As the meme above shows, “Everything Is Water” is a common misquote attributed to the pre-Socratic philosopher, Thales of Miletus. However, it does come close to capturing the essence of his hypothesis. Thales is famous as both the first philosopher and the first Westerner to move away from myth and begin to explain the world in more scientific terms, known as natural philosophy at that time. And, as a natural philosopher, he began to search for the first principle – the material substance that underlies all things within the universe. David Pierce quotes Aristotle’s musings on Thales and other pre-Socratic philosophers in Thales of Miletus: Sources and Interpretations:

Of the first philosophers, then, most thought the principles which were of the nature of matter were the only principles of all things…That of which all things that are consist, the first from which they come to be, the last into which they are resolved (the substance remaining, but changing in its modifications), this they say is the element and this the principle of things…, and therefore they think nothing is either generated or destroyed, since this sort of entity is always conserved… (p.62)

For Thales, the first principle was water. 

     Though we now consider the atom the basic building block of the universe, one could forgive Thales for concluding it to be water while observing his environment. After all, seventy-one percent of Earth is covered by water, and it is a necessary requirement for life. (This is why we search for signs of water on other planets to determine if they may harbor life.) Our own bodies are composed of over sixty percent water and will cease to function if we go without water for just three days. Additionally, Thales may have observed parts of the Earth’s water cycle while coming to his conclusion; for example, he could have noticed how the clouds dump snow and ice in the highlands that melt into streams that run into rivers that meet the sea. Even without knowing the full complexity of the Earth’s water cycle and the human relationship with it, Thales deduced the importance of water, though perhaps taking it a bit too far. 

     However, the importance of the hydrologic cycle – the water cycle – is hard to overstate when it comes to life on Earth. The hydrologic cycle is the circulation of water from oceans to the atmosphere and back to the oceans, often by way of the land. It is powered by the opposing forces of the Sun and gravity, and, therefore, never stops. The same water molecules continuously move through this system by various evaporative or condensative processes. Though the amount of water on Earth remains the same due to the atmosphere, its distribution can vary across different states (liquid, gas, solid) and locations (oceans, groundwater, glaciers, lakes, etc.). And, this last fact is where issues can arise. 

     Anthropogenic — human-induced — stresses can drive these changes in the states and locations of Earth’s water, sometimes with disastrous consequences to life on our planet. Probably the most wide-reaching anthropogenic stress on the hydrologic cycle is climate change; as the planet warms due to a rise in heat-trapping, or greenhouse, gases such as carbon dioxide (CO²), many changes are occurring within the water cycle. One example that most people have been made aware of in recent years is the devastating flooding effects of sea level rise due to the melting of glaciers and ice caps. As the water trapped in the ice moves from its solid state on land to a liquid state that runs off into the oceans, it adds to the oceans’ volume causing them to inundate coastal lands. This can lead to land, home, and job losses, forced migration of people and animals, and, in the worst-case scenarios, deaths from flooding. Another example is found in the rise of extreme droughts and wildfires around the world. As global temperatures continue to rise, increased evaporation and transpiration rates affect land, trees, and plants creating a much dryer environment that is much more susceptible to fire. In addition to more forest fires, this increase in evaporative effects can also lead, paradoxically, to storms that produce more precipitation (both rain and snow) and excess water vapor being trapped in the atmosphere to drive further greenhouse effects. 

     A more hands-on example of anthropogenic stress on the water cycle is groundwater overdraft problems. Humans pull up groundwater for consumption or agricultural uses, and it eventually makes its way back to the sea. However, groundwater is a finite resource. Though it is technically a renewable resource, it renews slowly. And, if groundwater is depleted at an unsustainable rate, as it is in many areas, it can become non-renewable. Groundwater depletion has many consequences, such as: lowering of the water table which leads to dried-up wells and the reduction of surface waters (lakes, rivers, streams), deterioration of water quality from saltwater intrusion, and land subsidence which can lead to higher flood susceptibility and structural issues of buildings on the subsided land. One extreme example of land subsidence due to groundwater depletion can be found in the San Joaquin Valley in California where the land subsided nine meters (29.5 feet) from 1925 to 1977. (picture below) The groundwater in this area was used for both agricultural and urban purposes. In the United States groundwater is the primary source of drinking water for over fifty percent of the population.

     Understanding how humans affect the distribution of Earth’s water is important, especially when we learn that only two-and-a-half percent of the planet’s water is fresh and drinkable. The rest of the water on Earth is salt water. Furthermore, of the two-and-a-half percent that is freshwater, almost seventy percent of that is trapped in glaciers and ice caps. Groundwater makes up just over thirty percent of freshwater, and surface waters account for most of the rest of the freshwater on Earth. However, seventy-three percent of surface water is also trapped in ice and snow. The rest is found mostly in lakes, but also rivers, streams, swamps, marshes, and over three percent of freshwater takes the form of soil moisture. So, we can see how the depletion of freshwater sources, such as groundwater, could be catastrophic. Additionally, there is yet another set of problems that arise from dumping freshwater from glaciers and ice caps into the saltwater oceans. (I cannot fully address these here; but, it is important to note that the movement of our ocean ‘conveyor belt’ currents depends on a delicate blending of freshwater from the poles.) Suffice it to say, that the balance of our planet’s hydrologic system is vital to our survival, and we must pay heed to how we are affecting that balance. 

     Even my water source, the Duck River in Tennessee, is in peril due to historic drought conditions and the high demands of the increasing population over the past 10 years. And, it is not just the local human population that will suffer. In an article from the Southern Environmental Law Center, the issue was explained: 

In order to keep up with Middle Tennessee’s rapid and unprecedented growth, eight water utilities have applied to drastically increase the amount of water they pull from the Duck River. Altogether, the proposals would allow an additional 19 million gallons of water—the equivalent of more than 28 Olympic-sized swimming pools—to be pumped from the river each day, an increase of more than 35 percent. 

The massive increase in water withdrawals threatens the health of the incredible river, puts its world-class wildlife at risk, and landed the Duck River on a list of ‘most endangered’ rivers in the U.S.

“Even though the Duck River contains an enormous diversity of aquatic wildlife—including dozens of species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act—the river itself is just not that large,” said SELC Staff Attorney Stephanie Biggs. “So it’s critical that we make sure everyone who uses the river does so in a responsible and sustainable way.” 

     Lastly, we must consider the ethical implications of how our actions may affect the future of water on this planet. Everything from the availability of drinking or irrigation water around the world to entire states and countries being inundated by ocean waters will be affected by the decisions we make today. What do we owe our planetary neighbors now? What do we owe our children’s and grandchildren’s generations? How does the knowledge of how our actions may affect the future affect us? These are the questions that environmental philosophers grapple with and that we will address throughout this blog. For now, I would like to introduce the concept of Indigenous Knowledge; as the National Park Service defines,

Indigenous Knowledge is a body of observations, oral and written knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed by Tribes and Indigenous Peoples through interaction and experience with the environment. It is applied to phenomena across biological, physical, social, cultural, and spiritual systems. Indigenous Knowledge can be developed over millennia, continues to develop, and includes understanding based on evidence acquired through direct contact with the environment and long-term experiences, as well as extensive observations, lessons, and skills passed from generation to generation.

In the following video, Dr. Kelsey Leonard of the Shinnecock Nation speaks about how she was taught to regard water.