Our world is comprised seventy percent of water, only two percent of which is fresh water. Each day approximately fifty quarts of water are used per person. What most of us do not understand, or perhaps simply just do not acknowledge is that our water is drying up quickly. While Americans today surround themselves with our "crisis" of oil, and targeting most of our anger towards the jacked up prices on gasoline for our cars, et cetera, we hardly give ourselves the time of day to realize that the rest of the world faces similar "crisis's." Unfortunately for the rest of the world, their crisis is much more important than ours, and that is because the shortage of water is a shortage of one of our few needs, whereas the shortage of oil is a shortage of a want. This is to say that, without oil, we can still survive, but without water, we cannot. Currently, over 1.1 billions people lack the access to clean water, and over 2 billion people lack adequate sanitation. So on the whole, which case is more important? Is water a more serious case than the shortage of oil? Yes. Absolutely.
Egypt makes this point incredibly clear to the world in 1979 when President Anwar Sadat made the statement that Egypt will never go to war again, unless it is to protect its water resources, further establishing the importance of water in our world today. The Middle East depends on three major river systems for their water: the Nile River, the Jordan River, and the Banias River (in Lebanon.) The Nile River is by far the greatest source of water in the region while the Jordan River seems to be nothing more than a dry riverbed. As a result of the six day war, the Palestinians (who were initially the Jordanians) were created, and now water has become the major issue in the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. In fact, water is now seen as the overall main cause and concern within this conflict.
In the past decade "green" movements have become increasingly popular, but recycling and conserving electricity shouldn't be our first goals, the awareness of the water shortages need to become a main priority for all. Water conservation needs to start now and ought to be taken more seriously in present-day America for the sake of under developed countries and eventually, our country as well. Afterall, no one wants another six day war; we've seen and continue to witness the drastic implications for the Middle East that arose as a result of this 1967 war.
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A source of fresh water is needed for every country. This is how countries from the beginning were created because they used the rivers to form their civilizations around. If countries loss their source of water they are not only losing part of their civilization but it takes away things like trade routes. Water ways are used for many things that make societies become who they are now.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, not to mention the loss of water sources takes away our human rights of a healthy standard of living and the proper access to food, water etc., as established through the three primary documents of the United Nations.
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