Today you awake in the year 2037. You are thirsty.
Where do you get your water?
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk, two books that illustrate the potential and all too accurate perils of the future of California, were both published in 1993. Octavia’s tale, set in the 2030s, and Starhawk’s, set in the 2040’s, have strikingly similar predictions for the state of water, as well as other resources and social dynamics; without being a spoiler, let’s just say that water is predominantly scarce, privatized, and polluted.
Sadly, this future is not just the future told in sci-fi novels. In an article published in 2016, Amrita Gupta, Policy Innovations journalism fellow, Carnegie Council, writes:
“In 2015, NASA’s satellite data revealed that 21 of the world’s 37 large aquifers are severely water-stressed. With growing populations, and increased demands from agriculture and industry, researchers indicated that this crisis is only likely to worsen.”
Water defenders, well-keepers, water councils, activists and others around the globe are engaged in great and varied efforts to ensure access to clean water to our current and future generations.
Visionary Dreamer of Earth, again, you are called to see beyond the limits of imagination and boundaries of scientific predictions to a morning 20 years from now, when you wake, thirsty…
What is humanity’s relationship with water and how did we shift so swiftly?
Share your visionary dream here: #CLNtruthinlies
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