A Prayer for Water during the Pandemic
God of rain and river,
of stream and storm,
of sea and silent pools,
of waterfall and waterhole,
of wells and waves,
of aquifer and aqueducts,
Hear us as we pray
for water fresh and pure for all.
And guide us to use your water
wisely and well,
ensuring that all your creation
can share in your bounty.
- Ruth Williams
Did You Know?
- On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights. UN Sustainable Development Goal #6 is a critical global commitment for us all (https://www.sdg6data.org/).
- Even before COVID-19 struck, the United Nations called water scarcity “the scourge of the earth.” Every day, more than two billion people around the world are forced to drink contaminated water. Diarrhea caused by contaminated water and poor sanitation kills a child under five years old every two minutes
- During the current pandemic, millions around the world are threatened with their running water being shut off if they cannot pay their bills. Without access to running water, people cannot even protect themselves from the virus by washing their hands.
- While many forms of plastic are needed to protect our front-line workers during this pandemic, the current rise in the production and proliferation of single-use plastic bags, straws, and bottles for take-out orders alone is setting the world back years in our efforts to protect our waters from the chemical contamination and pollution by plastics.
- Nestles is the largest bottler of water in the world. It continues to gain control of irreplaceable water resources especially in North America and place water in plastic bottles under a myriad of labels.
- Three minutes surfing on the internet reveals countless accounts of how our water in many parts of North America is laced with high levels of lead leaching from out-dated municipal water and plumbing systems.
What Can You Do?
- Watch The Story of Plastic (https://www.storyofstuff.org/story-of-plastic/). Then find your copy of your Blue Community pledge and renew your efforts to carry out the actions to which you pledged (https://atlanticmidwest.org/files/attachments/post/blue_communities_final.pdf).
- While many stores will not allow us to use our own shopping bags during this pandemic, try to use as few plastic grocery bags as possible.
- Do not use plastic water bottles.
- Donate bars of soap to shelters and homes for the needy during this pandemic so they have supplies with which to wash their hands.
- Check out the mammoth list of Nestles’ products listed in the following link and Boycott as many Nestles’ products as you are able. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestlé_brands
- Find an advocacy group in your area for clean and safe water and see how you can join them in their work.
- Watch the excellent PBS documentary, H2O: The Molecule That Made Us. The film dramatically reveals how water underpins every aspect of our existence. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/molecule-that-made-us/
- Read the following short article to see what one Christian reflection group is doing to try to work together for water justice (https://icjs.org/water-justice-chr/). Consider how you might form a similar group via technology.
Post Type:
Attachments:
