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Photo credit: All Our Stories
There is no doubt that these days immigration is a very sensitive, hot topic, charged with strong feelings and emotions for many in the UK- and as such, a crucial topic for the media and politicians.
This kind of hysteria is having a major detrimental effect on the debate and the true understanding of migration, the reasons for it, and most importantly on the contributions of the newcomers to the host country.
This dichotomy between how the immigrants are perceived to be and who they really are, has led to what many observers have called ‘The Alienation Effect’ which makes the immigrants feel alienated and separated from their new home, leading to the vicious cycle of despair and unworthiness, affecting generations to come.
Veritas vos liberabit (The truth will set you free)
At a time that so much is defined by negativity, stereotyping, stigmatisation, disinformation and misrepresentation by the populist politicians, pseudo- nationalists and the far right, I wish to shine a positive and hopeful light on the invaluable contributions of millions of migrants who are working hard to make Britain so special and truly and meaningfully a great place to live in and be proud of.
Celebrating UK’s diversity of peoples and cultures that has made our country so special and so great
Photo credit via the Guardian
Nota bene
‘Imagine what the world would have missed had they not managed to forge a better life outside their country of origin.’
Famous exiles who have lived in Britain:
‘Camille Pissarro, painter from France; Guiseppe Mazzini, political revolutionary, from Italy; Victor Hugo, writer from France; Lajos Kossuth, political revolutionary from Hungary Karl Marx, political revolutionary from Germany Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, political revolutionary from Russia Peter Kropotkin, political revolutionary from Russia Sun Yat Sen, nationalist leader from China Sigmund Freud, psychologist from Germany Frank Auerbach, Artist from Germany Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, film writer from Germany King Michael Hohenzollern, King of Romania Emperor Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia Arthur Koestler, author and journalist from Hungary Oliver Tambo, Former ANC President from South Africa Roberto Matta, artist from Chile Irina Ratushinskaya, poet from former USSR Wole Soyinka, writer and Nobel Prize winner from Nigeria Geoffrey Oreyema, singer and writer from Uganda.’
Refugees who have made their names in Britain
Michael Marks, founded marks and Spencer Sir Montague Burton, Burton retail Dame Elizabeth Hill, pioneer of Slavonic studies Andre Deutsch, publisher Lewis Namier, historian Sir Ernst Chain, biochemist Sir Claus Moser, academic and statistician Joseph Rotblat, physicist Walter Neurath, publisher Karen Gershon, poet Robert Berki, political theorist Lord Weidenfeld, publisher Siegmund Nissel/Peter Schidlof, co-founders of Amadeus string quartet Rabbi Hugo Gryn, leading Anglo-Jewish rabbi Sir Alexander Korda, film director Sir Karl Popper, philosopher Sir Goerg Solti, conductor, Yasmin Alibhai Brown, journalist and editor Alan Yentob, ex-BBC programmes director Sousa Jamba, writer.
Three generations of talent Victor Ehrenberg, an eminent historian of the ancient world and refugee from Czechoslovakia Lewis Elton (his son), educationalist, the only professor of higher education in Britain before he retired, and Ben Elton (his grandson), comedian and novelist…’-We Refugees: I am told I have no country now
Photo credit/via Medium
Migrants to Britain c1250 to present
‘Migration has played an important part in Britain's history from c1250 to the present day. It has influenced Britain’s economy, politics, culture and relationship with the wider world. People migrated to Britain for many reasons. Many were refugees fleeing persecution and seeking asylum and safety. Some were forced to come here against their will, kidnapped or enslaved. Most, however, were economic migrants looking for work and a better life.’- BBC Bitesize, c1250 to the present overview
However, in more recent times, say, since the end of the second world war, immigration and immigrants have truly reshaped and transformed the UK. A better understanding of this phenomenon is indeed the gist of this Blog.
1945 to Present : Immigration Defining Moments
A look at some facts and figures
‘In 1951 less than 4% of the population of England and Wales were foreign-born. This proportion had doubled to 8% by 2001 and nearly doubled again to 15% in 2016.’
‘At the time of the 2021/22 Census, 16% of people in the UK had been born abroad – a total of around 10.7 million migrants. Although the foreign-born population has increased further between 2021 and 2024, no reliable data are available for later years.’
Moreover, it is important to note that by 2023, 37.3% of live births in England and Wales were to parents where either one or both were born outside the UK, increasing from 35.8% in 2022.
See more: The Migration Observatory
London: Home of the world
London Today: ‘A multicultural tapestry, a mosaic of ethnic communities, each contributing to the city’s vibrant social and cultural landscape.’
Photo credit: LONDONOPIA
‘London has long been the principal place where migrants to the UK choose to settle.During the second half of the 19th century, though they comprised less than 4% of London's population, three-fifths of the foreign born community in the UK resided in the capital. Today, London accounts for almost 40% of the UK's foreign-born population…’
‘Today, a third of London's population is foreign-born, and in inner London, the proportion is close to 40%. It can plausibly claim to be one of the most ethnically diverse cities on earth. Over 300 languages are spoken by its schoolchildren, many of them by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the post-WWII Commonwealth migrants. It boasts the largest Hindu temple in Europe and the largest mosque in Western Europe…’-Home of the world
Many moments have contributed to this transformation in net migration to the UK. Here are five key turning points.
