Why Water Is More Precious Than Oil, Gold and Lithium: The Burning Truth Confronts Us Now
A Resolution with our Canadian Friends that Defies MAGA
Milwaukee was an unlikely place for an international agreement between two once-friendly neighbors, provoked by senseless tariffs and looking for a way forward. Yet there we were, Canadian officials, American mayors and tribal leaders signing a document that said that borders didn’t matter. We were jointly committed to protecting the Great Lakes watershed, which holds 20% of the world’s freshwater.
It’s never been more evident that fresh water is the most precious –- and sacred -- essence on our planet. We simply can’t survive without water. Most of our bodies are composed of H2O. Rare earth minerals are certainly important in this electronic age, but they won’t prevent dehydration or sustain ever-larger cities. You can’t drink saltwater, oil, precious metals or cryptocurrencies. We are baptized with fresh water and washed with it when we’re prepared for our final disposition.
As I write this, wildfire smoke from Canada’s tinder-dry Western Provinces is fouling the air of the Chicago area and many northern U.S. cities. Meanwhile, diverting attention from worsening air quality and record carbon dioxide levels, the MAGA regime called out the national guard in Los Angeles to provoke protestors of his immigration round-ups. Black smoke is rising in the city of angels—and many others -- darkening the skies of democracy.
I was in Milwaukee for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a coalition of cities that border the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes. Founded by Mayor Richard “Richie” Daley in 2003, the binational group represents more than 120 mayors, local and tribal governments.
Lack of water, especially rain, can be catastrophic. No matter where you live, water has become the sword of Damocles. Intense storms produce excessive amounts of it, deluging places once thought to be climate refuges like the mountains of Western North Carolina and Eastern Kentucky. Lack of rain foments wildfires from New Jersey to the western states.
Other places are drying up such as the Colorado River Basin, Western Great Plains and central California, where groundwater is being rapidly depleted by industrial agriculture. Even Northern Illinois, which normally doesn’t have significant water issues, was beset by a spring drought, which caused a rare dust storm last month. Tilled farm soil simply blew away, blanketing the skies of Chicago. Today abnormally dry or severe drought areas range from the Mid-Atlantic states to the Southwest.
Unfortunately, weather data (and the suppression of it) has been weaponized by MAGA politics. The budget for NOAA, the agency that runs the US Weather Service and collects global data on climate conditions, is being gutted, along with its staff of experienced meteorologists and climate scientists.
Yet climate change and the resulting uneven distribution of water is no hoax. The growing hydro imbalances are triggering more storm-related floods and wildfires. Yet you can’t monitor climate-related conditions if you don’t have qualified people to track it. The watchtowers of our skies are being abandoned by the denizens of denial.
In a documented gesture of neighborly cooperation, the Great Lakes Initiative resolution signed last month defies the tariff war. It focuses on sharing and protecting water quality and access. Deputy Mayor Catherine Vallières-Roland of Québec City noted:
“Binational agreements that safeguard our precious freshwater resources are among the most successful models of international water management globally and must not fall victim to the broader deterioration in U.S.-Canada relations. We must prioritize collaboration over conflict to ensure the future economic prosperity and environmental health of our freshwater communities.”
Mayor Cavalier Johnson of Milwaukee added: “We are two countries, but one region – united by highly integrated supply chains and an abundant supply of fresh water that is the envy of the world.”
Two prosperous countries and multiple mayors working together to protect the most precious resource on our planet? What a concept! Even in the face of annexation bloviation, our Canadian friends still want to work with us. Even more notably, tribal nations, which have experienced more than their share of exploitative annexation, also are party to the Great Lakes resolution. Shannon Holsey, President of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians noted:
“For Tribes and First Nations, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River are sacred bodies of water that have economic, environmental and cultural significance for our communities. Tribes and First Nations continue to call on the United States and Canada to pursue genuine reconciliation efforts with us that honor treaty and water rights and ensure our voices are meaningfully included in bilateral decisionmaking.”
The social ecology of fresh water is unequivocal. We all need it. Some of us will get more access to it than others. Other poor souls will be drowned by it. Water is an essential essence, not a commodity. It can’t be produced like endless tons of plastic. It bathes our childhood, adolescence and future on this planet.
It’s little wonder that nearly every pre-Christian culture recognized a female deity who was the spirit of waters. The Greeks had naiads. The Celts worshipped Danu, who also represented wisdom, fertility and sustenance. Not surprisingly sustenance and sustainability both emanate from the same Latin word: sustinere.
Water is more than live giving and sustaining. It’s sacred. Yet we will still need an extraordinary level of global cooperation to keep it plentiful, clean and equitably shared. It’s like democracy. It’s a vital essence that we need to preserve.
Vincit Omnia Veritas
(Truth Conquers All)
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This essay was not produced by AI. I am a sentient writer, journalist, author, environmentalist, speaker, musician and elected county forest preserve commissioner who’s written 19 books and contributed to The New York Times, Next Avenue, Bloomberg and Reuters.
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