Beautifully written, an almost poetic synthesis of water - the current disconnect and the opportunities .
I think the Water as a noun vs a verb is a key insight, something we need to communicate more widely!
Makes me think of Robin Wall Kimmerers book Braiding Sweetgrass. You read it?
There is a chapter on Learning the language of animacy. In which she explains that in the Potawotami language 70% of words are verbs. Words like hill, river, a bay ( and water) are all verbs and they are considered animate. 'We use the same words to address the living world as we use for our family. Because they are our family. '
Semantics matter. By referring to living things as objects, as 'it', they are seen as commodities. By referring to them as animate beings- as he and she - we would treat them very differently.
Glad you like the water metaphor . One hammer as noun is one hammer. As a verb you can hammer a lot with it…… I like kimmerers work. Haven’t read the part about animacy, sounds good
So well said, beautifully written, and incredibly important for all of us to understand. It reminds us that the actions we take can support or harm the this cycle of mutual well-being. Thank you!
Thanks Alpha for this. I’ve shared it with the different African networks that I’m connected to with this cover fyi:
Much information flows in and out of our email inboxes, via our Whatsapp groups and on other social media. A huge flood of it. I’m sure we all have our own ways of assessing and then honing in on what we think will be useful. And we have our favourites, which we always give more time to. Mine include Kirubel’s weekly AFSA digest, I never miss going through that one, and the newsletters/written pieces on water that I get from Alpha Lo.
This latest from Alpha Lo drew me in even more strongly than ever. A beautifully written piece on understanding the ‘nature’ of water. It’s this kind of overall understanding that we need, as we look to the specifics of how to work with the water cycle in each of our own landscapes. He illustrates the ‘noun AND verb’ nature of water very nicely I think. I strongly recommend reading it!
I am wondering what it means that all those western science identifies as beings, from microbes to insects, animals and plants, are each more water than anything else. As @Marijke references, maybe “beings” are/is just water being. People in the current global culture often forget that convenient categories like “an individual” are imprecise and can be quite misleading when describing a system. To lose oneself to a greater whole may be the only way to truly find oneself.
Water as you rightly point out enhances the biological processes including decay for soils and precipitation nucleation, but do we change our ecological mix in placed like Australia that is now dominated by oil intensive water repelling leaf litter due to fire management over the last 65000y? Is it even possible in a warming world? Each fire, controlled burn or natural offers us a chance for a reset or realignment through the reintroduction of more beneficial indigenous species marginalized by man's manipulation through fire. FOFA? economically or ecologically?
Beautifully written, an almost poetic synthesis of water - the current disconnect and the opportunities .
I think the Water as a noun vs a verb is a key insight, something we need to communicate more widely!
Makes me think of Robin Wall Kimmerers book Braiding Sweetgrass. You read it?
There is a chapter on Learning the language of animacy. In which she explains that in the Potawotami language 70% of words are verbs. Words like hill, river, a bay ( and water) are all verbs and they are considered animate. 'We use the same words to address the living world as we use for our family. Because they are our family. '
Semantics matter. By referring to living things as objects, as 'it', they are seen as commodities. By referring to them as animate beings- as he and she - we would treat them very differently.
Glad you like the water metaphor . One hammer as noun is one hammer. As a verb you can hammer a lot with it…… I like kimmerers work. Haven’t read the part about animacy, sounds good
So well said, beautifully written, and incredibly important for all of us to understand. It reminds us that the actions we take can support or harm the this cycle of mutual well-being. Thank you!
Thank you. And I just checked out your wonderful newsletter
Thank YOU!
So grateful for this knowledge. It feels so right!
Thanks Alpha for this. I’ve shared it with the different African networks that I’m connected to with this cover fyi:
Much information flows in and out of our email inboxes, via our Whatsapp groups and on other social media. A huge flood of it. I’m sure we all have our own ways of assessing and then honing in on what we think will be useful. And we have our favourites, which we always give more time to. Mine include Kirubel’s weekly AFSA digest, I never miss going through that one, and the newsletters/written pieces on water that I get from Alpha Lo.
This latest from Alpha Lo drew me in even more strongly than ever. A beautifully written piece on understanding the ‘nature’ of water. It’s this kind of overall understanding that we need, as we look to the specifics of how to work with the water cycle in each of our own landscapes. He illustrates the ‘noun AND verb’ nature of water very nicely I think. I strongly recommend reading it!
Nice thinking !
Great column!
Beautiful essay, Alpha!!
I am wondering what it means that all those western science identifies as beings, from microbes to insects, animals and plants, are each more water than anything else. As @Marijke references, maybe “beings” are/is just water being. People in the current global culture often forget that convenient categories like “an individual” are imprecise and can be quite misleading when describing a system. To lose oneself to a greater whole may be the only way to truly find oneself.
Yeah interesting. A number of spiritual teachers use water metaphors for who we are
Water as you rightly point out enhances the biological processes including decay for soils and precipitation nucleation, but do we change our ecological mix in placed like Australia that is now dominated by oil intensive water repelling leaf litter due to fire management over the last 65000y? Is it even possible in a warming world? Each fire, controlled burn or natural offers us a chance for a reset or realignment through the reintroduction of more beneficial indigenous species marginalized by man's manipulation through fire. FOFA? economically or ecologically?