Parched!

My garden is parched. While all of us make sure the beds are watered should someone forget or is unable to come over, I'm not sure the plants are getting as much as they'd prefer. Sad to say, sometimes I forget or, at various times, get thinking about water consumption and become a bit less generous with my plants. It's not a budget issue, it's a resource issue. I'm really fine with watering, especially when it's used to grow food. I'll even go so far as to say that watering for strictly aesthetic purposes can be worthwhile in some cases, but please, just not big, sweeping lawns!

I was listening to Alternative Radio on KUOW the other night when I heard the term "water justice." We've all heard of social and environmental justice... but I hadn't heard justice applied to water.

And then came, "peak water." I suspect we're also all familiar with "peak oil."

The last few days, the skies clouded over but no rain fell. I began to think about my garden from a place of unquenchable thirst. And then about how I've personally felt when I just can't hydrate - whether from no access to liquids or the inability to absorb them. It's almost like claustrophobia. Unable to breathe... Both the garden and I love the heat from the sun but it's so easy to wither without quenching that thirst.

Those new-to-me terms were uttered by Maude Barlow, a Canadian activist and author. She mentioned that water could be the catalyst that either teaches us all how to live with each other in peace, or be the cause of war for years to come. She talked about parts of the world - including parts of our precious first world - already feeling the effects of too little fresh water.

I know we're feeling it here. At our 2007 Focus on Farming conference, a day-long series of workshops addressed the issue of too much or too little. We're seeing hundred year floods here almost every year now, and drought-like conditions during hot summer months. The state of Georgia has experienced water shortages over the last several years - and this year filled up their water tables beyond capacity in less than a month. Yes, it's water - but it's also unusual and extreme. California and the southwestern states buy their water from wetter parts of the country.

Isn't it interesting that T. Boone Pickens is buying up water rights all over Texas? He plans to one day sell it back to the populace - when free, easily accessible water is no longer available.

Companies like Nestle who sell bottled water (and really bad chocolate-like substances) are draining the water from the Great Lakes and beyond.

Sewage water is now considered a possible resource.

And yet there are plenty of people out there who won't acknowledge climate change. Or that resources are finite. How can we possibly expect that on one planet, we aren't going to run out of the things we need when we have an endless appetite for new, different, better, and all of it takes some kind of natural resource (be it oil, water, mineral, etc.)? There are presently more than six billion of us - and our population continues to grow exponentially year after year.

Water justice. Something to think about when we buy products from the big agri-businesses (such as ConAgra, etc. - read your labels!). What a wasteful industry... Strawberries in January? Grapes from Chile? I'm not being self-righteous here; I'm a spoiled North American and I buy hothouse tomatoes and peppers in the middle of winter (but I do read labels and aim for conscientious purchasing...).

And of course, we have to have our sweeping green lawns, which makes no sense, particularly in water-scarce climates. Just why did that become a symbol of success? And just what is it with golf courses? Lawn's not only require excessive water, but typically require a lot of scary, poisonous chemicals (that end up downstream for our fish to soak up and consume).

Author and Sightline founder Alan Durning once asked, "How much is enough?" I ask this question of myself more and more all the time. I think it's something we're all going to have to ask ourselves going forward - whether we choose to or whether we have to.