Photo by McKay Savage

Today is a day for us all in the blogosphere to stand together and put a voice to our compassion for all living things dealing with the direct consequences of the water crisis, including ourselves.  While it seems here in Canada that water is plentiful and pristine, we are all dealing with what could be the most significant environmental issue of our time, right now.

The unthinkable is happening – a child dies every 20 seconds in the world because of a water-related disease…and yet this can seem like a distant problem to those of us in North America.  What we may not realize is that we are dealing with industrial pollution of our beautiful freshwaters at a scale that’s hard to fathom, and it’s making us sick too.  And this is just one small facet of the crisis we’re facing.  We at Ecologos are working hard to bring awareness to these issues, and I am thrilled to join the global call-out for water through Blog Action Day.

It’s an exciting day, as millions on the web are rallying to talk about all kinds of issues around water.  Check out the inspiring posts rolling in from bloggers like the US Secretary of State, the UK Foreign Office, the British Medical Journal, Ryan’s Well, Oxfam,CARE and a number of prominent political blogs to name just a few.  Click the following link from change.org to read some of the blog posts:

http://blogactionday.change.org/

This event itself is an example of how we can band together and decide to change our trajectory, to move toward a different future.  More and more innovations in water conservation and treatment are being brought forward, and a huge number of dedicated organizations are working in places all over the world to improve water quality and restore the planet’s precious ecosystems.

Add your voice to Blog Action Day!  Check out www.waterhour.org for some facts on the state of the world’s water, to help spur some ideas for your blog post.  And tweet a message directing people to your post using #BAD2010 and #BAD10.

Example of an open pit mine, photo by "jeandparis"

We have recently discovered some disturbing news for all Ontarians and anyone concerned about water protection.  A Boston hedge fund has quietly bought 12,000 acres of prime agricultural land in the highlands of Dufferin County a short distance north-west of Toronto, promising to continue the local potato farming which supplies the Greater Toronto Area with nearly half its potatoes.  However, soon the land is being stripped of any buildings and trees/wildlife habitat, and it became known that the real intent is an open-pit aggregates mine – the largest in North America to be exact, operating at 200 feet beneath the water table, and sitting directly atop the headwaters of the Grand and Nottawasaga River systems, supplying water to one-quarter of all Ontarians!

This disastrous venture must be challenged with a resounding “NO” from us all.  Ecologos is proud to join a coalition with Citizens Action United for a Sustainable Environment (CAUSE) and two other citizen action groups to oppose this development.

There will be much more to come on this issue, please stay tuned…

It seems like a sick joke – an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and the beginning of what could be the worst environmental disaster in decades, just in time for Earth Day.  A month and a half later with no end in sight, the deadly leak has spewed as much as 47 million gallons of oil  in the waters and Florida has just declared a fisheries disaster – to be followed soon by Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi .  The gravity of the situation for the ocean waters in the gulf and all the creatures who depend on it is hard to even comprehend.   For anyone who missed how this all happened and how it played out, here’s a timeline of everything that went down during and after the explosion: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/bp-gulf-oil-spill-timeline.php

And while we feel the heartbreak of the situation, it seems sadly that these kinds of disasters are like an alcoholic’s rock bottom – it does, even for a moment, make us sit back and take a look at what we’re doing.  Obama has re-evaluated his push to expand offshore drilling, put these plans on hold and called for rolling back tax breaks for oil companies to net billions for alternative energies.   It is sad that it takes a crisis on this scale to open our eyes, but perhaps this is the last straw – driving the rumblings of a shift in consciousness into a full blown earthquake.  

For so long we seem to have lost our connection, our understanding that what we do to the earth’s ecosystems we also do to ourselves.  But  I am hopeful that we are starting to finally wake up…there are signs, like the overwhelming success of movies like Avatar, the explosion of grassroots environmental groups around the globe, powerful movements calling for change which are forming worldwide through social media.  And as a result we’re seeing polluting corporate giants beginning to crumble under exposure.  It is an exciting time to be alive, because when a tipping point happens, things can change very quickly – we might see a shift within our lifetime so that when we look back to these days, it will boggle our minds that we were ever this foolish or disconnected.  What do you think?  Does this seem like a Pollyanna view on the situation, or do you see hope for our future relationship with the planet?

