WEEK 1 - Water - Gift and Source of Life
Reflection - Seven Weeks for Water 2018
By Mr. Ivo Poletto, philosopher, theologian and social scientist from Brazil
Introduction
The first Reflection of the “Seven Weeks for Water” of World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Water Network is by Ivo Poletto, a philosopher, theologian and social scientist from Brazil. He is also national advisor to the Climate Change and Social Justice Forum in Brazil. In the following reflection, he analyses the water cycle of Brazil, the “flying rivers” of the Amazon but also laments on fast depleting forests which are breaking the water cycle and making clouds as well as aquifers disappear. He insists that water is one of the common goods that require special care, as there is no life without water.
Text:
Yahweh God took the man and the woman and
put them in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Exodus 2:15
Reflection: The reality of water in Brazil
Over the past ten years, I have been dedicating particular attention to the effects of climate change in people’s lives, especially in the lives of the most impoverished people.[1] Reality is bringing to light the fact that the biggest sufferings have been caused by water issues. It either rains too much, and floods and hurricanes affect the lives of families living in places with little to no security; or it does not rain, further exacerbating the living conditions in semiarid regions, such as the Caatinga biome in Brazil. However, over the past few years, multiple regions have witnessed a decrease in rainfall, with large metropolitan areas like São Paulo and Brasília experiencing water rationing over large periods of time.
According to recently published data, over the past four years, 55 million Brazilians suffered the consequences of climate events[2], which were certainly intensified by global climate change as well as the rise in temperature felt across all regions of the country. As we know, all elements necessary for the life of all living beings and the Earth itself are part of a complex unit, in which all rely on each other. And water is one of those elements essential to life. Additionally, it is exactly because everything is interconnected that the water crisis is proof of how the impact of human activity on the planet has been changing water cycles.
Although water does not disappear, it is no longer available in all regions at the times Mother Earth intended it to be, throughout its long creation process.
Questions:
- Who is responsible for socioenvironmental disasters related to water?
- What can and should we do to care for water and build good living societies?
