If "Water is Life," Water Me, Will You? Nature-Based Solutions (NbS)

What waters you?

"We are the Water... Water is Life for Everything!" (song by Sara Thomsen, "Water is Life," from Song Like a Seed)

When we're overwhelmed, we leak. Inexpressible emotional experiences often take the form of breath-rich exclamations - "AAAHHs" and "OOOHHs" - and Water - tears. When we don't know what to say even with breath-rich exclamations, or how to express something truly profound like joy or loss or pain or confusion or humility or gratitude, we often cry. Tears just erupt from somewhere deep inside us. Water is the surest sign of life. Tears are sacred in this sense, especially because they create soft places within us, and connect us with the most abundant element in the biosphere - Water. Water really is Life - at least for this home planet and all our relations.

St. Louis University's "2025 Summit for Water: Nature-Based Solutions - Science to Policy to Practice" is hosting its spring gathering of research scientists and ambassadors for water conservation to talk about NbS (Nature-Based Solutions) for the good of a biosphere that is, by the way, comprised of mostly water. The whole biosphere swims. 71% of Earth is water. And whatever Terra Firma there is, floats.

Water is Life. At least on Earth. So, it's really important. A Water Summit is a chance to pay attention and to celebrate the flow, right? Well, the health of the world's water is in peril, so the Summit might be a bit of a downer if we're really paying attention.

I might be thoroughly depressed by the grave delineation of woes charted in graph after graph of devastation to our natural water systems (oceanic, riparian, and wetlands) wrought by climate change (affecting severe storm patterns, flooding and drought), toxic waste, microplastics, salination, erosion, and PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination, among others, but I'm not. Certainly, I am overwhelmed by the sheer scope of devastation of our planetary womb-waters, but there's something else.

I'm inspired. I feel hopeful.

When so many concerned, motivated research scientists and NGOs, like The Nature Conservancy, National Great Rivers, the Taylor Geospatial Institute, the Water Institute (SLU), Midwest Climate Collaborative, America's Watershed Initiative, and many others in their affiliated networks come together for information exchange, mutual support, and idea germination, they imitate what Nature does so adroitly when confronted with existential threat. They connect!

I've been listening to geo-physicists, architects, civil engineers, biologists, water conservationists, policy makers, community organizers, students, and grassroots organizers talk about NbS, and what I keep hearing is the refrain of hope, like ocean waves, inevitably crashing ashore. Watering my soul. Inundating me.

What I've been witnessing is a generative confluence of creative ingenuity and biomimetic genius coming together for a planet besieged by water woes. So many droplets conjoining in a tidal wave of active hope (ala Joanna Macy)! There is such notable passion and creative energy for this work that it waters my soul just to be in their company. Here are a couple examples of NbS I heard at the conference:

• Modeling a filtration system on baleen whale oral filtration - inspiring a low-energy kinetic flow system to remove microplastics from waterways

• Partnering with a river - by routine dredging of sediment that is re-deposited as a river island for avian habitat and sustainable ecosystemic health

"Nature-Based Solutions" has been defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as "actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits." (Cohen-Shacham, E., G. Walters, C. Janzen, S. Maginnis, eds. 2016 "Nature-Based Solutions to Address Global Societal Challenges," Gland, Switzerland: IUCN)

Hmm. A bit cumbersome, perhaps? It won't really fit on a business card. Maybe I can help with a bit of word-crafting.

What if NbS had a shorthand version? Something like: "Nature-Based Solutions are applied imitations of Nature's processes for promoting biodiverse ecosystem health." Or - simply - "NbS mirrors Nature for biodiverse, sustainable Life."

Snap. Maybe it could be used as a crib note!

Then, there's the big-picture challenge of Storytelling.

Water is primordial. An archetype. It's embedded in our collective, creative consciousness as a Source, and as a frightening, mysterious abyss. Water is significant in ancient cosmologies and creation stories for this reason.

Keynote speaker, Dr. Todd S. Bridges, University of Georgia Professor from the Institute for Resilience Infrastructure Systems and College of Engineering, spoke of the importance of Storytelling, and the ability to communicate effectively with a wider audience about the "Nature-Human Continuum," with "wild and free-flowing Nature" on one end of the spectrum, and "tamed and conquered Nature" on the other. What I took from this was a challenge.

Storytelling is certainly compelling as a critical component of this work. It's the difference between floating and drowning. Indigenous wisdom is sorely needed, along with potent storytelling, poetry, art, and music. Nature immersive experience and Nature-inspired design might help the posthuman disconnect from Nature and disembodied (virtual) perception. These might serve the Nature-Human interface in ways that perhaps esoteric academic lectures or carefully exposed riparian studies might not. Dr. Bridges referred to E.B. White's Charlotte's Web and Frank Herbert's Dune series in his opening remarks for this reason. Several of the conference speakers showed aerial images of depleted waterways and the surrounding bioregions, contrasted with healthy ecosystems, thriving species of fish and avian-kin rejuvenated by NbS intervention and maintenance. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but really well-crafted words can also help. The poetry of Mary Oliver alone is a testament: "You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves..." (Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese")

There is also that continuum of Nature as "wild and free-flowing" on the one end, and "tamed and conquered" on the other. The dichotomy of "wild" vs. "tamed," "free-flowing" vs. (the militaristic) "conquered" verbiage betrays the need for reappropriation of our languaging and mythological discourse around this topic of the Naturo-Human interface. The terms "tamed" and "conquered" convey a hierarchical embeddedness, a "Great Chain of Being" where humans supersede all life in the biosphere. This perceived dichotomy is at work in our inherited mythology and languaging. Until and unless we address that hierarchical arrangement directly, that somehow humans are "over" or superimposed on the Natural world, we are at a loss for how to shift the paradigm for more-than-human rights associated with deep ecology and the cause of eco-justice. We have been too long in the "conquering" mode. Too long in the "have dominion" and "subdue" mode. Humans will continue to think of "we" primarily as the human "we," and nothing more if we can't locate ourselves in the web of life, not extraneous to the web.

We need a wider web, a wider "WE." We need to shift from anthropocentrism to eco-centrism. If we can embrace this gradual, organic, evolutionary shift - like water shapes rock over centuries - we can morph into humans who serve the good of the whole, not just ourselves.

So, if Water is life, Water me. Douse me. Drench me. WE are all on the verge of being submerged. What can we humans learn from Nature about how we can adapt as one WILD and Watery Life? Sploosh!