Keeping the Magic Alive

Oct 7, 2016 by Katrina Escaro

Combine 2 atoms of Hydrogen and add a little dash of a single atom of Oxygen and you have quite possibly one of the most magical things ever: Water. Essentially speaking, at a basic level, water is not that spectacular. It’s a pretty bland fluid compared to all the other fluids this world has ever known. Clear with no distinct taste – that’s water, quite the underdog among all the fluids on Earth. At face value it may seem quite dull, but it is actually this seemingly “dull” liquid that serves as the basis of life on all planets. “Where there is water, there is life” seems to be the mantra of astrophysicists and astronauts as they pursue space exploration in the hopes of discovering a planet that may be inhabitable by humans just like our dear old planet, Earth. Our common home, Earth, has been given the name “The Blue Planet” as its topography is mainly composed of bodies of water. This name is actually very fitting as almost 75% of our planet is made up of water. Now that may seem great because it’s as if we have such vast water reserves that we can tap on whenever the need arises. However, the reality is that majority of the water in our planet is actually saline and only less than 3% is freshwater, thus only less than 3% is readily available for consumption by humans. Considering that we’re currently 7 billion strong on our planet, this amount of water seems to be becoming more and more menial. As our population continues to grow exponentially, there would quite possibly come a time when we would only be entitled to a single drop of water each, that is if we continue with our current water consumption practices.

Over the years, we’ve endlessly heard people drone on and on about carbon footprints. If there is a type of footprint that possibly every single person is aware of, it’d be carbon footprints. To put it in a certain context: in a crowd, it would seem that carbon footprint is the jock and a part of the popular group while water footprint, yet again, is the underdog that’s hardly ever noticed or given attention. This is why it was very refreshing for me to find out about my water footprint as well as that of the other students in our Advanced Environmental Education Elective Class, using the help of a simulation. Looking at the water footprints that each one of us discovered, it can be said that we consume a very large amount of water on a daily basis as not even one of us consumes less than a thousand gallons of water per day. Personally, I consume 2, 148 gallons of water per day while our entire household consumes 8, 907 gallons of water per day. This would mean that in the span of 7 days or a single week, I consume 15, 036 gallons of water while our household consumes 62, 349 gallons of water which is enough to fill 3 average-sized swimming pools. As I went through the water footprints of my classmates which they also posted about, I realized that some of them actually consume more water than I do and specifically, one household actually consumes around 33, 000 gallons of water in a single day! To think that there are actually currently 7 billion people on this planet of ours yet we individually consume that much water; well we can’t help but think, where does all this water come from?

Now, at this point in time, there is actually no definite accepted theory yet regarding how water came to earth. A popular hypothesis, however, is that collisions with asteroids and comets, which contain ice, introduced water to the Earth. As the Earth continued on with its formation, this water was then trapped into a cycle which is, quite possibly, everyone’s favorite ecological cycle: the Hydrologic Cycle or more commonly known as the Water Cycle. Add a bit of evaporation and transpiration here, insert some condensation there, enter into the picture a bit of precipitation, place some sublimation over there, slide a tad bit of infiltration here, and voila, you’ve got yourself a water cycle. Essentially, this would mean that water never leaves the earth as it is trapped in a cycle, thus, it only changes phase or is stored in certain formations such as glaciers. Primarily speaking, water just travels from a body of water, to a cloud, to the ground and other features of the planet involved in this cycle like that of organisms such as plants and animals. Us, humans, actually also have water coursing through us as our bodies are mainly made up of roughly 60% of water. The Water Cycle implies that we won’t ever run out of water. However, that’s not the case for certain parts of the world. So, how can that be? Well it’s all because of this not so magical thing called Climate Change. Climate change, as defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, is the “periodic modification of Earth’s climate brought about as a result of changes in the atmosphere as well as interactions between the atmosphere and various other geologic, chemical, biological, and geographic factors within the Earth system.” Despite this being a current problem we are facing, this is actually something that isn’t new to our planet. Evidence of climatic changes that took place before the Pleistocene epoch have actually been unearthed. This means that climate change goes way back to as early as 2.6 million years ago. Then, that means it’s not so bad that we’re currently experiencing it, right? Well, not really. The climate change we are experiencing now is primarily man-made. It’s not a result of natural occurrences such as tectonic activity or volcanic activity, and is instead due to the towering levels of greenhouses gases that we emit. It is important to remember that climate change affects almost everything in the Earth’s system, and one of them is water.