We’re all super excited to see the Water Hour website (www.waterhour.org) up and live, it’s been a long birthing process but now that it’s here we can really focus on getting the word out and the buzz happening!  As I sit here imagining the scope of what this event could become, I feel such anticipation and hope.  The idea is really to collaborate and unite through our common connection to water – after all, every one of us is nearly 70% made of the stuff, everyone  from the Queen of England to an impoverished child in Haiti has some emotional connection to it.  

We know that we’re facing one collosal crisis if we continue on this path, but at the same time we can’t change anything for the better if we are swept away with guilt and shame about the situation.  We think that if you want to create positive change, you have to come from a positive place.  Which is why you’ll see on the website we’re inviting everyone to reconnect to their most amazing memories around water, to get in touch with the awe and wonder of it again.  And we’ve opened the floor for anyone to submit ideas on how we should mark the Hour, and to vote up their favorites - it can be any form of action, celebration, introspection, creativity or message-sending.  We’d love to see social networks lighting up (well you know what I mean) with posts, photos, videos and tweets – a virtual tsunami of action happening all at once!  

Water Hour is on June 11th at 8pm in your time zone, please help us get the word out by telling your friends, together we can create something really wonderful!

When it comes to getting the word out about the issues, us environmentalists can tend to be a serious bunch, because it’s a serious issue.  But we may not be giving comedians and cartoonists enough credit in the movement…their ability to cut through barriers and turn an issue on its ear with humour is an incredibly powerful skill, and one that is not as easy as it looks.  

A case in point is Jon Stewart’s ”Daily Show,”  now the place where most young people get their news…Stewart’s razor sharp wit backed with a huge and highly educated team of writers has earned the show a stack of Emmys year after year.  And his ability to interview guests with the ultimate respect no matter who they are, showing a solid intellectual understanding of the issues, and still challenging opposing views with good humour is a balancing act very few can pull off.  Because of his renowned skills, he’s been able to interview the world’s top politicians on both sides of any debate.  This humble show on Comedy Central has become the truth meter, cutting through the subterfuge of spin thrown out by government, corporations and figureheads, and has had tremendous impact on our culture and how we understand the issues we face. 

There are many others in the comedy field who have deftly brought attention to environmental issues…standup comedians like George Carlin and Lewis Black, Steve Colbert of “The Colbert Report”, Canada’s own Rick Mercer and the show “This Hour has 22 minutes”, and many more.  And don’t forget the cartoonists.  Remember how the gentle humour of Calvin and Hobbes addressed conservation in such a brilliant and subtle way?  Political cartoonists are another breed of comedians with an incredible skill at boiling down an issue to its essentials with a few strokes of ink, and unveiling the truth in a way we may not have seen it before.  For example, check out this collection of political cartoons around a variety of environmental issues:   
 http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/environment/ig/Environment-Cartoons/

Who are your favourite comedians that tackle environmental issues?  What is it about their humour that really packs a punch and gets a point across?

There’s no doubt that the crisis we’re facing with the environment is collosal.  Remember the movie “The Matrix”?  If we unplug from the seemingly a-ok glossy world of consumerism and really see how close to the brink we are, we may feel the urge to give up, and plug right back in.   When raising awareness about these issues, we often come at the public first with the hard facts, the cold truth.  Problem is, this can be almost paralyzing in its enormity, bringing on overwhelming feelings of fear and guilt.  It’s understandable that this has been the approach so often, because it’s crucial that people understand the gravity of the situation.   But can we really create positive change out of negative emotions?

“The startling truth is that our best efforts for international peace, conservation of natural resources, and assistance to the starving – urgent as they are – will destroy rather than help if made in the present spirit of guilt and fear.”  Alan Watts

After seven years of research and interviews all over North America with the deepest thinkers on environmental education, we’ve learned that what really motivates people to leap into action starts with a first step; tapping into our connection, our appreciation, the awe, the wonder, all our positive emotions and memories.  Interestingly this is the same thing that marketing experts tell us, in terms of the way people connect with a message and act on it. 

This is the angle we’re coming from with Water Hour - it’s about falling in love with water.   It’s about tapping into your deepest experiences and positive emotions.   The idea is that we all come together at one time and use social media to express how much water means to us.  Maybe this way we can create the change we want, coming not from a place of guilt, but from love. 

