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We are terrestrial beings - we live and work on land.  Yet almost three-quarters of our planet Earth is water, which is why we are called the water or "blue" planet.  And we are dependent on that water, especially clean and healthy sources of it, for our very existence.  Yet even many who live or vacation on the water or by a large river or lake, rarely take the time to stop and think about what's in it or how "alive" it is.  Many people prefer to swim in chlorinated swimming pools - which is understandable when so many of our recreational water bodies are polluted with dangerous chemicals and bacteria.  But some shun swimming in an ocean teeming with healthy fish and other marine creatures because it seems so foreign to them, still preferring the comparably sterile, skin drying, chemical laden pools.

Jacques Yves Cousteau has remarked: "Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans."

Cheers, 

Dolly


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What Water Has To Teach Us

By 2050, a third of the people on Earth may lack a clean, secure source of water.  Want to learn more about freshwater resources and how they are used to feed, power, and sustain all life; and how the forces of technology, climate, human nature, and policy create challenges and drive solutions for a sustainable planet? Check out National Geographic’s great resource. 

Like the earth, the human body is approximately three quarters water, with a similar salinity content and pH (acidity) level; and water is quite literally our life blood. We require fresh water to live, and really clean fresh water to maintain health.  Learn more about the healthiest form of drinking water here.     

There are many lessons in all that.  Likewise, many legacy projects involving water could be undertaken to make a positive difference – cleaning it up, preserving its flow, creating access to it, using it for fuel as “HHO” (also called hydrogen on demand used to improve the poor efficiency of fossil fuel burning engines), developing it to generate electricity. You can consider how you might develop or support one of those projects.  In the meanwhile, let’s explore why you might want to by examining this important element, and what more it has to teach us.

• Water is magical. Two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, it is amazingly malleable.  It can exist in solid, liquid or gaseous forms.  Its atoms can be separated by electrolysis: the hydrogen stored in water can then be used as a fuel source for energy, and the oxygen can be used to keep living creatures alive.  Those H2O molecules in our oceans, rivers and lakes combine with the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, in an effort to modify that and protect us, producing carbonic acid which is increasing the acidity of the oceans and negatively affecting ocean life.
  

• Water is powerful, an attribute we can embody when we remember that power is best defined as ‘the ability to do’ – to get things done.  Water does have the ability to wear away rock and soil, shape coastlines and rivers – and tear things down, as do we.  The movement of tides and waves and waterfalls has the ability to produce electrical power, and we can likewise be constructive instead.  Water hydrates our bodies, giving us the energy and power to do just that.

• Water makes ripples and waves – including storm surge and tidal waves or tsunamis.  As fluid, water-filled bodies, we too can make waves and make change.  And we must take care that the ripples we cause are not damaging.
  
  
• Water will also completely support us, and can produce a very relaxed state.  Most of us are buoyant in the water, or can be by virtue of an air mat or a boat. The sound of water lapping up of the edge of your body, mat or boat, like water flowing in a fountain, can be incredibly soothing.  This is nature’s reminder to relax and enjoy, to surround yourself with support and extend the same to others. 
  

• Water flows; it teaches us to be fluid and flow, too.  To move, change, let go.  For centuries, humans have observed that “nature abhors a vaccum.”  This idiom expresses the idea that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural as they go against the laws of nature and physics.  So we need not fear letting go – open up your tightly clenched fists holding on to anything, and something will eventually flow in to fill your open palms.  There is no scarcity, there is always more flowing in from the ocean of abundance.

In its planetary flow, water's movement produces gyres that can form and trap debris, as the Pacific Gyres – also known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" – illustrate.  Here’s a picture of that – the yellow dots represent the trash, much of it plastics trapped in the largest landfills on the planet, located in the Pacific Ocean – the very water that is our lifeblood.  This reminds us to clean out our own gyres, formed by our own personal tornadoes, from time to time – if not also to be gentle with the environments that support us and keep them clean and healthy. 

• Water connects us and reminds us of the importance to maintain our connectivity.  The Gulf of Mexico illustrates.  Fed by headwaters of the Mississippi way up in Minnesota, that river carries sediment and agricultural run off along its entire route southward through the United States.  Entering the Gulf of Mexico south of New Orleans, Louisiana, it meets the Gulf Loop Current.  See a moving graphic representation of this map here.   Looks like blood flowing through arteries and veins, doesn’t it? 

That current, fed by water flowing north through the Yucatan Channel between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, can flow northward along the Texas coast, eventually curving east and south along Florida's coast or it can turn sharply east – in either case exiting through the Straits of Florida (between the Florida peninsula and Cuba) to meet up with the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic carrying warm Gulf and Caribbean waters to the Mediterranean and Europe.  This flow of water brings animal larvae, plant spores and other imports from the south, which probably accounts for the many Caribbean species found in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Similarly, this current can pick up the same sorts of 'passengers' from the northern Gulf (and the upstream Mississippi River) to deliver along its route back to the Caribbean and Atlantic.

All these places are connected as we are connected to each other and our world.  When asked during end of life planning where she wanted her cremains scattered, an elderly woman remarked that she’d like a few of her ashes dropped in a nearby river, thus ensuring she’d see parts of the world she never had a chance to visit.  

