I’ve been watching many lectures, lately, on YouTube, given by scientists all over the world about how dire our situation is and how simple the solution, if we can grasp the small window of opportunity that we have, right now, to dream about the lives of our children and grandchildren. Having recently been reminded of an American icon of a previous generation this week, I have an imaginary meeting going on in my head between Carl Sandburg, Martin Luther King Jr., Atossa Soltani and Michal Kravčík.
Over the decades of my life I have heard people speak in different ways about MLK. In my childhood household he was criticized for taking a stand against the Vietnam War. Literally seeing the war unfold on television I was confused why anybody would be for that, so childish me agreed with MLK and adult me still does. I’ve also heard people presume to speak for what MLK would say in situations where maintaining order is conflated with keeping peace, while speedily kicking cans down a drought stricken road. Today, I presume only to speak about how I can carry forward what the American dream means to me.
Carl Sandburg points to people and nature as the way forward. Martin Luther King points to a path that includes everyone. I hold their messages in my heart and mind as I listen to the people today who speak for peace on Earth. I have spoken before about supporting the water protectors. But we all need to, and can be, water protectors right where we live.
While the official folks pass around carbon credits, the People should restore stewardship of the land to the people who know best how to get on the path to restoring cool, clean water to the landscape. The ones who never forgot. If we can take their guidance, we can avoid wars over water and render futures trading on water a pointless activity.
People who bottle water probably don’t want you to know how to capture the rain and use it to make your life better, and cool the climate, no matter where on Earth that you live. It’s your human right to keep water in your landscape, as long as there is human life. And that is the question right now.
We are all connected by water cycles both large and small. It is time to humble ourselves to receive the wisdom of people who have been bringing us this message for decades and are now telling us that we have about a decade left. As artists and creative people our works could not be put to any better use than to spread the message of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative and the New Water Paradigm in Slovakia. Now is the time for us all to carry the dream forward. The good news is that we have it in our power to do it, and so we should.
