Clearly, we need to rethink our attitudes about water and move away from thinking of it as nearly a free good and a God-given right.
Interpretation
We need to change our perspective on water, viewing it as a valuable resource rather than an unlimited gift.
This quote by Norman Borlaug emphasizes the importance of reevaluating our relationship with water. It suggests that we should recognize water as a precious resource that requires careful management, rather than assuming it is an inexhaustible free good that is naturally provided to us by nature.
In practice
In a presentation on environmental awareness, one might quote Borlaug to stress the necessity of sustainable water management.
During the past three years spectacular progress has been made in increasing wheat, rice, and maize production in several of the most populous developing countries of southern Asia, where widespread famine appeared inevitable only five years ago
We must recognize the fact that adequate food is only the first requisite for life. For a decent and humane life, we must also provide an opportunity for good education, remunerative employment, comfortable housing, good clothing, and effective and compassionate medical care.
We are 6.6 billion people now. We can only feed 4 billion. I don't see 2 billion volunteers to disappear.
Nevertheless, the number of farmers, small as well as large, who are adopting the new seeds and new technology is increasing very rapidly, and the increase in numbers during the past three years has been phenomenal.
Africa needs roads. Roads bring know-how and fertilizer to farmers and ideas and business for commerce.
This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people. Without fertilizer, forget it. The game is over.
My heart is in a world of water and crystal, My clothes are damp in this time of spring rains.
People are beginning to realize that we need to live in accordance with the law of ecology, the law of finite resources, and if we don't, we're going to go extinct.
It is in man's heart that the life of nature's spectacle exists; to see it, one must feel it.
For humans, the Arctic is a harshly inhospitable place, but the conditions there are precisely what polar bears require to survive - and thrive. 'Harsh' to us is 'home' for them. Take away the ice and snow, increase the temperature by even a little, and the realm that makes their lives possible literally melts away.
For millions of Americans, climate change is no longer just a chart or a graph. It's the smoke on our tongues from massive wildfires. It's the floodwater invading our homes and record-breaking hurricanes and heat waves.
The most amazing lesson in aerodynamics I ever had was the day I climbed a thermal in a glider at the same time as an eagle. I witnessed, close up, effortlessness and lightness combined with strength, precision and determination.
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