It has no taste, no defined shape, and knows how to adapt itself to temperatures, changing from a liquid to a solid matter, or to a gas, we use it every day, and no life on earth can survive without it : water, the source of life. Water covers 71% of our planet's surface, with the oceans containing 96.5% of its totality. The Antarctic ice sheet holds 61% of all the freshwater on earth. These are numbers that give reason to pause... All form of life on earth depends on water, it is essential for breathing, and for photosynthesis. Great civilizations have always flourished around major rivers : Mesopotamia was situated around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Ancient Egypt and its empire depended on the Nile river, Ancient Rome had the Tiber.
The human body contains between 55% to 78% water, depending on the weight of the person, and it is necessary to drink one to two liters of water a day to avoid dehydration. The use of water is essential in human culture : agriculture, transportation of cargo, which is a very important part of global commerce and that is concentrated around major rivers, seas and oceans. In spite of this apparent abundance, 30% of the world's population suffers physical stress because of lack of sufficient water, which is the case for 50 countries. It is estimated that the lives of 1.4 million children who die from complications of diarrhea each year, could be saved if these children had access to clean drinking water.
Water is crucial in medicine, and is considered an essential medicine, in fact, by the World Health Organization, as it is a necessary ingredient for injections. Water is the most efficient way to extinguish forest fires, as it is free of noxious chemical products of other methods. Water is the source of hydro electricity, for cooking food, for daily hygiene, and water is also a source of recreation, for swimming, for enjoying the sea, and the calming effect of the beauty of waterfalls, lakes.
An interesting point : the majority of the water in the universe is a by product of the formation of stars. In 2011, science observed a giant cloud of water vapour, that holds 140 trillion times more water than all the water of all the oceans on earth combined, around a quasar, this being a huge astral object, that emits an enormous amount of energy, and that is supposed to contain massive black holes, and that is located 12 billion light years from earth. According to scientists, this indicates that water has been found throughout the universe since its inception. Water is a force of undeniable importance for life, all life.
Nature photographer Kurt Lolo of Lolo Pics shared a magnificent photograph of a water drop, he titled " The Drop of Life ". This photo is like an energetic oil painting, where a water drop in midair dominates the scene, surrounded by very vibrant green colours that are almost metallic, that underline the power of this water drop, this fascinating liquid that controls life on earth. It would be a superb painting or poster for organizations that encourage awareness on the dangers in which the world finds itself right now because of the pollution of our oceans, our rivers, our drinkable water necessary to survive. The photo is a symphony, a call to action, there is an urgency, an almost impatient energy in this photograph, that wants to call attention to this crisis that the condition of the water on earth finds itself in, and that is much more serious than most people are willing to admit. The nature photographer Kurt Lolo is a messenger in this case, and his photo is an appeal to our conscience, about a very serious situation that concerns the continuation of life on this earth, and the very real possibility of an unlivable future, that will be a catastrophic reality much sooner if we rest indifferent to the urgent need to address the protection and fair distribution of all water sources on our planet.
Trudi Ralston
The information on water and its importance, courtesy of Wikipedia.
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