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In this episode, Dani talks about our Water, how she's being used and abused, and what we can do about it.
For links and recommendations, see full episode notes.
Dani is honest and refreshing in her takes on the world and society. Listen as she explains how she’s come to understand the world through kindness, both towards ourselves and everything else.
[0:00] Hello friends! Welcome to Understanding Kindness, a podcast hosted by me, Dani! I’m someone who approaches life by learning from everyone around me, and I’ve decided to write it all down and talk about it here with you. I’ve learned that in order to create change in this world, we need to understand ourselves and the world around us, all while infusing kindness into everything we do. If I can do it, you can do it, and we can do it together. Welcome to Understanding Kindness.
[0:30] Hey friends! Today I wanna talk about someone I mentioned last episode. She is all of our beginnings, she is Life, she teaches us to take the easiest way, she is Water. I’ve been wanting to do an episode on Water since I started this podcast. I had originally wanted the first episode to be about Water, but at the time I wasn’t sure how to do her justice. I now feel that I’ve gained enough knowledge and wisdom to at least have enough to talk about and give Water the representation and attention she deserves. Let’s dive in, shall we?
[1:11] In today’s Native segment I want to highlight a resource that I’ve found extremely helpful and entertaining over the past year or so. That resource is It’s Going Down. I’ve mentioned IGD on multiple occasions, mostly in podcast form, but they are so much more. According to their website, IGD is a “digital community center for anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements across so-called North America. [Their] mission is to provide a resilient platform to publicize and promote revolutionary theory and action.” IGD’s main goal is to uphold the values of autonomy, self-organization, solidarity, and mutual aid while highlighting organizing towards liberation and furthering revolutionary action. Not only does IGD produce two podcasts, one called the IGDcast that hosts interviews and other discussions, the other called This Is America on news roundups and political analysis, but they also have a local radio show broadcast in Northern and Central California called the IGDshow which also hosts interviews and discussions. All shows cover topics from an anarchist perspective and offer alternative analysis to the far-Right and neo-liberal center that is so prominent in our media today.
In addition to their radio and podcast shows, IGD creates a number of columns focusing on topics like political prisoners, trans identity, anti-fascism, Community organizing, far-Right and state repression, the intersections of wealth and power, and many more. These come out at varying times throughout the year and sometimes only when the author(s) have something to write about. I’m not as familiar with these columns as I’ve mostly only listened to the podcasts so far, but I am eager to read these perspectives soon.
If regular and sporadic columns weren’t enough, IGD also has a huge library of articles and zines on a whole host of topics that IGD listeners and readers may find interesting. I’ve dipped my toe into a couple of these zines and have found them enlightening and encouraging. I’m currently reading through “The Kuwasi Balagoon Liberation School Reader” which furthers “understanding of revolutionary history and theory”. It’s a long read, but definitely worth it. In fact, I think their whole platform is worth it, whether that be a read or a listen. The platform continues to provide fire content that inspires, enrages, and enlightens readers and listeners while also analyzing our current situation from a perspective that isn’t highlighted in most news platforms today. If you’re looking for an alternative to far-Right or neo-liberal center politics and analysis, It’s Going Down is a fantastic resource. I’ll link their website in the episode notes.
[4:14] {Singing} *Shooouuuuut-Ooooouuuutttttsssssss*
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[4:36] So, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention upfront the podcast episode that sparked my desire to do this episode today. I just found and began listening to a podcast called Warrior Life whose main audience, I believe, are Natives. The show is about decolonizing yourself and revitalizing Native cultures and lifestyles; the second episode is titled, “Water is Life”. So after listening to that episode I felt inspired to do my long-awaited episode on Water. That episode gives some Indigenous wisdom and science about Water and today I’d like to discuss that a bit, but also get into some issues currently surrounding Water, and what we can do about them.
[5:17] As I mentioned in the episode introduction, Water is our beginning, she is Life. Without Water we wouldn’t be here. Our bodies and Earth are mostly made of Water and neither of us would be able to function without her. Water allows our bodies to function properly and many ailments that we deal with can be solved by simply drinking more Water. Drinking more Water can help our digestive systems, it can help wounds heal faster, it can get us thinking more clearly and more creatively, it can subside a hunger feeling that may just mean we’re dehydrated, it can help our immune systems. Pam Palmater, the host of Warrior Life, mentioned that she would always tell her kids to drink Water whenever they came to her with an issue. And that’s a great place to start considering Water is such a healer!
