Wednesday, June 19, 2019

The Story of Water: Who Controls The Way We Drink?

I've long been a fan of Annie Leonard and the Story of Stuff. Her "stuff" has been a frequent highlight here at GTG. Annie & the Story of Stuff Team have a new video out:  "The Story of Water: Who Controls The Way We Drink?" which takes a look at the privatization of water systems, and why that's actually NOT a good thing.

Water is that one thing we all need--and it's one thing that can be hard to come by, depending on what population you are a part of. The book "Thirst" by Scott Harrison instantly comes to mind. So too does the saying "water water everywhere and not a drop to drink." We've got this marble-esque blue planet (which definitely brings to mind #bluemind), yet the percentage of potable water on this planet is a problem given the majority of our water being housed in salty oceans.

Additionally, anytime a system is privatized, it has done so for a reason; namely--for a company to make a profit. This could get (and in the past many times, has gotten) in the way of doing things in an environmentally healthy way--for both us (as humans) and our planet. This also can become enmeshed in economic issues, leading things to fall on one side or the other of the dividing line of between the "haves" and the "have nots."

The Story of Water: Who Controls The Way We Drink goes into more of this. The video is narrated by Baltimore's Mayor, Bernard Young. As stated on the Story of Water's page, Baltimore is "the first major city in the United States to ban certain forms of water privatization, setting a new standard for public water protection that other cities can aspire to follow." Way to go, Baltimore, my nearby neighbor!!



Images from https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/17/story-water-new-video-story-stuff-team-delivers-short-beautiful-smackdown-water and https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news2/drink-up-our-tap-water-quality-in-fairfax-county/; Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04jTleV0gK0

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