Letter from the Editor: Water, Water Everywhere
July 1, 2008
What’s water but the generated soul?" asked the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. It brings and destroys life, it is our obsession, our need, our very lifeblood. As humans, we are naturally drawn to the water—it is a part of us, and vice versa. We have gathered near water since the beginnings of our existence, piling structures upon the shores of oceans, the edges of lakes, and the banks of rivers.
Personally, I cannot go more than a day or two without looking upon the Pacific Ocean; I rarely stray from it. Recently, on a heavily delayed flight from Hawaii (my former home or, as my mother says, "that rock in the middle of the sea"), our captain came on the intercom and informed us that he intended to make up some time by "taking this thing as fast as it can go across our little pond here." On our mere four-hour-or-so journey across the black chasm of nothingness, between naps and sips of champagne (one must stay hydrated), I chuckled at his usurping of the moniker, pond, usually reserved for the Atlantic, for a stretch of ocean thousands of miles wide.
But it is ours. These are our oceans, seas, rivers, lakes—our ponds. They are invaluable; yet some of us have tried to place a dollar amount on them. (The World Wildlife Fund has suggested in recent years that the annual global value of wetlands stands at around $70 billion—nothing, really, if you consider the amounts traded in handshakes involving water rights around the world.) Waterfront property has always held great value, in every sense of the word, and promises to do so as long as we are here.
An old Chinese proverb maintains, "When you drink the water, don’t forget who dug the well." May you find a spot to dig your own well, and remember to share the wealth.
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