Freezing Protestors: The Fight for Clean Water
Watched this via live stream last night. Grateful to see the issue getting national, mainstream coverage.
These protesters (which include members of our immediate Minneapolis community) are working to protect water sources that supply drinking water in multiple states.
They’re putting their lives on the line – on sovereign native lands – to protect not only native descendants’ survival, but ours, too.
Our thoughtless/uninformed/blind reliance on oil is directly creating this conflict. We know this on subconscious levels, but it’s time to connect these dots more directly: each of us can make changes that add up.
How do we have a personal impact, now, today?
1- stop buying plastics and petroleum-based products. Even conscientiously reducing your reliance on these items – or reusing the items you currently have – will be helpful until you’re able to make a total transition to things like cloth bags, glass and metal containers, clothing not made using polymers….
2- buy secondhand wherever possible (new products drive new production, which requires not only significant power, but also significant water). For example: one new pair of Levi’s 501s requires 2900+ liters of water to produce. Choosing an existing (vintage?) pair not only doesn’t require new cotton production, but also avoids unnecessary manufacturing waste.
If our communities are fighting for water -at risk of life and safety – then we can support them by making choices that don’t further reduce global (or domestic) availability of the very same resource.
Thoughts? Other ideas?