Water Stewardship - March Story

Sometimes, to understand myself, it is helpful to have my words mirrored back to me. This happened today, as a professor in Malaysia quoted the following words from an article I wrote:

”Sometimes, sustainability is perceived as grey austerity – sorting garbage and eating oatmeal – that is not the world we want to create. It is not a world of a ‘return to the Stone Age’ either.

To deeply appreciate that the time we find ourselves in is a time of high volatility, where we can all make the change towards ‘a new world’, is almost mind-blowing. Our individual contributions may be small, but carried out together something new will emerge that nobody could foresee.

To foster a reverent, respectful and poetic approach is a key guideline and wake-up call whenever we revert to ‘easy fixes’ and old practices. Instead, we must attempt to turn our contribution to change into a poetic change. Let it be kind and gentle. Let it be valiant and effective. Let it be generous and embracing. Feed that inner drive towards a more poetic future for water. Not for any other reason than poetry itself.

This is what we want to give to the world, and this is what the world wants to receive – the world of today and the world of our future generations.”

Pernille Ingildsen

Having spent a full Sunday exploring the concept of ’a call’ with a group of high-minded friends, I recognize something again in this quote that also seemed meaningful to the professor in Malaysia. Perhaps because it has a universal human resonance.

When we place ourselves in a certain state, we perceive the world differently. The state can be described, as it is here, as a state of reverence, respectfulness and poetry – other words are applicable, but this is close enough to be recognizable. We may describe it as and experience it as it has always been called: a wake-up call or an awakening. It is as if the usual laws have been lifted and the direction that before was murky becomes clear. We hear our calling and we promise ourselves again not to let it go this time. We experience an ability to be generous and embrace it all – even the difficult parts.

If we couple that sense with our actions – or more precisely perhaps: let our actions spring from that state something new and poetic can occur. If we can let that state guide us in our efforts with water, we have narrowed the gap between water professional and water steward. The sensation of that is: relief, happiness, lightness. We feel that we have been collected again, like a puzzle having found its image again after having lied scattered in a box for so long.

My long-time friend Gustaf Olsson, recently send me this quote:

“Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter.”

Harold Kushner

And seen from an inner perspective that is exactly the movement along which we are trying to move ourselves – through different methods of uncovering this state. The interesting thing is that when we work and create from that state, we stumble upon creating what the world appreciates: ’this is what the world wants to receive’. This is the world we want our children, grandchildren and grand-grand … seven generations down the line to have.

It is difficult to create today because we are in such hurry, we don’t have all the knowledge, we don’t know how to do it right, we are strained for resources …, but it was also difficult to create yesterday and it will be tomorrow. But ’difficult’ is good for our souls. It keeps us awake and non-complacent. Water stewardship is not for those that want to lead a comfortable life, it is not for aggressive over-achievers either. What seems to be required is a stable caring attentive state of mind and then some actual disciplined actions from there.

Background, Water Steward Stories

I am the author of the book 'Water Stewardship". For 2021, I decided to make the insights from the book easier to access. For that purpose I have started narrating short Water Steward Stories. Rather than requiring the commitment of reading a full book, I want to share stories that can be read in a few minutes.

With a water stewardship approach we can contemplate important questions such as: How can we find ways to strengthen our relationship with water? How can we find ways to carry out stewarding actions towards the whole water body – which basically means the whole of nature and humanity?

I believe that if we find ways to become water stewards we will be better off in so many ways – physically, mentally and spiritually. And we will come to live on a earth that is thriving.

You can buy the ’Water Stewardship’ book or download it for free as open acces here: https://www.iwapublishing.com/books/9781789060324/water-stewardship.

I have an idea about connecting people who consider themselves to be water stewards – something like a kind of ”fellowship of water stewards”. I am not sure how to do this practically. But, if you are interested in doing this, please send a message to me via this email: [email protected].

I also greatly appreciate comments and reflections below the article.