Water

[H2O Man]

"We must seek out the spiritual people, because only that is going to help us survive. We have a great force -- a great brotherhood. This brotherhood involves all living things. And that, of course, includes all of us. We are talking about the natural world, the natural force, all the trees, everything that grows, the water. That is part of our force.

"But when you gather spiritual force in one place, you also gather the negative force. We begin to perceive the enemy now, the power and presence of the negative force.

"There is a great battle coming." -- Oren Lyons; Faithkeeper; Iroquois



Chief Paul Waterman, who sat on the Grand Council with Oren, and I used to enjoy sitting quietly near a creek. He used to say that it is good to hear the voice of the water. That was no woo-woo, it was common sense. It's good to know about the water in your area, including in different seasons. Sight and hearing are involved in having a relationship with the water.

As a kid, I used to sit with my brother on the mountain behind our house. Springs of cold, clear water gushed out in the spring time. If it was a wet summer, a few of those springs would produce luke-warm, less clear water. Paul told me that as a child, the mountain springs were his favorite place to get a drink. He knew that fresh water was an essential part of nature's life force.

It's a shame that children today do not have access to clean spring water. Most of their experiences with drinking water involve plastic bottles, faucets, or a public drinking fountain. These do not always deliver clean water. In our society, the general public has been moving further away from a direct relationship with water. If they are lucky, they may visit the beach and ocean, or picnic near a lake, in the summer. If they are unlucky, they are drinking highly contaminated water, like in Flint, Michigan, and thousands of other communities across America.

I used to talk with Oren and Paul about Handsome Lake, the Iroquois prophet who spoke of specific environmental crises that would result from human's pollution. They would say it's here, with great damage having already been inflicted. If you listen to water, you know that a small group of small changes create a big change, and we are seeing the power of a number of those big changes this summer. And, of course, it's not just water, it's the pollution in the air, the soil, and in living things.

The local radio says there is a "severe thunderstorm" coming this afternoon. When I was a homeless teenager, I used to enjoy sitting in the hay loft of an old barn, listening to the rain on the metal roof. Paul always loved listening to thunderstorms. I was thinking of these things this morning, when I fed the cats, birds, and fish, and then hurried to bring my daily meal in from the garden. This has been the strangest summer weather-wise in my life-time.

Peace,
H2O Man

[spanone]

1. Beautiful essay....Thanks H2O Man

Beauty and Truth

[H2O Man]

4. Thank you!

In the book "The Wisdom Keepers," Oren says that there are no mysteries, only common sense, when it comes to a healthy relationship as part of the natural world. I keep thinking of that as the news reports on the devastation across the country this summer.

[spanone]

5. Good thoughts.

[Hekate]

2. Peace

[H2O Man]

6. Thanks, Hekate!

I am able to watch the trees outside my window, and they are saying that a storm is coming. I'll go out a bit early this afternoon to make sure that there is plenty of food for the animals. Usually their second feeding comes in the evening, but I am planning to stay inside!

[Faux pas]

3. He

who owns/steals all the water wins. The bush family owns the Guarani Aquafer, and nestle is stealing all that they can.

Lucky for me and half my family, we live in the country, have spring water, a creek that runs through the property and a river right across the road. I call it the atheist's idea of heaven.

[H2O Man]

7. Huge point.

I don't think that enough people are aware of how humans such as the Bush family are buying up the rights to water. That dynamic is only going to get worse.

In the late 1980s, Paul's sister -- Clan Mother Audrey Shenandoah -- was invited to the White House for a private meeting with President Bush the Elder. He told her that he knew severe environmental damage had been done, and that humanity would soon be paying a severe price for that. He wondered if Indians had a solution? Audrey told him that to begin with, stop the destruction. Nothing would get better by continueing to make it worse.

I'm not sure if that was the genesis of his family trying to buy water. But I am certain that if he had listened to Audrey, he'd have understood that isn't the way nature works. Natural Law doesn't respect man's laws.

[StarryNite]

9. Foreign Firms Sucking "Virtual" Water From America's Parched Southwest

Foreign Firms Sucking “Virtual” Water From America’s Parched Southwest

Export of water-intensive crops has been accelerating for decades.
DIANA KRUZMAN

For decades, a significant portion of alfalfa grown here and elsewhere in the western United States—as much as 17 percent in 2017—has been loaded onto trucks, driven hundreds of miles to ports on the west coast, and shipped around the world, mainly to China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. A little over five years ago, one company decided it made more sense to own the land, and the water that came with it, outright.

