What we do to water, we do to ourselves and to all of life. It is the most simple and essential element of our existence, yet so easy to forget its importance. We must give ourselves the opportunity to fully connect with it, appreciate it, feel it within us and around us. Unify, is supporting World Water Day is inviting all of us, everywhere, together to do one thing: love water (#lovewater). It is from this primal place of connection to the source of life that we may understand just why we need to pay attention to water and water related issues. It could be a drought, a hurricane, a contaminated watershed, a tsunami or a plunge in a cool mountain stream, picnic by a waterfall, or a soak in a hot spring, but in our lifetime this shared body will be destroyed or healed. Every single person will play a part in the destruction or the healing, including you. We all know which choice will be more fun.
Let’s not get overwhelmed — the best change happens when we are coming from a place of joy. Grab a glass of water to drink while you read. Feel it swish in your mouth and know that it is nourishing your cells, helping your body to remove toxins, and allowing your mind to think clearly. There are many thousands of people who have already made the realization that all life is connected and we are doing some pretty amazing things to make sure that life will continue to thrive for many generations. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel or take all the burden on yourself, all you need to do is find a project or organization you like and lend a hand.
Another stellar organization spear-headed by Mark Ruffalo is Water Defense. Creative ideas like crowd-sourced water testing are all part of his solutions oriented approach to current water and energy issues. Anything is possible when you can get business experts, brilliant scientists, gifted artists and hard-working people together to solve problems. Best of all, being an active participant in positive global change is a whole lot more fun than watching television!
Now we’ve got problems, we all know that. You’ve seen me harp about them here for years, but there comes a time when being pissed off just doesn’t cut it anymore. Maybe it is an essential part of waking up, and maybe the anger is just enough to finally make us do something. Visual artist, Ashely Foreman (painting below) wrote in a recent blogpost:
Sometimes we have to feel the pain before we stop doing the thing that causes it.
Erik Seyster, a Visionary Artist who also goes by Vajra contributed this masterful painting (left) called Man in The Middle which he is offering to raise funds for Sea Shepherd. Man in The Middle, as he describes it in a recent blogpost, “is about man’s unique position as keeper or destroyer of balance.” His project, called Allied Vision hopes to inspire artists to donate original art and then, “select organizations serving the highest good and amplify their impact through a continuing series of celebrity auctions of original visionary art.”
All sorts of people are throwing in with their own talents to make this the best World Water Day in history and there is a whole lot more to come. For example, a group of 9 emerging artists collaborated with Varda Hardy, Professor of Advanced New Media and Alternative Distribution Class at the San Francisco Art Institute, to create this interactive video on a new platform called Interlude. The viewer is able to press buttons within the video and choose between poems, facts, or crisis related to water along with corresponding imagery.
There ya have it… If you don’t resonate with any of the projects others are doing to raise awareness and support for all of life then you can make up your own project! But at least take some time to see what amazing work is being done by organizations like Water Aid or Waves 4 Water, or Water Day. You can throw a party or a car-wash, or gather donations from your friends because the smallest gift from many people united for water will add up to very practical changes. Remember that what we do to/for water, we do to/for ourselves and all of life. Now is the time to get involved.
No matter what you do or don’t do, take some time to consider what water means to your life. On March 22, all over the world people are gathering at the same exact moment to send all of their love and energy to water. This is another wonderful Unify initiative. On their website you can find events in your area, or organize your own event and see just how many people all over the world will be joining in on March 22 to express their love and gratitude for this precious element that gives us life. Daniel-Leo Richard calls this Mystical Activism and it may be the most profound expression of activism there is. Go to a sacred place of water on March 22, or to a quiet place within yourself. You are surrounded by water as it is primarily what you are made of.
