Angels and Assholes #7...2016: Are We Abusing Our Primary Angels?

What are the most important ‘angels’ in our lives? Maybe the ones that keep us alive? I’ll toss out there: sunlight, water, and time. There is one thing the philosophers way back suggested we all WANT: happiness. And here in the U.S. we’re even guaranteed the pursuit of it. But what we NEED to even be in pursuit are our three primary angels. As we grow older we realize more poignantly that we are running out of time. Time for us is not limitless. How we use our time has a lot to do, naturally, with what we want: how happy we are, how healthy, and thus how much of it we have.

We take sunlight pretty much for granted in our lives, and we can be complacent. The future, although, what with air pollution, the ozone layer, etc., is a little hazy.

Water, on the other hand, we cannot be complacent about. We cannot live without water! Can live without money and nice lawns…but not without water. Here in Minnesota, known for its lakes, the only ones not permanently polluted are in the northeast – the Arrowhead. And they are trying to pollute these, currently, with sulfide and ‘heavy metals.’ More on mining later. Lakes are important for what I want: happiness. Why I live on (now possible endangered) pristine Lake Vermilion. But what I need and currently have is pure, not chemically treated drinking water. The current crisis in Flint, Michigan, is dramatically bringing to our attention the importance of our drinking water. Aquafers are drying up. Even in water-rich Minnesota, aquafers are severely being polluted. We should be coming aware that we do not have a limitless supply of safe drinking water. 

Two things that scare me: First, compounding. When a problem (or anything) grows, the momentum makes it grow exponentially faster.

Second: a hedge fund manager is buying water rights! Owning the rights to water is a frightening thought to me. There is another side: If people had to pay more for water, would they conserve? BUT, a capitalist-oriented person or company controlling water just sounds like trouble. It just ain’t right.