The company, a Saudi Arabian dairy firm called Almarai, purchased 1,790 acres in the Palo Verde Valley to secure a supply of alfalfa for its dairy cows. Soon after, Saudi Arabia began phasing out domestic alfalfa production to preserve its water supplies, which were dwindling after years of overuse for agriculture. The purchase made headlines as critics including local politicians and environmentalists questioned whether it was fair for a foreign entity to use up valuable groundwater resources for products that wouldn’t ultimately benefit Americans.

ut the company is far from alone. Foreign corporations are increasingly purchasing land in the US; in the Southwest, thanks to longstanding laws on water rights, these purchases often come with unlimited access to the valuable water underneath the soil. Combined with nearly year-round sunshine, this has made the area a magnet for companies looking to grow water-intensive crops and raise livestock. Over the last 20 years, foreign companies have purchased more than 250,000 acres of land in six Southwestern states to raise cattle and pigs, as well as to grow everything from almonds to alfalfa, according to an analysis of purchase data that Undark obtained from the US Department of Agriculture.

On its face, foreign ownership of farmland hasn’t proved significantly different from American ownership for large-scale production of crops like alfalfa. Domestic farmers have long shipped food overseas, and companies like Almarai, as well as independent researchers, have suggested the outsized focus on foreign companies may be xenophobic. American farmers and companies also control millions of acres overseas, mainly in Africa, Asia, and South America. But with their implications for food and water security—that ultimately, the US is not in control of its own farmland—the purchases are drawing attention to the larger trend of industrial agriculture in the US and the problems that come with it.

Much more at link:

[link:https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/foreign-companies-export-virtual-water-american-drought-southwest/|

[H2O Man]

10. Thank you!

Very disturbing. Very, very disturbing. The global 1% are preparing for the future at everyone else's expense.

[StarryNite]

13. You're welcome.

Yes, it is very disturbing. I live in Arizona and water is getting scarcer. The last thing we should be doing is what we're doing!


Lake Mead Drops to a Record Low

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and part of a system that supplies water to at least 40 million people across seven states and northern Mexico. It stands today at its lowest level since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president. This means less water will be portioned out to some states in the 2022 water year.

As of August 22, 2021, Lake Mead was filled to just 35 percent of its capacity. The low water level comes at a time when 95 percent of the land in nine Western states is affected by some level of drought (64 percent is extreme or worse). It continues a 22-year megadrought that may be the region’s worst dry spell in twelve centuries.

Go to this link to see finish the article and see the images:

[link:https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148758/lake-mead-drops-to-a-record-low|

[H2O Man]

18. I have a brother

who lives on the west coast, who is employed at a university. He often has lunch with the earth science professors, and the topic of conversation is usually the environment.

He and I discussed the general situation, and some specific things such as Lake Mead. My brother said the earth scientists at the university told him not to expect any real improvements over the horrors of this summer. Although my brother loves the west coast -- he's lived there close to a half-century -- he is considering moving back east.

I recently saw the governor of one state -- I think it was Utah -- holding a press conference where he was discouraging people from moving there. But the truth is that the environmental changes will cause a large migration from coastal areas in the US, as well as globally.

[StarryNite]

20. Arizona is the 2nd fastest growing state.

It's not a good thing.

I don't think there will be any real improvements when it comes to water. Water is life. The outlook doesn't look good in my opinion.

[Jon King]

15. The Bush family does not own the Guarani Aquafer.

They bought some land but do not own the water rights. The water rights are owned by the governments of those countries.

https://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/blog/2020/11/16/the-agreement-on-the-guarani-aquifer-enters-into-force-what-changes-now/

[KPN]

8. Nice! Thanks for sharing. It has indeed been a very strange summer, weather

as well as otherwise. Peace H2O Man.

[H2O Man]

11. Thank you, KPN!

Much appreciated.

[jalan48]

12. Thanks for sharing. I remember drinking water from a spring in the Oregon Cascades.

It tasted so good I couldn’t stop drinking it. The water had a sweet taste.

[H2O Man]

14. Thanks jakan48 !

There are a number of springs up behind my house, including one that fed the barn by way of leather pipes. There are so many springs that they actually re-routed the turnpike that once included what is now my driveway, in days of old. Besides my morning cup of coffee, water is the only thing I drink.

[jalan48]

27. Water will keep you a healthy man.

[Ferrets are Cool]

16. The spiritual people are "where it's at"

religious ones, no so much.

[H2O Man]

19. I hear you.

Most of my work was with Onondaga, and that included efforts from the Iroquois Grand Council. There were times when we were involved with issues connected to other Indian people. Many years ago, we were doing a food & warm clothing/ blankets for a traditional community in dire need of help during an especially cold winter.

For some reason, an unidentified woman started calling me nights. This was well before the modern technology that allows one to know who is calling. Her goal was to be rude and insulting. She said she would drop off old discarded "dust rags," for the Indian women to sew into clothing. Then she'd say they were "too drunk" to actually sew. Nice lady.

