Environment

I wonder what the world was like on the eve of its greatest invention - the wheel? Was it poised breathless, knowing that human life was about to change dramatically and forever? We should be breathless in the same way now - we should also be poised on the brink of another invention that will change our world, and us, dramatically and forever. We will recognize the invention when it arrives - we have been waiting for it, we are ready for it, and we know exactly what to do with it, just as our ancestors knew instinctively how to put the wheel to work. There will be no dithering.

The invention, quite simply, will be a substitute for water. I grew up on the continent of Africa, which no longer has water. It had plenty when I was young. We played in it, swam in it, wasted it, let the faucet run, washed the family car with the hose pipe and watered the garden mercilessly. We built buildings in huge reflecting pools and scattered public fountains around our town. Today, Africa is a continent of dust, civil war, fly-infested children with swollen bellies, with no water to waste and no water to drink. There is a new name for water - it is being called "Blue Gold." It has acquired commercial value. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization, more than 1 billion people, or about a sixth of the earth's population, lack access to a healthy water supply. 200 million people around the world are infected with schistosomiasis, a disease which comes from drinking contaminated water and destroys the human organs.

Can you imagine living in a residence that has no water connection? I was shattered to read that only 20% of the world's residences have running water. In China, two thirds of the cities have a dearth of water. The aquifers in India are reportedly running dry and in many developing countries, wars are being fought over the precious resource which we take for granted in the western world. There is little fresh water on the earth today, meaning that all water has already been used and recycled. We cannot manufacture "new" water, other than by our puny efforts at desalinating. The amount of sweet water on the earth is the same quantity as it always has been and it is the human population that has changed and brought about the shortages.