I’ve always had a proclivity for water, it is sheer magic.  I’m easily transfixed watching it dance from the sky perfect golden ratio, snow crystals that quickly vanish on an outstretched tongue or maybe linger a few seconds longer on a woolen mitten.  My inner child is soothed by it rhythmically drumming the metal roof one moment in torrential warrior beats and then softly, sweetly fairy chimes.  I am hypnotized as water cascades over Precambrian stair steps rushing as swiftly as a shooting star, brightly capturing glinting rays of light, yet a lake’s surface easily appears as still as the tranquil blanket of the Milky Way.  I am amazed how water freezes in 3 feet long unicorn horns from my poorly insulated roof and then the spiraled perfection melts drip by drip as winter’s grip thaws.  The raw power of a rain swollen river caterwauling over boulders the size of cars and dislodging 20 feet diameter root wads is magnificent.  Equally, impressive is how in less than 24 hours that same river can shrink to a slow meandering wade able stream.   

The river of life is a most perfect ironic metaphor for a hydrologist contemplating turbulent waters and charting a new course.  I’ve waded many frothing snowmelt laden waterways with shifting footing, lost my step a number of times, filled my waders with icy water, and have come close to being swept downstream.  Today I find myself on a familiar riverbank, albeit one perceived to have already been crossed, questioning everything I’ve done to this point and if there is any merit in a logical way forward or perhaps this is the time to cast caution to the river.  The cold truth is my chosen profession no longer nourishes my soul and is joyless; the hegemony of government bureaucracy shackles any innovation and creativity, entrenched ideology and political pandering preclude legitimate natural resource based decision making, and I can find no merit in science as a means of inspiring humanity to care about the natural environment as it seems only to illicit divisiveness akin to religion.  However, there is a deep conviction, the taproot of my Earthly existence and a heartfelt desire to continue to work with water.  The means remains elusive.  

The versatility of water never ceases to amaze me.  It is one of the reasons that compelled me to pursue a career as a hydrologist.  The other justifications being that it was a logical and lucrative field of study given that everyone and everything needs water, clean pure water is a finite resource and growing human demands for it require sound science based management, scientific knowledge is the best way to proactively engage the public, and lastly I didn’t believe in my ability to be a successful artist.  There are many instances in my life where deep contemplation of the water crises sent me tumbling headfirst down the rabbit hole of depression and disillusionment.  Honestly I could easily be jaded and pessimistic about the prospects for global water resources and the future of humanity.  That’s the double edge sword scientists play with and I’ve spent enough energy in the past entertaining that abysmal trajectory.  However, life has a fantastic mysterious way of transforming conditioned perceptions and fortunately I’ve been gifted a great opportunity to change. 

As Einstein so succinctly stated, we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.  There is a global water situation; more countries are expected to experience severe water shortages with the changing climate, groundwater resources are rapidly being depleted, 2 billion people lack access to clean water, 2.5 billion people lack access to sanitation, and hundreds of thousands of children die each year due to contaminated water (https://thewaterproject.org/water_scarcity, http://www.unwater.org/publications/publications-detail/en/c/204294, and http://projecthumanity.org/water-problem/).  There are major issues that need to be addressed however first and foremost I must change my perceptions.  What we think and how we think has a profound impact on how we relate to the world.  I have chosen to believe in the immense capacity of water to unity humanity in a shared vision and transform how we as a global culture interact with the natural environment.  I am not abandoning science, it is a great way of interpreting natural phenomenon yet it fails to touch the heart of humanity and subsequently alter established habits.  My own transformation is not solely thought based but also returning to the power of art activism, the capacity of art to transcend conditioning and move the soul. 

The nature of water is simultaneously poignantly personal and communally conscious.  The most visceral way we relate to water is physical yet the magic of water is the immense capacity to transform humanity emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  We are all reminded daily in the papers, on the internet and TV, what transpires when a world denigrates water, life.  Our rivers are dammed, channelized, piped, and diverted from one watershed to another; herbicides and pesticides runoff fields into nearby waterways; we irrigate the desert, grow cotton in Arizona, and put pools in every backyard in Las Vegas; we put chlorine into our drinking water; and we bottle and sell water.  We take liberties with water having forgotten that clean pure fresh water is a finite resource.  The outer world is but a reflection of the inner world.  Our relationship with water is a reflection of our own lives.  Recreating a relationship with water and honoring the immense role it plays in our lives is a very small yet powerful step to renewal, individually and collectively.  Water reminds us of the sacredness of life, the fragility of life, and the delicate balance between thriving and thirsting.  When we honor water we honor life, nothing can exist without water.  It is this commonality that if we choose to can transport humanity from the throes of egoistic self-destruction to the vibrant nurturing shores of acceptance, compassion, and collaboration. 

Al Gore poignantly stated, “the more deeply I search for the roots of the global environmental crisis, the more I’m convinced that it is the outer manifestation of an inner crisis that is, for lack of a better word, spiritual.”  I would say the crisis of humanity is a by-product of the dissolution of spiritual relationship with self and the outer world.  Spiritual being right relationship with ourselves, each other, and the natural world.  Respect, reverence, communion, non-judgement, non-attachment, non-suffering, and beauty just being a few examples of right relationship.  Water can facilitate and ease our transformation as it ubiquitously flows through all facets of life.  As all currents merge in the river so to can all life merge harmoniously. 

Water is the story of life.  At every level water is fundamental to our existence.  It weaves a tale throughout our lives demarcating the tragic, poetic, romantic, and comical moments of being.  There are times when it rages, languishes, swirls around itself, but always moves forward transforming the moment.  A womb of water nurtures us for nine months and then transports us into the world of free choice.  Our bodies are comprised predominantly of water, without water we shrivel up to dust.  Water baptizes the initiates and transports the deceased to the other side in many religions.  Water propels the turbines of economic progress casting light into dim corners so fresh minds can bring forth new ideas.  Water is always there calling to us to remember our connection, to come home.  Water is the great equalizer, it transcends all boundaries and can bring the most vocal opponents together with a shared value for life.