do we take for granted the element of water???

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    Do We Take For Granted The Element Of Water???

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    Table of Contents

    1. 'By a waterfall.' H2Oh! The unwanted rise here... the unwanted fall there of the element we mosttake for granted and from whence we came.

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    'By a waterfall.' H2Oh! The unwanted rise here... theunwanted fall there of the element we most take for grantedand from whence we came.

    Author's program note. The first thing scientists engaged in seeking life on other planets look for iswhether there is water there. For without it they know there can be no life... and no species like ours.Water, you see, is the defining element, the sine qua non without which life is not merelyimprobable... but impossible.

    Thus for the incidental music to today's article, I give you the mastery of that aquatic choreographerand tongue-in-cheek provocateur Busby Berkeley (1895-1976), imp, troublemaker, artiste, Americanoriginal , and -- above all -- genius. In 1933 he put his mind of high originality to work crafting forthe film "Footlight Parade" a complex geometric water ballet to the tune of "By a Waterfall," musicby Sammy Fain, lyrics by Irving Kahal.

    It was designed to mesmerize, titillate, enthrall, entrance... it was cheeky, scandalous... just plain funfor those who enjoyed the beach and its unending possibilities for naughtiness -- and an innocencewhich is now long gone from the Great Republic.

    To create this undoubted masterpiece, which had "made in America" stamped all over it, the exigentBerkeley, never one to economize, demanded a 40 x 80 foot swimming pool that filled an entiresound stage. Its walls and floor were glass, and before shooting started 100 chorus girls took twoweeks to practice their exacting routines in it. The actual filming lasted six days and required 20,000gallons of water per minute to be pumped across the set.

    Busby's genius and his innovative use of not just comely young maidens but of cameras did the rest.So instead of filming numbers from set angles, like other, lesser men, he instead set his cameras intomotion on custom built booms and monorails and as necessary, even cutting through the studio roofto get the right shot...for to get his great vision on film for eternity was ever his objective.

    And so stars Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler found themselves "By a waterfall". "Just a windingstream where I can drift and dream...." We have all had this experience, transformed into poetry ifwe were there with our beloved... It is this scenario that is at growing risk worldwide as we learnfrom two sobering reports just released on the subject of the future of water.

    Too little water here.... too much water there.

    March 22, 2012 US intelligence agencies reported that droughts, floods and a lack of fresh watermay cause significant global instability and conflict in the decades dead ahead. The report makesclear that developing countries, already severely challenged, will have to scramble to meet demandfrom exploding populations while dealing with the effects of climate changes.

    This report, reflecting the joint judgement of federal intelligence agencies, concludes that in the nextdecade the risk of water shortages and related issues is minimal, although they assert there will bediscernible tensions between affected states thereby destabilizing national and global food markets.This phase of the matter offers important issues and challenges but not chaos. ..

    ... that, they conclude, begins beyond 2022. Then it begins with a vengeance. Then water becomes aweapon of war, a tool of terrorism and a vehicle for the utmost dislocation, despair, and dismay.Amidst such well founded deductions heralding Armageddon, we are as far as possible from Powelland Keeler at their enchanting waterfall, particularly in South Asia, the Middle East and NorthAfrica where the crisis has already commenced, with far, far worse foreseeable and on its way.

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    The report is based on a classified National Intelligence Estimate on water security which wasrequested by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and was concluded in the fall of 2011. Itsstark conclusion: floods, scarce and poor quality water, worsened by poverty, poor leadership, andweak governments will contribute to acute instability; this in turn could lead to the failure ofnumerous states with massive possibilities for mischief by aggressive regimes like China and byterrorists of every kind; people adept at promising reforms they cannot deliver but which provefertile in the minds of people who have nothing but who see every day what we in the West have...and which they want for themselves, whatever it takes to get it. Thus does the bitter brew of this

    witches' cauldron heat to a boil... its toxic ingredients instability and state failure, exacerbatedregional tensions, and with such distractions, the report concludes, that may prevent them fromworking with the Unites States and our Allies on important policy objectives, thereby furtherimperiling the tenuous lives of millions, each one subject to events they do not control, but whichmost assuredly control them.

    World Water Day, March 22, 2012

    At this year's WWD event, Secretary Clinton unveiled a new US Water Partnership that aims toshare American water management expertise with the rest of the world, calling the findings of thereport disturbing, sobering, a call to action before no action beyond prayer will matter. Thus, the

    conclusion of this timely report:"We judge that as water shortages become more acute beyond the next 10 years, water in sharedbasins will increasingly be used as leverage; the use of water as a weapon or to further terroristobjectives."

    But water will wend its terrible way with us in other grave matters, too...

    4 million to be at flood risk, study says.

    Whilst researchers and policy makers contemplate the serious matters above, others of their ilk havebeen at work on another aspect of the problem, this time expected flooding from rising seas fueledby global warming. Their blunt findings were published March 15, 2012 in the peer-reviewed

    journal "Environmental Research Letter." This report, in the form of two scientific articles, makesalarming reading, asserting as it does projected sea level rise by the year 2100. Nearly 4 millionpeople across the United States, from Los Angeles to much of the East Coast are in the danger zone.

    The cities that have the most people living within three feet of high tide -- the projected sea levelrise by 2100 -- are in Florida, Louisiana, and New York. Boston, Norfolk, Virginia, Charleston,South Carolina, and the capital of the Great Republic itself, Washington, D.C. will be seriouslyaffected with catastrophic results for property and lives.

    What can we do, or are we, too, simply at the mercy of events?

    I believe that God helps those who help themselves... and what we can do here is plain. We must

    keep the feet of our leaders to the fire, reminding them of the necessity to focus on recognizing andsolving these problems. The younger you are the more you must do so, understanding as soon aspossible that you have power, if only you will use it.

    And if each of us will claim our infinitesimal share of these monumental problems and remaindedicated to their solution, we will have won the right to these words:

    "By a waterfall I'm calling you. We can share it all beneath a ceiling of blue. We'll spend a heavenlyday Here where the whispering waters play."

    Go now to any search engine and play this tune... after all, it's your future they're singing about.

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    Resource

    About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a widerange of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home businesstraining, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting,hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online

    Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today.

    Republished with author's permission by Cindy Faidley http://FunEasyHomeBiz.com.

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