Hi,
This post is to spread the word – Water. To spare a moment to think about – Water. To help grow awareness about this source of life – Water.
I was thinking of writing this post since I read this column about the must watch environmental documentaries. Initially it was to be more about interesting documentaries to watch. It’s not about documentaries any more. It is about – Water.
Ever since I read that column and saw these movies – Blue Gold: World Water Wars & FLOW: For Love of Water – I’m seeing more and more similar stories and patterns. Ex: In this news they say Egypt is ready to wage war against Ethiopia for the later is planning to build a dam on the river Nile. In another story folks in Chile are protesting against a big multinational corporate which wants to build a dam on their pristine river. And today these pictures about water shortage in Delhi. What could be more ironic than to have one of the oldest river, on the banks of which lord Shri Krishna himself once played and bathed, flowing in your backyard and yet you are thirsty for Water.
Actually, being an Indian, none of this or what they show in the above documentaries comes as surprise or news to me. For these situations and fights are quite commonplace in India. Yet, what surprises me is how less do we talk and discus about these issues in comparison to all the drama and brouhaha about PRISM and surveillance states and digital privacy & rights and gay rights and gun control and if you are in India, you see drama over arrest & pardon of an actor, IPL cricket, spot/match fixing, and to top it all octogenarian senior most politician throwing tantrums like a 10 year old girl and the others cajoling him out of it. It’s crazy! All these things don’t even matter to everybody like Water does.
Even more surprising is how some of us justify wrong doings of big corporate multinationals and powerful bodies. I had heated debate wherein I was explaining about this movie Blue Gold and how people are protesting against big corporates for building dams and pumping billions of galleons of water every day from natural water sources and how it is practically drying those sources. They come back saying private companies are perfectly justified in trying to maximise their profits and value to their shareholders; That is why they exist. I should/could not hold them responsible on moral or ethical grounds. I was stunned and surprised beyond shock for a moment.
I understand that private companies work to maximise their profits. I’m okay with that. But if you pump billions of galleons of water every day for that profit and value to your shareholders, I think it is wrong. It should take less than common sense to see that it is wrong. It is like milking a cow for 50-60 litres every day without really feeding her and caring for her. Sooner than you expect, the cow is going to kick and say sod off moron!
Along with all the global political and financial deficit we carry today, we also have a greater deficit in being able to know right from a wrong and good from a bad.
Some of these links below:-
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[0] Narmada Diary – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rexfjg0xGek
[1] Water shortage in Delhi – http://blog.tehelka.com/photo-blog-water-shortage-in-delhi/
[2] Egypt on war against Ethiopia – http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Africa/Egypts-Instability-Triggers-a-New-Proxy-War-Against-Ethiopia-and-its-Allies.html
[3] Chilean protest – http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/10/rios-libres-video-2-the-history-of-the-dam/
[4] Environmental documentaries – http://calamur.org/gargi/2013/06/07/lokmat-column-must-watch-environmental-documentaries/
[5] Blue Gold – World Water Wars – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikb4WG8UJRw
[6] Flow – For Love of Water – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmWdco0glEA
[7] Satyamev Jayate – Water – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqVAHBiGLic
[8] Truth About Tigers – http://www.truthabouttigers.org/home/
pjp's blog 
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> “Yet, what surprises me is how less do we talk and discus about these issues in comparison to all the drama and brouhaha about [list of hot topics]”
Because these topics are much easier to understand, and have an opinion about.
What’s more, discussing them doesn’t mean having to consider that the fundamental basis of our society and economy might be, you know… wrong.
Part of the reason it’s easier to have an opinion is because these topics are thrown at you hundred times a day everywhere you go. Otherwise it’s not really news that governments and companies, big & small alike, use internet to track its citizens and users.
And fundamental basis of our society and its people, I doubt if its unquestionably right.
> Otherwise it’s not really news that governments and companies, big & small alike, use internet to track its citizens and users.
You’d be surprised how many people are genuinely surprised by such “revelations”.
That in itself also has some implications: most of (at least Western) society is now based on a technology that most people don’t understand. Isn’t it a bit scary?
> And fundamental basis of our society and its people, I doubt if its unquestionably right.
I didn’t mean that was your opinion.
I meant that most people are not having those hard discussions (which you regret) because they fear the implications that these can have on our society and economy.
Sorry if that was unclear.
>You’d be surprised how many people are genuinely surprised by such “revelations”. That in itself also has some implications: most of (at least Western) society is now based on a technology that most people don’t understand.
Nope, it’s not surprising. We too have enough people who don’t understand technology and implications of their usage of it. That is but natural. We could not expect everyone to understand workings of internet and its protocols and how applications work together.
> Isn’t it a bit scary?
What is scary is, these same people and others who are keeping the hard discussions for later, would one day realise there is no water to drink or worse it is astronomically expensive to buy. And then they’ll say – how did we reach here? How come nobody saw this coming?? why didn’t they tell us before??? That’s what happened after the 2008 economic crisis. What is scary is these people depend on their governments to save them from such a situation. But governments are hardly ever held accountable for their actions.
What is scary is, nobody is held responsible for such crisis. Take example of Delhi, India. We have a dying river flowing through the city and there is no water to drink. It was not always like that. At some time, less than 20-30-40 years ago, the river must have been alive and much-much better than it is today. Today who do you hold responsible for its state and the severe shortage of drinking water?? Tomorrow(10-15yrs) if we have to import/buy bottled water at astronomical prices, nobody is going to be responsible for it, but us.
What is scary is, technology and technological solutions get way too much attention compared to other options. We are spending billions of dollar in trying to find water on outer planets. I wonder if we are doing enough to preserve and/or care for the sources we have at our disposal here today.