Life follows water

Where there is water there is life, and where there is life there is water. The two are inseparable. This simple realization is imperative to the survival of our species. As humans, we have systematically destroyed an innumerable number of natural ecosystems around the world. These are ecosystems that regulate the transfer of oxygen and carbon, maintain the temperature of the planet, and create the conditions for life as we know it. These are like the organs of the body: when treated properly, they support the life of the whole. When treated improperly, other organs begin to compensate and pick up the slack until they exceed their capacity, after which the health of the whole becomes increasingly compromised.

The structures that we are replacing these ecosystems with (think jungles, savannahs, etc.) are often cities, suburbs, or agricultural lands. Currently, our design of cities, suburbs, and agricultural lands is profoundly linear, extractive, and disconnected from the natural cycles of an ecosystem. Water runs right off the top of these landscapes carrying all of the pollutants that it picks up in the process to the sea. There is no root structure to attract and retain water in these landscapes, and there are hardly any life forms to build and benefit the soil health.

Source: Reflection: A Water Story. | elephant journal