FLOW

Our invasion into Iraq had little to do with liberating the Iraqis or avenging those lost on September 11th, 2001. I mean, great, Saddam Hussein is, like, dead, but we went into his country for his oil, not for him. I'm wondering how the shit's gonna go down when we're fighting for water.

For the Love of Water (FLOW) is a documentary from Irena Salina which "what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis." It opens today in New York and LA. In 2002, NYC had a Stage 1 drought emergency which meant that restaurants couldn't serve water to patrons unless said patron requested it. But other than that, no one's ever blocked my access to water. Apparently, I'm very lucky:

• Of the 6 billion people on earth, 1.1 billion do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.
  (www.charitywater.org)

• While the average American uses 150 gallons of water per day, those in developing countries cannot find five. (www.charitywater.org)

• According to the National Resources Defense Council, in a scientific study in which more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of water were tested, about one-third of the bottles contained synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic. (www.nrdc.org)

• Water is a $400 billion dollar global industry; the third largest behind electricity and oil. CBS News, FLOW.

• Californiaʼs water supply is running out – it has about 20 years of water left in the state. Maude Barlow, author of Blue Covenant and co-author of Blue Gold, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, FLOW.

• In Bolivia nearly one out of every ten children will die before the age of five. Most of those deaths are related to illnesses that come from a lack of clean drinking water. Jim Schultz, founder of the Democracy Center in Bolivia, FLOW.

• The cost per person per year for having 10 liters of safe drinking water every day is just $2 USD.
  Ashok Gadgil, Senior Staff Scientist in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, FLOW

Go see the movie if it's playing near you. And turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. Short showers - no baths! And, um, if it's yellow, let it mellow. I'm scared of what human beings might evolve into when the water dries up.