water ways

I took this picture last month at Grenadier Pond on a bike ride through High Park. My husband thinks it's a small bass. The little guy swam right up to the cement wall of the pond, close enough for me to snap this mugshot.

On another hot summer day last weekend, I went to the same spot and didn't see any fish. What I saw was the water level four inches lower than a month ago.

Disneynature's Oceans nailed it. An extraordinary nature documentary containing unprecedented footage of the world's oceans. See it. It will give you a glimpse of what is goes underwater, on this planet. If it doesn't leave you changed, watch it again.

We've gone to space, only to look back at earth and see how much of it is...water. Our structured ways on land mimic microcosms existing in oceans. We hunt, gather, work, and play, much like creatures of the sea.

Only they are much better managers than we are.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a section of the ocean where currents bring trash to an area estimated (depending on your source) to be the size of Texas. I'm fairly certain the hammerheads, blue whales and sea turtles are wondering (a) what the hell is this enormous pile of floating junk and (b) just how did it get here?

I'm also pretty certain you won't find a 696,200 square km slop of sea sludge (that's Texas sized or, twice the size of Germany) anywhere on earth, any time soon.

But we, an indifferent people, made up of up to 70% water, are allowing this to happen.

If we are running out of it, and if science and technology have come so far, why are we not making water?
If it were only that simple.
It's not.

I like to skydive, a decadent and privaledged pastime, and my view of Lake Erie from 14,000 feet is extensive and expansive. It's one of the smaller of the great fresh water lakes left. I'd stick close by if I were me.

I cycle along Lake Ontario everyday on my way to work and I walk along the boardwalk pictured below. Last week a guy was fishing here, in downtown Toronto. He hauled up a big walleye (I think) that must have been at least six pounds. He got someone to take a picture of him holding it, then tossed it back in the water.

Like him, I wouldn't eat it.

But I'm not hungry.

What does a photo like this do to people desperately lacking in resources?

The drought in the eastern Horn of Africa is being reported as the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation. Here is a link to CARE Canada's blog that I found via an email from Gap Adventures asking for donations to help build two water stations in Kenya.

To learn more or donate, click here.

Sadly, this is only the tip of the (melting) iceberg.