Today was one of those days where I just felt like I was living inside a glass bowl watching everything around me get weirder and weirder. Even the completely normal things seemed strange to me today! I don't really know how to explain it all, well, I CAN'T explain it all, so I'll just list everything:
A woman sitting angrily at a picnic table (don't ask me why, but she just looked angry)
A mother carrying a toddler (maybe around Mira's age) in a sling and also carrying flowers
A remarkably overweight woman walking with a utility cart FULL of empty garbage bags
News reports of an earthquake felt from Atlanta to Boston and originating in Virginia near a nuclear plant
News reports of yet another mob outbreak
News reports of an earthquake about to hit the lower East coast
I would also like to say that I don't usually watch the news, but it was somehow inevitable today as
it was on everywhere I went - and I only committed to watching an accumulative 10-15min total.
A grocery clerk asking me if I knew I picked up organic broccoli and then scoffing at me when it rang up at 3.99 for the bunch
6 different cars pull in to 6 different parking lots, park, immediately pull out, turn around and go back out (okay, I was one of those, but even still; 5 is a lot of that to see in one afternoon)
My phone giving error messages that consisted of one single ! and then the OK button (never seen that one before)
Later, at dinner, discussion moved on to an environmental discussion about the world water shortage (seriously people, it is beginning) and how desertification is becoming a reality in many places the world over:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/issues/desertification.htm
and also see:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/us-desert-50-years.htm
I was surprised to be explaining that yes, there really is a threat to our water sources. The entire world is facing a potential disastrous water shortage. I wasn't surprised because it's something that everyone knows, I can face the facts, and the facts are that very few people know or understand this. I was surprised because I honestly thought this particular person already knew... I'm really happy it came up! It's the kind of thing people just don't understand when they can't relate it to their every day lives and their ability to just go to the tap and turn on the faucet. But it is a real threat, mostly due to pollution, drainage without replenishment and pollution. Yeah, I said pollution twice because it is such a big problem: once you put certain things in the water, you can't get just water back!
There are lots of resources out there in modern society bringing it up: a children's cartoon called Rango, National Geographic printed an entire issue related directly to water shortage and pollution, I've seen documentaries, and even news reports and commercials.
Unfortunately it's like my good friend Mac says: "People don't care or pay attention until their hair is on fire"
Hmmmm
So yeah, today was indeed a strange day.
I hope you were enjoying your day wherever you were today. I hope you were noticing all the weirder than normal stuff going on around you too.
Atmospheric water generator. We're researching them now.
ReplyDeleteThey say the water is about like distilled water, which it is, in a way I suppose, having been condensed from the atmosphere.
Search the term "water from air" or "atmospheric water generator.
Might not want it for filling swimming pools, but I understand most of them will generate a few to several gallons a day, which is enough to survive on.