Image by datalove via FlickrOne of my favorite books of all time, "Dune", by Frank Herbert, deals (on one of its many layers) with a planet in the futuristic universe, Arrakis, the Desert Planet, from which a fierce race of people living within the planets cooler inner realms have been harnessing a precious commodity for their own planetary survival. No, not the geriatric "spice-melange" but water. The Fremen people of Arrakis, used to living on a harsh world of unending days of heat and sun and sand, have been harnessing water because of its scarcity and the promise of a new world it could bring them. They place an immense value on water, making it their true precious resource and someone with large amounts of water is one who is beyond wealth. The Fremen would even kill for water. Because it is scarce and precious, water has become the ultimate value to them.
When I first read the book (and the subsequent series), I was immediately struck by the ecology story. I became aware of the possibility of water and its intrinsic value, and became horrified at the possibility of living on a planet with hardly any water. I became afraid of drying out, of thinking of having to live below ground and hording water. I became afraid of thinking that war and genocide would come over water. I was then aware that I was taking water and its presence here on my planet for granted. I, at that moment, began to explore the truths of
water conservation and the global effort to preserve and save this truly precious commodity here on Earth.
As a reader here, you may have seen the widgets I have posted on my site in support of water conservation and awareness. This is an important cause for me, and I hope for you as well. I have decided to take part in
Blog Action Day this year because the cause we as a global blogging community are focusing on and discussing Water. It is VERY important. It is vital to our Health, our Humanity, to our Planet. Water is such an integral part of world; we are made of it. Water permeates every fabric of our Being. There are billions of people who do not even have access to clean water now. This is unfathomable to me. How can this be? Well, its easy to be true in actuality. Our Water Planet is drying up at alarming rates, people are having to live in remote places because of many different factors but mainly because they are on a search for clean water sources. Industrial pollution is contaminating water sources and making these sources no longer viable. We are wasting large amounts of water on trivial exploits or just simply polluting the sources we have unwittingly. Please take a moment to visit
http://blogactionday.change.org/ and find out more about what you can do to help bring more awareness of the important of Water and the efforts put forth for conservation and outreach.
I want to thank everyone who has visited the widgets here and contributed to
charity:water, which I have been involved with for two years now, and I hope you continue to do so.
Lets not take Water for granted. Lets make an effort to keep ourselves moist and vital, and keep the story of a distant desert planet in the annals of fiction and not reality, for if we do not take the steps now, we may be calling Earth by a new name: Dune.
-fggofstyle
