in the world. How we as a nation use and treat the water within our boundaries has worldwide consequences.
Water is now political because it has been deemed profitable. When we accept the convenience of Fast Food Culture practices (fast, easy, cheap etc.) we also accept all of the consequences that are a result of these choices, and we also become responsible for those outcomes. Just because we have chosen to estrange ourselves from the source, collection, delivery and disposal of water, does not isolate us from the cause and effect of the actions of municipalities, industries and corporations that provide or use water on our behalf.
Water is being prostituted: put to an unworthy or corrupt use/purpose for the sake of personal or financial gain. Water is the sacred lifeblood of the earth. No one has the right to take it for profit. Asking who owns water is like asking who owns the sun or the wind. No one owns water. It belongs to the earth, it belongs to other species, it belongs to future generations. Access to water is a fundamental human right, a public trust, and is part of the global commons. And yet, water cartels have been formed under the neoÂcolonial/neoÂliberal premise that, like a prostitute, water is a commodity that can be controlled and used for profit or political gain, for power and domination over regions and countries.
Until we collectively wake up and understand the motive of profit, expect more earthly dehydration in the form of droughts, drained aquifers and lakes, diverted rivers and dams. Until we collectively wake up and understand that what we pour into water, we also pour into ourselves, expect more disease in younger generations and in larger numbers. Until we collectively wake up and understand that water is a gift that must be approached and treated with compassion, respect, humility, and a great unifier, expect more species to go extinct, and more wars between humans.
The tide can be turned. Adopt a waterway and/or a lake where you live. Refuse the convenience of bottled water. Stop purchasing chemical cleaners and synthetic fertilizers. Rethink the use and ingredients in your soap, shampoo and sanitizer. Support the Idle No More Movement. Join women on the Great Lakes Water Walk. Challenge the outdated ‘dilution’ mindset. The solution to pollutions isn't dilution. Lobby for policy change.
Only with personal awareness can change begin. Humbly explore your own connection to water in all its forms. Consider the enjoyment begotten from ice cubes in drinks, skating rinks on ponds, snowballs, tobogganing, frost on window panes, puddle jumping, running through sprinklers, swimming, canoeing, kayaking, misty summer mornings, thrilling thunderstorms, and cloud formation contemplations. Make your own list of how water brings value into your life. Look at your own water use. Examine what you are pouring into water that you wouldn’t deliberately put into your own body.
What relationships with the environment need to be restored, reconnected or established in your life as a direct consequence of your water use habits? If you could explain to a young child what water respect looks like, what would you say and does your life mirror that explanation?
A lot of people say they don’t like politics and don’t want to be involved with it, but the reality is that when we interact with water everyday (and food for that matter), we make a political statement with every decision.