TEMA #3
What is water?
Water is a chemical combination of oxygen and hydrogen. Water is not simply water. Because water is transparent, but water is blue. Water is tasteless. Cucumbers consist of ninety-seven percent of water, humans of seventy. Water is basic nutrition and essential condition. Water is a state. The state of water is no state. Water is motion, is flow, is whirl, wave and fall. Still waters run deep. Water is precious and yet it is in danger. Too much water is dangerous. Too little is worse. Water is a habitat, constantly shrinking. Water is a human right. Unfortunately not. Water is private. Water is contested. Water is a commodity because water is finite. Water is vital and it is essential. And far too often, water is taken for granted. Water is ice, snow and rain. Water is a strain. Water is death and water is life.
In this issue, TEMA wants to research, not only what role water currently plays in our lives, but also what we can do to revive our relationship to H2O, in order to distribute this scarce but essential resource fairly, between humans, animals and nature.
gallery
Picture water.
What is water? See possible answers in the gallery.
Planting mangroves for healthy oceans - an interview with Salzwasser e.V.
Salzwasser e.V. was founded in July 2020 and has since been committed to the sustainable protection of marine ecosystems. TEMA talked to three of the founding members Valeria, Carlotta and Lennart about their motivation, their work so far and their visions.
Water means empowerment - but only if we build more than wells
Water is a vital source of life. But how do we get water? For most of us, the answer might seem simple: just turn on the tap. But for billions of people around the world, the answer is not that simple.
About the connection between water and the climate crisis
"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.”
i am learning to swim.*
in the deep waters my ancestors flooded the world with, i am learning to dive.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the ongoing violation of human rights through water control
The right to water is a human right, but unfortunately not for all.
Jumping into cold waters
I slowly let myself slide into the water, loudly gasping for air straight away. The cold water presses on my lungs, my skin feels painfully numb. But at the same time, an invigorating surge of energy shoots through my whole body, activating it.
Words of water
For so many of us, water can feel like a religious initiation, a baptism of some sort. Whether it is when we walk under the pouring rain, when we jump into the warm ocean or when we sit inside, staring at the window as the falling water cleanses the city.
Who owns the water?
His stories impressed me. I had never thought about water like that at the time. It made me realise that it is crucial for the prosperity of a society how access to water is regulated. Water is our elixir of life.