Water: what is it good for? Absolutely everything.
(I’m sorry. But also not. I hope that’s stuck in your head now.)
In privileged areas worldwide, access to clean water is never far away. Water is so ubiquitous—and, depending where you live, so seemingly renewable—that, if you are in this population, it’s easy to forget how easily disrupted these systems are, how quickly that convenient tap can go from potable to unsafe, how your recreational or work sites can be shut down or disrupted practically overnight.
I’m excited for all of you to read four perspectives that are as diverse as the challenges facing our water systems today. Each piece brings an environmental issue into stark personal focus. Whether it’s government or paramilitary action, the exploitation of resources far past what can be sustained, or the ever-lurking shadow of global warming, ecosystems are being transformed at unprecedented rates—and the people who inhabit these ecosystems alongside them.
But these are not stories of hopelessness. Part of focusing on the personal—my favorite part—is that it highlights points where individual action does make a difference. It’s easy to look at the challenges today and walk away thinking there is nothing to be done, but that elides the important work that people are doing every single day to protect and restore their communities.
Building resilience matters. If we want to restore natural continuity, we must start by ensuring our spaces—the full ecosystems, including the human elements—are healthy.