When you mix climate change and the water cycle together, you don’t produce something magical at all. Instead, you end up having an explosion of unwanted problems. Climate change essentially alters the water cycle in such a way that the water cycle becomes erratic and destructive as these changes increase the risk of droughts and floods. The Climate Change Reality Project sums it up in such a manner:

1. Higher global temperature due to the thinning of the ozone layer causes a higher rate of evaporation of water from the land and sea into the atmosphere
2. Air gets warmer, thus it can hold more water vapor as it expands due to heat
3. An increase in water vapor leads to more intense rainstorms
4. These intense rainstorms consequently increase the risk of flooding
5. When flooding occurs, water runs off into rivers and streams, doing little to dampen soil
6. The soil then becomes dry and coupled with increased temperatures, there is now a higher risk of drought

This is actually greatly experienced in the Philippines where the typhoons that have crossed our path seemingly only become stronger and stronger which is why floods are now slowly becoming a norm in various parts of our country. Consequently, the series of droughts we experience seem to be growing in intensity especially during El Niño and this greatly affects various farming communities across the country.

So how exactly do we combat climate change? Well I’ve had a taste of what it’s like to have seemingly enough power to do something regarding this problem through a climate change simulation wherein I got to be the president of the European Nations. It surely was no easy task to step into the shoes of a president, but this simulation essentially confirmed my belief that banking on renewable sources of energy is the right way to go in terms of addressing the problem on climate change. Most of the carbon we emit comes from all the fossil fuel we burn in order to generate electricity and provide fuel for our cars. Thus, this has to change and that change we so badly need comes in the form of renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar energy. These renewable sources are actually being currently used in certain parts of the globe so all we have to do now is to have a widespread implementation of the use of such renewable sources in such a way that we would no longer be greatly reliant on fossil fuels.

Overall, these simulations depict realities that mirror the conditions besetting our community. The Philippines is facing problems regarding the shortage of water and being located near the equator has caused our country to be at the receiving end of the drastic effects of climate change as having intense super typhoons coming our way has now become an annual thing for us, as a nation. These simulations actually reminded me that this is not supposed to be the new normal. This is an anomaly in nature due to our abuse of the environment and well I’ve only got to look at my water footprint to see that I am actually playing an active role in the demise of our common home and that up until now, I’m not truly doing anything to address this problem that’s essentially staring right at me. While taking a bath is not that common among Filipinos as showering is more of our thing, other practices such as doing laundry and washing dishes are things that almost everyone can relate to. We’re not detached from the problem of climate change and water shortage as it is something that is present in our community. We experience rotating water shortages, rotating brownouts, and other measures we’ve been forced to take in order to adapt to the changes in our environment. These are problems that hit home and are close to heart as they spare no one. The Philippines does not have a great contribution on the global emissions of CO₂ as it is not an industrialized country. However, it still bears the weight of the negative effects of such indifferent and abusive human practices.

These simulations didn’t, in any way, make me feel small nor irrelevant. Instead, they showed me that I have a voice to be heard. I need not be the president of a country in order to do something of relevance. I belong to the youth, and that, in itself, is a very powerful sector. All I have to do is to start change within me and let my actions do the talking as I rely on the power of chain reactions. I believe that by having the initiative to change my lifestyle, I can move others to action and encourage them to also change their lifestyle. Soon enough, a relatively large number of people would be having a turnabout in their life, enough to capture the attention of the world and remind them that something must be done. Now, this change in lifestyle need not be something instantly drastic or big. It can be in the form of transitioning from being a meat-eater to that of a vegetarian as eating meat, as I learned from the simulation, actually increases one’s water consumption.

Now, more than ever, is the time to keep the magic alive. The magic of our environment is seemingly fading by the minute, and if we don’t do anything, that certain magic would cease to be. The magic of water is just one of the many wonders of nature that we must preserve. The water on our planet has more land forms to give rise to, more hearts to capture, and more minds to inspire and enlighten. So, it’s not just merely about keeping the human race alive, it’s also primarily about keeping the magic of nature alive.

Post comment