The Future of Water is the Future of Life

Ten writers volunteered to post at Booman Tribune on each of the topics on the UN's list of ten most underreported stories. This was my contribution (shortened a bit.)

Water is not just necessary for life. Water is life. Our planet is mostly made of it and so are we--one species of intelligent aliens identified us as "ugly bags of mostly water." (Bonus points to the comment that correctly identifies the source.)

We grow up knowing the simple formula for water: H2O. Yet for all our vaunted science and technology, we have no idea how to make it. Our science knows a few things about it, but we don't know really what water is.

We can't build or manufacture or create water. Our lives depend on the water that exists, that our earth as a complex system provides. Water is in many ways the basis of civilization, and how water is shared is a primary creator and medium of culture. But as the world's fresh water is increasingly threatened by what the modern world has done to the planet, water again becomes a test of our civilization and our future. For many, it already is. For the rest of us, it soon will be.

(continued after illustration)