Water, water, everywhere

What young parent has not found themselves wondering what their child will be when they grow up? (Some of us may still be wondering ourselves, “what do I want to be when I grow up?”).  Coding classes, Chinese lessons, Business Skills for youngsters… We’re all trying to second guess the professions of the future. And what parent can entirely resist the temptation to project our own ambitions on our kids? It was about the time we we stood before the blue majesty of the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina, that we wondered, “is there such a thing as professional hydrologist?”. The previous summer, we had stood with the girls admiring what’s left of the Aletsch glacier in Switzerland. Statistics concerning the retreat of South America’s mighty glaciers were even more alarming. While the debate between activists and deniers rages, the world’s biggest insurance companies are quietly shoring up their reserves, anticipating ever more frequent weather related disasters. What can we do to insure ourselves, short of taking out increasingly expensive property and casualty insurance? Knowledge may be the best form of insurance, as a number of schools in the US now seem to acknowledge. California’s deepening drought has prompted the question, should water be taught in the classroom? What’s the water intensity of the way we live? Are there quantum qualities of water that we’re just beginning to understand? How is water scarcity shaping the geopolitical conflicts we’re likely to see in decades to come? Gold is celebrated as the ultimate store of value. Ultimately, which resources are the most valuable? Sunshine, soil and, perhaps above all, clean water. These are the primary resources without which there can be no agriculture, no industry, nor the civilsation we have come to cherish.