[6:09] I try to drink Water whenever I’m feeling sick or I get hurt, even when I feel like I don’t know what to do. Drinking Water can help get those creative juices flowing and spark some thought and creativity. I’m someone who eats throughout the day and sometimes I’m not sure if I’m actually hungry or not, so many times I’ll start by drinking some Water to see if I was really just dehydrated. Even if I do still feel hungry after having some Water, it always helps to stay hydrated! And I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have Water whenever I need it, and that’s mostly because of the place I live. Not all of us have the now-luxury of fresh, clean drinking Water, and that’s a desperate situation because not only does this affect some of us, but soon this will affect us all.
[7:00] So-called Flint, Michigan made global news when lead and bacteria were found in the town’s drinking Water. The source was found to be pipes that were leaching the lead into the Water, and the bacteria was leading to cases of Legionnaire’s disease, a type of pneumonia. This crisis in so-called Flint had led to 100,000 People not being able to use the Water that flows from their taps. The Citizens of Flint had to buy bottled Water for years because they were unable to drink, bathe, cook, or clean with the Water that the city would continue to ignore the contamination of. I’m not sure if you’ve ever bought cases of bottled Water, but that shit can be expensive, and not to mention the amount of waste it produces.
[7:44] Perhaps you’ve heard of nestle, they make things like chocolate, ice cream, food, drinks, pet food, coffee, and bottled Water. They are the largest food company in the world and sell their products for seemingly pretty cheaply because of the practices they play into to source their products. According to the Food Empowerment Project, their cocoa, for instance, is grown and picked using child labor in the Republic of the Ivory Coast in Africa. And the Water used in their bottled Water is essentially stolen from millions because they buy up public Water and charge 2000x more to sell it in their plastic bottles (thank you to The Story of Stuff for this info on nestle’s Water practices).
[8:31] Nestle would love you to believe that their bottled product is safer and cleaner than your tap Water, but studies have shown that it is not. In fact, their bottled Water contains microplastics that get ingested by the drinker whenever they drink from one of nestle’s plastic bottles. Our tap Water in the so-called US is closely monitored and, unless it’s been contaminated, is completely safe to drink. I’d say much safer than consuming plastic. There are activists around the world fighting against nestle and its privatization of Water so that People can continue to freely drink from their taps and their public-owned Water sources, rather than from extremely expensive plastic-contaminated bottles of Water.
[9:15] And this brings me to the next point: privatization of Water. The private sector in the so-called United States is used to help balance the power that the government holds over the People, at least in theory. Over the decades the US government has strived to cut costs wherever possible, including in Water budgets…kind of like a private company. The federal government has been giving less and less funds to individual cities, resulting in decaying and corroding infrastructure which can make Water unsafe to use. To repair all this infrastructure costs millions of dollars because they are intricate and massive systems. This is where the private sector comes in.
[10:00] When a city is unable to afford the costs of fixing the infrastructure, many times a private corporation will swoop in and promise to repair pipes and cut costs. Unfortunately, and predictably, this is very rarely how things go. Perhaps the corporation will fix the infrastructure, but they actually do not lower costs. According to The Story of Stuff’s video called “The Story of Water”, when private corporations take over a city’s Water, prices increase by an average of 59%, making Water extremely unaffordable for many People. Of course, many does not mean all. Higher-income households tend to be able to afford the increases, while lower-income households are the ones who feel the brunt of the burden. This leads to even more inequality.
[10:51] And speaking of inequality, there are specific reasons why inequality continues and why Black, brown, and Indigenous People are the ones who usually get the short end of the stick. Development or lack of repairs to infrastructure that lead to contamination of Water are almost always in neighborhoods and areas of color. So-called Flint is a mostly Black city and about 40% of its residents are living below the poverty line. On O’ahu in Hawai’i citizens are currently facing a Water crisis as well. O’ahu’s population is almost 80% BIPOC. Currently, the Water in Red Hill, where the Pearl Harbor Navy Base is located, smells like fuel and has been found to have chemical contaminants. The fact that this is happening at the Pearl Harbor Navy Base is not a coincidence either.
