The practical health qualities and symbolic nature of water
Last week I posted a comment on Bob McKerrow's blog - he was writing about water quality in the context of his International Red Cross work:
Bob replied:
I'm having trouble getting my head around this figure! Even if it was 10/day I'd be "haunted"!
So since us humans are evolving at an ever increasing rate we must keep in mind as we nominate "zero tolerance" for so many things now, that this figure needs to be significantly reduced - to zero, that's my vote on water quality - and it's do-able!
There is still plenty of it around here, and it's pretty pure despite our Lake Wanaka being so full of what is essentially flood water...
Last week I was posting about our New Zealand Goverment's intent on mining in our National Parks and Conservation Estate, and mid week I was discussing this with one of my friends - he's a bird tour guide and every year or two does significant yachting voyages in the Pacific, and on his travels he's formed an opinion I'd like to share: that the most insidious thing re. these mining proposals is not so much the holes in the ground, scars on the landscape or rivers being ruined as they drain these areas, but that because so many other countries follow New Zealand's lead on so many issues that they'll say "oh, well lets rip up our own mountains [and degrade our water] - if it's OK for New Zealand to do it, we'll follow suit". [I just saw on TV yesterday: UK hung elections - they were checking out how we handled this a few years back]
Of course what will be glossed over I can guarantee, is when and how the environment will be restored - river catchments made healthy, as they feed our lakes and oceans!
As Bob has said: "water is first and deserves a gold rating".
Sort of makes me wonder: why do we have so many New Zealand Government Departments, yet none seem to have the sole focus of water quality and water health!
So how can we help: for starters we must make sure we preserve natural environments like this, as an inspiration and model the world can follow...
It's been my life's experience that when I dream during my sleep and water is part of the dream, that this symbolises, and is a solid guide to my emotional state. So I'm sort of wondering how I'll process these words during tonight's slumber. Will the dream be a worriesome adventure of staying safe and out of the way of brown turbulent flows and mud avalanches, or will I be floating on a turquoise ocean aboard a sparkling white yacht, under a pure blue sky!?
A few hours ago a first time viewer of this image I made yesterday stated it reminded her of the underworld. But I'd say it's that other place where we can ponder the context of knowledge gained and not just the content, which we tend to interpret so erroneously if we exclude the context of the information. Our egos love content organised in a nice linear fashion, but this is only a small part of establishing awareness, which in turn helps establish a universal truth that shines in the light...
There is a reverse side to everything, and while it maybe a play on words, reflection on just water alone will reveal there is another world that we can be inclined to ignore all to often, and I'm reminded too, as I write, that our bodies are apparently 70% comprised of water!
Water and rock - we cannot compress the former, and it will wear away rock. It is a true life source and force stronger than rock, yet in our living we allow the vanity of polluting it. This is crazy, and 50,000 children a day can attest to this as they suffer their way to a premature death!
We can lead the world if we can bring into our lives the tranquility and balance evident in nature by keeping this fair land, a land that many look to for inspiration and that visitors so try to emigrate too, as pristine as we possibly can. Then we'll go some ways towards drawing awareness to quality of life...
And we can be playful too...
Wisdom is said to grow by evaluating the context of all perceptions and knowledge that we garner from life, and filing it in our heads as provisional.
Water has content: it can be alive and oxygen rich, pollution free, or "dead". But it's really the context of what we have and could loose so easily, that we need to be very much aware of!
"Such a simple thing pure water when you have tons of it. I was told years ago that the daily mortality rate of kid's from impure water is in the thousands, and that thought haunts me!"
Bob replied:
"Yes, we often take pure water for granted. UNICEF figures put children dying of water borne at at least 50,000 plus a day. Staggering".
I'm having trouble getting my head around this figure! Even if it was 10/day I'd be "haunted"!
So since us humans are evolving at an ever increasing rate we must keep in mind as we nominate "zero tolerance" for so many things now, that this figure needs to be significantly reduced - to zero, that's my vote on water quality - and it's do-able!
There is still plenty of it around here, and it's pretty pure despite our Lake Wanaka being so full of what is essentially flood water...
Last week I was posting about our New Zealand Goverment's intent on mining in our National Parks and Conservation Estate, and mid week I was discussing this with one of my friends - he's a bird tour guide and every year or two does significant yachting voyages in the Pacific, and on his travels he's formed an opinion I'd like to share: that the most insidious thing re. these mining proposals is not so much the holes in the ground, scars on the landscape or rivers being ruined as they drain these areas, but that because so many other countries follow New Zealand's lead on so many issues that they'll say "oh, well lets rip up our own mountains [and degrade our water] - if it's OK for New Zealand to do it, we'll follow suit". [I just saw on TV yesterday: UK hung elections - they were checking out how we handled this a few years back]
Of course what will be glossed over I can guarantee, is when and how the environment will be restored - river catchments made healthy, as they feed our lakes and oceans!
As Bob has said: "water is first and deserves a gold rating".
Sort of makes me wonder: why do we have so many New Zealand Government Departments, yet none seem to have the sole focus of water quality and water health!
So how can we help: for starters we must make sure we preserve natural environments like this, as an inspiration and model the world can follow...
It's been my life's experience that when I dream during my sleep and water is part of the dream, that this symbolises, and is a solid guide to my emotional state. So I'm sort of wondering how I'll process these words during tonight's slumber. Will the dream be a worriesome adventure of staying safe and out of the way of brown turbulent flows and mud avalanches, or will I be floating on a turquoise ocean aboard a sparkling white yacht, under a pure blue sky!?
A few hours ago a first time viewer of this image I made yesterday stated it reminded her of the underworld. But I'd say it's that other place where we can ponder the context of knowledge gained and not just the content, which we tend to interpret so erroneously if we exclude the context of the information. Our egos love content organised in a nice linear fashion, but this is only a small part of establishing awareness, which in turn helps establish a universal truth that shines in the light...
There is a reverse side to everything, and while it maybe a play on words, reflection on just water alone will reveal there is another world that we can be inclined to ignore all to often, and I'm reminded too, as I write, that our bodies are apparently 70% comprised of water!
Water and rock - we cannot compress the former, and it will wear away rock. It is a true life source and force stronger than rock, yet in our living we allow the vanity of polluting it. This is crazy, and 50,000 children a day can attest to this as they suffer their way to a premature death!
We can lead the world if we can bring into our lives the tranquility and balance evident in nature by keeping this fair land, a land that many look to for inspiration and that visitors so try to emigrate too, as pristine as we possibly can. Then we'll go some ways towards drawing awareness to quality of life...
And we can be playful too...
Wisdom is said to grow by evaluating the context of all perceptions and knowledge that we garner from life, and filing it in our heads as provisional.
Water has content: it can be alive and oxygen rich, pollution free, or "dead". But it's really the context of what we have and could loose so easily, that we need to be very much aware of!
Labels: Bob McKerrow, Lake Wanaka, New Zealand Govt., New Zealand National Parks, Red Cross, UNICEF, water quality
posted by Donald at
8:42 PM
1 Comments:
Kia ora Donald,
Wise words and thoughts my friend. We take it as a right to turn on our taps and even choose if want hot water or cold! I have just returned from an afternoon walk along the Manawatu river which runs close to my house. A river we have destroyed so badly it is now one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Very sad. Even more so when less than 80 kilometres away as the crow flies up in the Ruahine I have drunk, and will again, straight from her. There is something incredibly melancholy in that. Kia kaha.
Cheers,
Robb
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