MAUDE BARLOW WARNS US

It has been raining softly all day here in Belleville. We are in an area of the world blessed by water. I recall that in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico the water supply was uncertain. The host in the Mexican family had to fill his water tanks from the neighbour's supply on occasion. Strange to think that on this green planet we are running out of water fit for human consumption.

Maude Barlow will be speaking at the June 10th Loyalist College graduation. Our International Support Worker group will graduate at that event. Maude Barlow's book "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water" (2007) is on my reading desk. She piles on the evidence for the crisis looming before us.

We thought that water would simply renew itself through the hydrological cycle. It's not true. Across the planet groundwater levels are sinking, the deep water reserves are being depleted, glaciers are melting off the mountains at an astounding rate, the rivers are drying up, freshwater is flowing into the oceans. Drought conditions prevail in Australia, southern Spain, northern China, the mid-West and South-East of the United States.

I have a new nano and am experimenting with downloading lectures free from i-Tunes University. Ruby the dog and I walk through the rain as I listen to Maude Barlow's talk at Cornell University. She wants us to treat water as a commons, that we should all have a right to water. She emphasizes the need for local action, speaks strongly against the bottled water phenomenon, argues against the involvement of private corporations in controlling the water supply. She is a convincing speaker and nuances her points effectively in response to questions.

How to respond? I purchased a rain barrel on the internet. Profits will go to support the Glanmore Museum. The rain barrel will force me to put in the vegetable garden I'm thinking about. No more bottled water!  But it's a huge political issue.  And the politicians are not performing in our long-term interest.  Short-term economic growth trumps long-term survival.  Maude Barlow states that we will have to address the water crisis "by design or by default."  My dark thoughts say that it will be "default."

I anticipate learning more as the time of graduation approaches.  Cathy will be saying the invocation at the graduation event.  That will get me to the meal afterwards.  I look forward to sharing water with Maude Barlow.