Simple Suggestion #248... Appreciate the gift of water

Today is World Water Day, and I'm glad, because the lowly substance is so under appreciated. We tend to take it for granted, and rarely imagine what life would be like without it.

Imagine...
not being able to bathe
wearing dirty clothing more often than not
trying to cook without it,
or always having to boil out impurities
walking miles to get some
drought blasted foliage and dying crops
outhouses
thirst and hunger
no swimming
dry creek and river beds

...and realize that around the world (including Canada) we are reaching towards a billion people lacking access to clean water, and there are many places in drought conditions because of climate change. I've mentioned it before, but there are many First Nations reserves in Canada that are constantly under boil water orders, which is shameful for a country as wealthy as ours.

Appreciating our own water is just a first step in the right direction, followed by awareness of water's value in our lives, the desire to conserve it, and the insistence that everyone should have access to clean water. Activism for the basic human right to drinkable water isn't far from any of that. It doesn't take much to join the Council of Canadians' #Pledge2Protect our water, and we are all capable of shunning the little plastic bottles filled with something that, as a human right, should be free for all but is making a killing for large corporations.

People in Cascade Locks have had to organize to protect their water from being exploited. Less is demanded of us, but we can stand in solidarity by drinking our own tap water (which is usually healthier than stuff that is bottled in plastic for long periods) and taking our own water from home with us in reusable water containers instead of supporting big bottling companies. Other people in other parts of the world are not so fortunate.

Today, let's appreciate our water and remember and help those less fortunate by doing what we can.

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