Watering Home, Connecting Life, and Cultivating Blue Mind

Images courtesy of Laura Weber

Water is the great connector of all Life, the bloodstream of Earth's hydrosphere. It connects fundamental elements for planetary survival: hydration, healing, nutrition, and growth. In many ways, it's the circulatory system of our Common Home. As my friend, Sara Thomsen sings, "Water is Life!"

"We are the water, sing! ...Water is life for everything!" (Sara Thomsen)

The annual Water Summit at St. Louis University on March 25-26, 2026, featured the concept of "One Health," a holistic framework that recognizes the vital nexus of human, animal, and environmental health. Research scientists and presenters emphasized the need for interdisciplinary and stakeholder collaboration in protecting Earth's hydrosphere. 71% of Earth's surface is Water. We humans are comprised of mostly Water. Every bio-organism in creation relies upon Water for life.

Water, we might concur, is Life in our Common Home. How do we keep Water healthy amidst the onslaught of microplastics, pesticides, and heavy metal contaminates, Bisphenol-As (BPAs), Endocrine Disruptor Chemicals (EDCs), toxic pathogens from wastewater and runoff contaminating our Water reservoirs? The challenges seem daunting.

That's why we need a net as wide as the ocean. Connecting everyone concerned and currently working on the issues, and making sure we resist silo mentality, is crucial. There are so many invested in making the hydrosphere safe and conducive to all Life, including human and more-than-human Life: environmental scientists, conservation organizations, policy-makers, lobbyists, Water quality agencies, aquatic biologists, environmental justice advocates, public land stewards and stakeholders, riparian, wetland and watershed specialists, veterinary epidemiologists, and many, many others who devote their lives and work to Water health. Witness a comprehensive local watershed plan currently undertaken to protect the Hamilton Creek HUC-12 in the Lower Meramec. Communicating across disciplines, readily sharing resources and information, and taking active measures to protect Earth's hydrosphere imitates the way Water works in our planetary ecosystem. Water, the very element necessary to our common survival, functions as a Nature-based solution (NbS) for human-generated threats to our own planetary well-being.

In addition to interdisciplinary research and practice of caring for Earth's hydrosphere, we can all play a part. Ordinary folks not directly engaged in preserving Water quality professionally can serve the mission at home and work every day. Conserving Water (and modelling for others in our spheres of influence!) by mindful practices of intentional and judicial watering, washing, bathing, cleaning, and careful pollutant disposal can all help. Best practices for stormwater management, rain catchments, permeable pavers, rain gardens for bioretention, wet and dry swales, sand and organic filter systems, wetlands, ponds, and buffer zones are just some ideas. Refraining from toxic discharge into storm sewers, including trash and litter, paint, pool chemicals, fertilizers, soaps and cleansers, pet waste, pesticides, motor oil and auto fluids, cooking oil and grease, among others, will help the cause. Volunteer opportunities in our local bioregion to keep waterways clean and healthy are plentiful. Find a Water project and join in the collaborative effort. It feels a lot like a SPLASH, a celebration! It's like being immersed or luxuriating in fresh, clean Water when you feel over-heated or dehydrated!

Another refreshing reason to love and protect the hydrosphere? Water is beneficial for psychological and emotional health. The "Blue Space Effect" is the positive impact for mental health from spending time near or in Water. Pick your favorite: oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, waterfalls, or fountains. It's the difference between being caught in a rampaging flood, or floating on your back in the middle of a serene pool or lake. Feeling flooded with anxiety, deadlines, and overwhelming information-saturation isn't healthy for anyone. Floating is. Resting is. Water is Life.

Consider this: Do you experience stress, anxiety, depression, attention deficit, sleep disorder, restlessness, or inability to be calm, grounded, and relaxed? All these can be significantly reduced by proximity to Blue Space, and by cultivating a "Blue Mind." In a frenetic posthuman context where productivity, information dump, and activity are relentless, Blue Space offers calm, centeredness, and rejuvenation. Blue Mind is a state of feeling relaxed and at peace.

Make a splash. Connect at a deeper level. Water our Common Home. Feeling Blue never felt so good!

Trickle.

Fall.

Flow.

Tumble.

Pool.

Bubble.

Eddy.

Sparkle.

Gurgle.

Saturate.

Soak.

Quench.

Drench.

Float.

Aaahhh! Sploosh!