• Water that does not flow becomes stagnant and holding on to anything for too long can make us stagnant, too.  Better to dance like the waves.  The importance of flow to the earth’s water (and, metaphorically, to us) is illustrated by contrasting the Red Sea and the Dead Sea.

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, separating Africa and Asia – with Saudi Arabia to the east and Eqypt and Sudan to the west. The Red Sea’s flow is through the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal at the north (into the Mediterranean Sea) and through the Gulf of Aden in the south and out into the Indian Ocean.  Because of that flow, the Red Sea is a rich and diverse ecosystem with more than 1200 species of fish, about 10% of which are found nowhere else.  This rich diversity is supported by about 1,200 miles of coral reef extending along its coastline, fragile living structures that are 5000–7000 years old, along with other rich marine habitats including sea grass beds, salt pans, mangroves and salt marshes. That flow supports great life making the area sometimes called the Red Sea Riviera a great attraction for snorkelers, scuba divers and other visitors.

Contrast that with the Dead Sea to the north. The Jordan River rises from several sources, mainly the mountains in Syria, and flows down through the Jordan Valley with Jordan to the east and Israel to the west. In the Jordan Valley, fertile soils and a mild climate make the agricultural region the food bowl of Jordan.  The river flows into Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee), almost 700 feet below sea level finally draining into the landlocked Dead Sea which, at approximately 1,335 feet below sea level, is the lowest point on earth.  With no outlet to the sea – no flow – intense evaporation concentrates its mineral salts and produces a hypersaline solution, about 8 times saltier than the world’s oceans.  This lack of flow thus supports no indigenous plant or animal life.

• Consistent with this principle of flow, water reminds us that even a drop produces many ripples, which can have a magnified multitude of effects.  We are those drops.  As Mother Teresa tells us:

Thus, water reminds us to keep moving and affecting our world, and that each one of us is important to the world.  That includes the unique being that you are.  Keep flowing, connecting with others, and making waves and ripples with a conscious focus on your unique purpose, and you will make important differences that add up to your life’s legacy.  Maybe you’ll even choose to create something tangible and lasting to give to the world and leave for generations to come.

Ryan's Wells

Ryan Hreljac builds wells.  Lots of them.  Of course, he's had lots of help, but he started by doing one seemingly small thing: he made a choice that got him focused on a plan of action. Why?  Because it broke his heart to think that children just like him were getting sick or dying because they didn’t have something as basic as clean water.

Ryan Hreljac’s story begins in 1998 when he was six years old and in the first grade. As his story is told on the Ryan's Well website, that’s when “he learned from his teacher, Mrs. Prest that people were dying because they didn't have clean water to drink. He decided that raising money for people who didn't have clean water would be a good thing. He worked for four months in order to earn his first $70. Ryan’s first well was built in 1999 when Ryan was seven years-old at a school in a Ugandan village.”   

Ryan’s determination and commitment grew from the $70 collected by doing simple household chores to a Foundation that today has contributed a total of 564 water and sanitation projects in 16 countries bringing clean water and sanitation services to over 678,292 people. Ryan’s Well Foundation has raised millions of dollars to produce an astounding ripple effect.

Ryan remains absolutely dedicated to the Foundation and its work. He continues to speak passionately about the need for clean water around the world, and has visited over two dozen countries to spread his message. He has made presentations to hundreds of schools, churches and civic clubs, and more than two dozen international conferences and global events including Rotary International and the World Water Forums. He is recognized by UNICEF as a Global Youth Leader and he’s currently just 19 years old!

This amazing young man has received many awards for his work including the World of Children Founders’ Award, the Order of Ontario (youngest ever recipient), Ontario Medal for Young Volunteers, the Canadian Meritorious Service Medal, ONE X ONE Difference Award, and the Top 20 Under 20 Youth Award. Ryan’s message has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show (twice), CNN and CBC.  Numerous books, magazines and newspapers have profiled Ryan including Christian Science Monitor, People, Reader’s Digest, Time, Times of London and Watervoices.  He was featured in the award winning documentary film "Bue Gold: World Water Wars."  And he has met some of the most important people in the world, but he isn’t bragging. "The most impressive people I've met are the other kids who want to help, too," he says. Click here for a full listing of his accomplishments. 

Always humble, Ryan says “I'm just your regular, average kid," when anyone asks about his achievements. This is true as he plays basketball and ice hockey and loves playing video games. Ryan's family has been very supportive of his efforts to get clean water to water poor people around the world.  Originally his African pen pal, Jimmy Akana, who Ryan met on his first trip to Uganda, is now part of the Hreljac family and Ryan's adopted brother.  In college now, Ryan attends university in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Another significant part of the Ryan's Well ripple effect is that Jimmy, now also a Canadian citizen and in college, has become involved with the work of the Foundation. He is an advocate for conditions in Uganda, having participated in a United Nations symposium on Uganda, where he spoke to a UN panel about living conditions in northern Uganda. 

Ryan Hreljac continues to be a compelling and passionate voice for those impacted by the water crisis in the developing world. From his heart and very first actions that raised $70 to the extraordinary ripple effects of the Ryan’s Well Foundation, he continues to be a role model with a clear message – that every person on the planet deserves clean water, and even one very small voice can make a huge difference.  (EBC)

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Send us an email about someone you know who is living or building a legacy. We’d love to feature their story. Maybe it’s you?!