Guidelines for Water Protectors

In 1987, when I rode my bicycle around the five Great Lakes to talk to people about the ecological catastrophes along their shores and within the watershed, it was from a proactive perspective, focused on real life solutions to the larger issues that face our planet everywhere, I also added a unique layer of experience with specific threats to our part of the planet. The point I made along my many miles, at virtually each stop along the way, was to perfect the art of the give back, or give-away. I frequently mentioned how the very concept of "Think Globally, Act Locally" misses the point entirely. We humans hit overload before we can get to the point of thinking globally. What good are we for ,ocal action if we have already shut down before we can begin the process?
Decades ago, the climate catastophe was not something most people were conversant about and I focused instead on water use, conservation, energy conservation and buying only products in recycleable or reuseable packaging were concrete things one person could to to reduce ecological harm to the environment. As was often said back then, "Until your own house is in order, don't ask others to clean up their mess". This was often used as a way to undermine public sentiment. Keeping our footprint small reduces resource depletion and degradation of the environment in a variety of ways and with a smaller ecological footprint, it becomes easier to rehabilitate our natural world and stem the flow of toxins into the environment.Back then, the concept of Water Protector had not grown up either, but the impetus and the exemplification of the ideas behind the word were being carried out through every fiber of my being, each pulsation of my heart, the entire power of my genetic code is water-based. Every breath I released helped to feed the forests and grasses, farm crops and plants around the freshwater seas. Knowing what your watershed looks like is helpful but not necessary for Water Protectors, but when we feel it, we know it and it speaks to us. I wish there were more of a step one, attain attributes A,B and C, or just a list of things one needs to know, or to bring with them for an outing sort of thing, but what happens is that each of us brings everything we have to the fight for Mother Earth. Each of us does what we can to work for Nature to have rights. We are transformed when we understand we are because she is and cannot understand why anyone would reduce these issues of survival down to Capitalism vs. Nature or jobs vs. clean water and enlist a littany of lawyers in efforts to not have to do the right thing. If you feel it, say something, do something, even if it is just telling your friends how you feel. If you want to make signs, carry them in fromt of local businesses, or government offices, that can help too, but reaching out to your greater community, others who understand the value of clean air and water, perhaps even some who do not yet, we can build the momentum that has been growing in leaps and bounds!