[11:41] The public has been speculating that the contamination is coming from the US Navy fuel tanks for decades, and these fuel tanks are stored over an aquifer in Red Hill. These tanks are at least 75 years old and have been poorly maintained by the US Navy. The tanks are corroding and leaking jet fuel into Water that supplies 25% of O’ahu. Instead of addressing the problem directly, the US Navy has decided that gaslighting residents and attempting to cover up their massive negligence is the way they’ll go. The residents on O’ahu are experiencing a Water crisis right now and the only way to begin addressing the crisis is by removing the fuel tanks immediately. The US Navy needs to take responsibility and clean up their mess, or they will continue to cause harm to over 250,000 People.
[12:34] This over-aquifer development is not uncommon and industry in general is to blame for a lot of harm caused to our Water. Industry is the number one source of Water use, period. Whether that’s the mining industry, the restaurant industry, the farming industry, manufacturing industry, the military industrial complex, the list goes on and on and it’s easy to see how widespread industry is and how much Water they actually use. Farming alone has depleted groundwater across the country, resulting in 300 feet of Water depletion in some areas (thanks for that info, USGS). And guess what other industry adds to contamination and depletion of Water; it’s one I’ve mentioned numerous times on multiple Native segments on this show: it’s the pipeline industry! They strike again.
[13:28] As you might be aware from previous Native segments, not only do pipelines and their construction use loads of Water just to operate, but they always leak and contaminate Water sources along their paths. Line 3 alone passes through over 200 bodies of Water, including the Mississippi River twice, who supplies Water to 18 million People along her route. Line 3 alone during its construction spilled drilling fluid 28 times at 12 River crossings this past summer. If, or I should say when, Line 3 leaks there’s a good chance that it will leak into the Mississippi River and cause a crisis for many more People than even the Flint or O’ahu crises. And that’s just one pipeline! There are at least 10 pipelines or expansions across Turtle Island – a crisis is coming for all of us sooner or later if we don’t stop using our Water like a resource.
[14:29] So what can we do? Personally, I would start with actually being grateful for our Water. Like I mentioned earlier, Water does so much for us; we literally wouldn’t be here without her. It’s about time we remembered to give her the attention and gratitude she deserves. Maybe try a gratitude meditation on Water, maybe just try stopping before you take a drink to acknowledge how amazing it is to drink fresh, clean Water that literally keeps you alive. It needs to start with us, internally. We need to really understand how important Water is to our Lives, and how life-threatening these Water contamination crises are.
[15:15] When Water crises like the ones in so-called Flint, Michigan or on O’ahu in Hawai’i occur we can begin screaming our outrage at the Lives being affected like they’re our own, because again, one day they will be if we don’t do something now. Amplify the voices and stories of those affected. If you’d like some up-to-date info on the current crisis on O’ahu, try following @mmiwhoismissing on instagram; that’s where I’ve been getting my latest information, or listening to the Total Liberation podcast episode 77 called “Water is Life: The US War Machine Poisons Hawaii”. Currently, locals in Hawai’i are asking that People hold the US Navy accountable for their contamination of the Water; they want the fuel tanks safely drained and removed from above their aquifer. So call them out, put pressure on them, tell them you won’t stand for negligence and abuse.
[16:14] If yours or a city near yours is facing Water privatization, fight against it as much as you can. Talk with your Community members about the scary realities of privatizing Water. “The Story of Water” is really a great little video that explains those realities further; it’s linked in the episode notes for you to watch and share. You can boycott nestle products if that’s feasible for you and tell others about it as well; I’ll link The Story of Stuff’s video on that topic in the episode notes too. And hey, even if a city you hear about facing Water privatization isn’t near you, let those locals know about how privatization will affect them by sharing those videos.
[16:55] And I know y’all know some things we can do to stop pipelines and resource extraction. Find out about the frontline resistance closest to you and do what you can to support the mostly and firstly Indigenous Communities fighting for us all. If you can’t get out to the camps to resist on the frontlines yourself, shout it from the rooftops that these Water and Land Protectors need our help. Many times, frontline Communities will share their own specific ways to help. You can check out StopLine3.org if you’re anywhere near so-called Minnesota in the US, or TinyHouseWarriors.com and Secwepemculecw.org if you’re anywhere near so-called British Columbia or so-called Alberta in Canada, and if you’re near so-called Michigan in the US learn about the Line 5 resistance by listening to It’s Going Down’s “This is America #151”.
