Teach your children well: An easy demonstration of the water of life

After I wrote Teaching Kids to Care for God’s Creation, I realized how unconscious I had become in my daily use of water. I could no longer take fresh water for granted. I now think more carefully about how I use this precious life-sustaining gift of Earth. This simple demonstration illustrates the reality of fresh drinking water available for life. Pope Francis says, “Water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and all other life forms." (LS 28)

Here's how you can demonstrate how little of the earth's water is actually available to sustain life:

2 liter bottle = all the water on Earth

50 ml jar = fresh water on Earth

35 ml= water trapped in glaciers

Eye dropper = 1% of water supply left for agriculture, drinking and washing as well as for lakes, rivers and fresh water ecosystems.

Water = life.

--Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark, SSJ, is an ambassador for Catholic Climate Covenant and served as Sustainability Assistant to the President of Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA for the past 11 years.

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