Letter from the Editor
By Nicole Davis
Today water is a commodity – a convenience we carry in a plastic bottled sold to us by a corporation for a staggering profit. It is a place for recreation – where we etch its surface with fiberglass boats powered by oil. Water is the backdrop to our day spent lying on the beach in the hopes of getting a tan. It’s the liquid that washes our clothes, our dishes, our bodies. Before water became diverted, dammed, channeled through pipes and conveniently available from a faucet – water was worshiped.
Every major civilization was shaped by water. People did not form a settlement unless it was near a source of water, and the first deities were incarnation of water.
We started our journey staking red flags here because it is where all life began and it continues to be the source of all life.
We’ve heard many times before that our bodies are made up of 70% water, and that, in essence we are water. The problem is that most of us are ignorant to the workings of water and the many threats to its delicate ecology.
Most of us are also not truly aware of the wonder of water. It is the dissolver of all elements, the great washer, opening its arm to all the “great unwashed” – and that is exactly what we all are. Our way of life has left us tainted – even if we don’t know it. We have dirt on our hands from the habits of our everyday life in the industrial world we live in.
If we look closely enough we will see that water still continues to be the main sculptor of civilization. It’s everywhere around us, but we’ve done such a great job putting it to work, and then hiding the evidence. Water was used to grow and process all the food you’ve ever eaten, to manufacture your car, to pour the foundation of your house – it’s hiding in the shirt on your back, the shoes on your feet and the computer I am typing on right now, but 1 in every 6 people on this earth do not have access to clean drinking water.
With this first issue we take our readers to the stars and back again to examine the problems surrounding water. The goal is to return our readers to a place of appreciation, rather than exploitation. We invite you to take action with us and to share in the work.