I finally asked her if she was religious? She announced with pride that she was a christian, one of the "saved," unlike Indians. So I asked her if she believed the things that Jesus said? Why, of course she did! So I quoted Matthew 25:40, if I remember correctly, where Jesus said that what you do to the least, you do to him. I asked her if she would offer old dust rags to sew into a nice new outfit? She hung up on me, and never called again. However, in the following days, someone dropped off bags of garbage at our pick-up site. I can't say for sure, but I figured it was her.

[Ferrets are Cool]

34. Thanks for sharing that moving story

[nocoincidences]

17. I don't like the taste of water these days.

I know I am supposed to drink a lot of it, but I just don't want it, because it doesn't taste like real water should.

If you ever got to taste pure water from a spring, which I did back in the 70's, you never forget it. Yes, it has a sweet taste, but not the kind of sweet taste you can imitate with an additive.

I can honestly say I grieve for the loss of that taste. I think it is gone forever.

[H2O Man]

21. Seriously.

I refuse to drink the water from my home town, or from the community where my daughters went to school. That in my home town has been poisoned by five toxic industrial waste sites. By no coincidence, there have been people dying from various cancers at a relatively young age since I was a teenager. The other community's water just tastes terrible.

I'm lucky that I have good water. I never take it for granted.

[TheRickles]

22. Perhaps this is an inappropriate question...

But is "H2O Man" related to "Waterman"? The spiritual connection is certainly there (and wonderful to see), but I was also wondering about the genealogical one. Thanks.

[H2O Man]

28. It is related.

No blood relationship, though. But on my maternal grandmother's side, shortly after the Revolutionary War, there was a connection between the extended family.

[TheRickles]

35. Interesting - thanks.

[H2O Man]

36. Sure.

I served as Paul's top assistant for decades. Primarily on burial protection & repatriation, and also environmental.

[kpete]

23. The West is parched

Desperate here in California for rain

I actually find the dryness quite depressing

[H2O Man]

29. It is discouraging

to see what is happening, from here in upstate New York. The fires are frightening. I have a number of relatives that live not far from a couple of them.

Stay safe.

[bluboid]

24. yes, this has been the strangest summer weather in my lifetime as well...

& yes, the water talks...

[H2O Man]

30. Thanks!

[NoMoreRepugs]

25. Summer of 1968 I worked in a labor camp about 150 mikes outside Fairbanks, Alaska building access

roads for pipelines and drillers. The small springs and creeks that were near the camp had water that tasted heavenly. It was unlike anything I had ever drank or would in my lifetime.

[H2O Man]

31. Nice!

It was perhaps better to be up north, in some ways, during 1968. Heck of a year in American history.

I think that techno-hominids have polluted the great oceans and seas to a severe degree. I remember saying something about how the earth might heal from all the damage if humans went extinct to Rubin Carter. He noted that all organic life on earth exists primarily for the earth's purpose. That's an interesting concept.

[Moebym]

26. As someone whose name means "a vast expanse of water"

And both of whose parents studied and dealt with groundwater during their working years, this post resonates with me.

I've been pushing my dad to join the regional water authority or some other organization to put his expertise to good use in helping us contend with the historic drought we've been under, but I don't think it's working.

[H2O Man]

32. Very interesting!

I like names with meaning.

Over the decades, although I am in no way a scientist with a grasp of environmental studies, I've participated in cases where toxic industrial wastes have poisoned communities' water supplies. That included working with the NYS DEC and the USEPA on cases that went to federal court. I was able to get advice from some earth science faculty I knew, and get surface and groundwater outfits to do serious testing and analysis, for next to nothing.

These days, I'm not so active as I once was. But I share information with students who are active with similar cases. If your father is up to it, I hope he joins the regional water authority, too.

[Moebym]

33. My dad's name means "ocean tide"

The water-related names are a family tradition on my dad's side of the family.

My parents worked at environmental consulting firms for well over a decade, and their clients included (among others) the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Defense, if I'm remembering correctly. My dad even testified as an expert witness in a trial involving a contaminated water source in a rural area.

[Kid Berwyn]

37. A great battle.

Building luxury doomsday shelters and planning off-world colonies, we see the Greedheads have a clue. What fills their polluted souls, though, is fear. They think fear is what motivates all others. No wonder they fail — and have failed — to recognize the Greatness of this land’s Original Peoples. They understood exactly who they faced and what it meant for their tomorrows.



We the People got to pull together to win. If they are incapable of work, the rich can still do their part by providing the money needed to fix things.

Thank you for another outstanding essay and message, H2O Man! Cosmic.

[H2O Man]

38. Thanks!

I first encountered Oren in 1973 -- across the boxing ring in Syracuse! He trained Carmen Basilio's last fighter, who was fighting my brother-in-law. He's an amazing man, and I'd encourage people to watch his interview with Bill Moyers (on youtube).