Join Water Hour on facebook, and a new fully interactive website is coming very soon at www.waterhour.org!
Facebook address:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=289743054301&ref=mf

Photo credit: Creative commons image courtesy flickr user ”r sunshine”

courtesy flickr user "nemo's great uncle"

I just came back from a conference where I heard Alanna Mitchell, journalist and best-selling author of the book “Sea Sick,” speak about the state of the world’s oceans.  While she left us with a message of hope, the impact of what she had to say had me staggering backwards.  The oceans are in deep, deep trouble…and since life on this planet depends on the oceans (plankton in the ocean produce every second breath of air we breathe), we’re also in deep deep trouble.  Ocean acidification from an overload of absorbed atmospheric carbon may be so corrosive by 2030 that the Great Barrier Reef will have vanished, there are already over 400 ocean dead zones with zero oxygen due to nutrient pollution, warming waters are messing up the life cycles of animals, and altogether the impact of these factors could lead to 70% of all life on the planet going extinct by mid-century.  I told you it was bad.   Alanna herself said that she went to bed for two months once she fully understood the gravity of the situation. 

But then her own transformation from despair into hope came when she took a trip to the ocean floor, 3000 feet below the water’s surface.  Trapped in a tiny submersible on this dangerous adventure, he faced her terror and claustrophobia as she travelled down and down…and then she suddenly felt a sense of calm sweep over her.  In her words, “Shivering in my undersea womb, peering at these wondrous, ancient life forms, it occurs to me that we are in an era that holds out the potential of magnificent regeneration. We could, if we wanted to, form a new relationship with our planet. We could become the gentle symbionts we were meant to be instead of the planetary parasites we have unwittingly become.”

Awareness and concern is reaching an all-time high, but as we wake up to the impact we’re having, it’s overwhelming and there is a danger of becoming paralyzed with the enormity of it all.   However if we are brave enough to face it, if we can sit with the grief, we can then move forward to envision a different way of being on this planet.  Look at the extraordinary examples all around us of people rallying together to create astounding changes.  Let these stories light the way.   We acknowledge the darkness but all that’s asked of each of us is to hold the light…because with hope, positivity and joy, there is possibility.

How do you hold the hope?

We’re really excited to begin establishing  a presence on Facebook and Twitter for Water Alive! and as we thought about ways to work with and mobilize such an amazing network, we came up with the idea of  Water Hour.  The concept is simple:  For one hour at 8pm on June 11th, how powerful would it be if we could get the world tweeting, flickring, facebooking and youtubing a message of love for water?   Whatever message you want to express, however you want to convey it, the point is we want people to tap into their emotions about water and share those thoughts with the world. 

Remember when splashing in puddles was the most fun ever?  Or soaring airborne on your toboggan?    Ever been lashed by an angry downpour, felt a waterfall’s mist on a hot day, gulped a cool glass after a long run?  Take a moment to recall that sunset on the lake that took your breath away.  Remember loving water, loving someone in it…

Water hour is about making that connection again, and expressing it far and wide.  If we all do it at once, maybe change can come not from guilt, but from a message of love. 

Check out our water hour website, www.waterhour.org  for more details, and don’t forget to join Water Hour on facebook, you can go directly there by clicking this link:
 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=289743054301

Please help us get the word out, tell your friends about Water Hour!

For more information about the Ecologos Institute, see www.ecologos.ca  and visit our Water Alive! facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=289743054301#!/pages/Water-Alive/250624545688?ref=ts

Courtesy NASA and flickr user Graham Case, creative commons

Imagine a website that could connect people worldwide with a common goal to protect the world’s water…now imagine a fun, dynamic social network that allows people to discuss the water issues where they live, brainstorm projects that could protect their water, and give their ideas to improve other projects?  And now here’s where it gets really cool… imagine a specialized ranking system where people could actually vote their favourite projects forward to the home page, where they gain major exposure, volunteers and financial support needed to make them happen!   That’s our vision for Water-Alive.org…with the water crisis looming as the hugest issue we’ll face in the next century, we want to help coordinate and strengthen our efforts as a global community.  Our website will be a go-to place, a hub for water action projects worldwide (not just as spawning ground for new ideas but for existing projects that need support), and an avenue to catapult these projects forward to success. 

In this blog we want to open the floor to discussion on this project, get your feedback and opinions, keep you up to date on our progress, have fun, and generally talk about all things water.   Every single human and living thing on the planet shares a connection to water…with this issue we are all on common ground, and together we can make powerful change happen!