"No matter where you live you should be able to turn on the tap and drink safe water"* - David Boyd
Every day I grow
The importance of the preservation of our enviroment becomes more and more predominant.
To grow up drinking from discovered gurgling creeks,
To feel the cool purity revitalize my young soul,
To bask in the clean beauty of our waters,
I took for granted its safety.
To grow up with the river as my guide, my mentor, my reflector for my inner growth
I learned to listen to the way it laughed and danced
And polished unassuming river stones as it told me of past stories
and taught me humility.
All this time
I took for granted its safety.
It is only now
As my cacoon of security begins to crack
do I realize
This is not every humans relationship to our waters.
Only now do I realize I am blessed to be able to drink from discovered streams, let alone my tap without a second thought
Only now do I realize
Millions of parched souls
have grown with water as an enemy
Wary of the pollutants it carries.
It is treated with caution
Whereas it was once revered.
Water, as a definition is "the basis of the fluids of living organisms"
We are essentially poisening ourselves as well as our earth
with our actions.
It is time to shift as a country, as a nation
To protect our enviroment
to protect our waters
and to protect humanity its self
The right to a healthy enviroment
Is the right to live.
The Blue Dot movement is one that David Suzuki and the David Suzuki Foundation created that is essentially a fight to introduce the right to live in a healthy enviroment to the Canadian Charter of Right and Freedoms. I was asked to be a part of the youth which spoke to our city council as supporters of the blue dot movement and this poem is what I presented. I strongly believe in this movement not only for Canadians but each and every human being on this planet. Look up "what is the Blue Dot Movement?" if you're interested in knowing more.