[17:46] To learn about how you may be helping to fund these projects of Water and resource extraction, check out MazaskaTalks.org. There they’ll explain how pipeline and resource extraction projects get their funding from big banks, and how you can divest yourself and your Community from them to show that you will not stand for this harm.
[18:06] Let’s round out with discussing what Water can teach us. I mentioned this briefly last episode and feel that it deserves a bit of reiteration. Water always takes the easiest path. She flows seamlessly across the Land, always taking the path of least resistance – and look at what she creates for herself! Incredible Rivers, Streams, Ponds, Marshes, Lakes, Creeks, Oceans. She creates entire ecosystems where Life thrives for millennia, and she’s provided Life since time immemorial. She is one of our greatest teachers.
[18:51] I know it seems like a lot, and I’m not necessarily asking that you do all of these things. I know it’s overwhelming, trust me I’ve felt the same way many times before. We must start somewhere though, or else we’ll go nowhere. I want there to be somewhere to go, I want a future for my niblings (that’s gender-neutral nieces and nephews), I want a future for my cousins’ children’s children, I want a future for Life. So I start somewhere. I start with understanding how important Water is to my Life and all Life. I start with really appreciating how integral she is in our Lives. Then I start learning what I can do to help, whatever little thing I can do right now to put a drop in the bucket, and then I keep going, I keep learning, and I keep doing.
[19:53] Water has so much to teach us. She never stops going and teaching, and that in itself is a lesson. We must continue to continue on, finding the path that will lead us where we want to go in the simplest way possible. We must be loud like Water roaring down a River or a Waterfall, screaming at the top of our lungs how important this struggle is, how important our Water is.
[20:20] We need as many voices and as many bodies as possible fighting for our Water, fighting for our Lives. You can help in the fight to end colonial extraction from our Mother Earth and our Water. There are Warriors who have been in the fight since the war began and have incredible knowledge and wisdom to teach us how to resist. We must listen. We must take action. We can all do it, together.
[20:48] {Singing} *Recommendaaaationsssss*
So, for today’s recommendations, I first want to recommend that we understand and appreciate our Water. Give her the gratitude and attention she deserves, for you wouldn’t be here without her.
Then, we’ve got some resources for learning more about Water and how to help fight in the resistance of “resource extraction”. Our first resources are the @mmiwhoismissing instagram account and Total Liberation’s episode 77 “Water is Life: The US War Machine Poisons Hawaii” to learn about the current Water crisis on O’ahu in Hawai’i. Then, The Story of Stuff’s videos called “The Story of Water” and “5 Things Nestle Doesn’t Want You to Know” for some info on Water privatization. Next, some ways to learn about pipeline resistance near you by visiting StopLine3.org, TinyHouseWarriors.com and Secwepemculecw.org, and It’s Going Down’s podcast episode “This is America #151”. If you’d like to learn how you can divest yourself and your Community from funding these projects, visit MazaskaTalks.org
And if you’d like to listen to the episode that inspired this one, check out the Warrior Life podcast, specifically episode 2 called, “Water is Life”.
Lastly, for a resource on anarchist, anti-fascist, and autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial analysis and news, check out It’s Going Down. They’ve got columns, podcasts, a radio show, and an entire library to source your understanding of revolutionary theory and action.
All of these will be linked in the episode notes.
[22:36] If you enjoyed this episode, help support the podcast! All this content is free and I’d love to make it my job one day, so if you’re financially able join our patreon or send a one-time or recurring donation through paypal! You can also share an episode with family or friends, and give UK a kind rating and review!
Check out UnderstandingKindness.com for all episodes, transcripts, and blog posts. And why not take a listen to my other podcast, Better When Awkward, co-hosted by my childhood best friend Jasmine!
Get in touch with me by emailing UnderstandingKindness@protonmail.com, or through social media. You can find all links in the episode notes.
For now, be kind, be compassionate, be understanding, and question everything. I’ll be here. Thank you for listening to this episode of Understanding Kindness. [End transcript]