1948: The Windrush Generation
The Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury Docks. Photo credit: Getty Images/Via The BBC
‘In the aftermath of the war, the UK saw huge investment in public infrastructure. Bombed cities were rebuilt, transport systems expanded and new institutions, such as the NHS, had to be staffed…
Some of the first to arrive in 1948 were a group of 500 or so Caribbean migrants, who arrived on the former troopship the Empire Windrush. Consequently, they and the 300,000 West Indians who followed them over the next 20 years, were known as the Windrush generation.
Alongside those from the Caribbean came some 300,000 people from India, 140,000 from Pakistan, and more than 170,000 from various parts of Africa.’-The BBC
1956: The Hungarian Revolution
Photo credit: The Heinrich Böll Foundation
‘The end of World War Two also brought huge political changes in eastern and central Europe.
After liberating the region, the Soviet Union installed Communist regimes here that were deeply unpopular with many people. It also annexed the Baltic States and parts of Poland.
In reaction, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to the West. The first to arrive in the UK were about 120,000 Poles, who arrived in 1945; the substantial Polish communities in Manchester, Bradford and west London date from this time. About 100,000 people from Ukraine and the Baltic States also came to the UK for similar reasons.’-The BBC
1971: Immigration Act
Photo credit: Five times immigration changed the UK
‘The post-war boom in immigration from Commonwealth countries was not welcomed by everyone.
In the late 1950s, racial tensions erupted in a series of riots, most famously in 1958 in Notting Hill and Nottingham.
And in 1968, the Conservative politician Enoch Powell spoke out against continued immigration, in his divisive "Rivers of Blood" speech.
Under considerable pressure, the British government eventually cracked down on all forms of racial discrimination.
But it also introduced a series of laws limiting immigration.
The most important of these was the Immigration Act of 1971, which decreed Commonwealth immigrants did not have any more rights than those from other parts of the world. This effectively marked the end of the Windrush generation.’-The BBC
1972: The Ugandan Asian Crisis
Ugandan Asians arrive at Stansted airport in September 1972. Photo credit: The Guardian
‘The first major test of the new immigration rules came the following year when war-torn Uganda, a former British colony, announced the immediate expulsion of its entire Asian community.
Prime Minister Edward Heath declared the country had a moral and legal responsibility to take in those who had UK passports. Of the 60,000 people expelled, a little under half came to the UK.
This highlighted a change of emphasis in immigration policy. The UK was now wary of people coming in search of jobs, but it would continue to welcome those coming in search of asylum.’- The BBC
1992: The EU expansion
Photo credit: SkyNews
‘In 1992, the UK joined other EU nations in signing the Maastricht Treaty on European integration. This granted all EU citizens equal rights, with freedom to live in any member state they chose.
In the following decade, tens of thousands of EU citizens came to live and work in Britain.
Few people protested, possibly because these newcomers were balanced out by the tens of thousands of British people who moved away to other parts of the EU.
Nevertheless a new principle had been set. Just as the country had once held an open door to the Commonwealth, so it now held an open door to the European Union.’-The BBC
…And then came the BREXIT and a new chapter began…The Dehumanisation and humiliation of migrants and refugees for personal and political agendas and politics
…I am told I have no country now
I am told I am a lie
‘I am told that modern history books
May forget my name.
We can all be refugees
Sometimes it only takes a day,
Sometimes it only takes a handshake
Or a paper that is signed.
We all came from refugees
Nobody simply just appeared,
Nobody's here without a struggle,
And why should we live in fear
Of the weather or the troubles?
We all came here from somewhere.’-Benjamin Zephaniah
We Refugees: I am told I have no country now
The Heritage and Contributions of Refugees to the UK – a Credit to the Nation
"Injustice flourishes in soil where empathy has been uprooted.”
Photo credit: Steps of Justice
‘New research shows how people arriving on small boats are being imprisoned for their ‘illegal arrival’. Among those prosecuted are people seeking asylum, victims of trafficking and torture, and children with ongoing age disputes.’
Report Launch: “No Such Thing as Justice Here”
Stereotyping a factor in loss of life in deadliest Channel crossing, inquiry told
Nigel Farage: one of the leading proponents to leave the EU, standing in front of his immigrant poster which many people believe depicts "echoes" of the 1930s literature.Photo credit: The BBC
The EU’s goals and ambitions are the same as Hitler’s': Boris Johnson. Photo: ABC News
‘Independence’ and the Lies of Brexit
So, They Got Their Brexit Done!
I failed to stop Brexit, but I could do my bit to make my country a better place
A Must-read Book
‘Provocative, entertaining and meticulously researched, The Alienation Effect opens our eyes to the influence of the émigrés all around us – many of our most quintessentially British icons are the product of this culture clash – and entreats us to remember and renew our proud national tradition of asylum.’
The Alienation Effect by Owen Hatherley reviewed by Rowan Moore – how immigrants reshaped postwar Britain
In The Alienation Effect, as Moore has noted,’ where Britain’s cultural furniture was rearranged and redesigned by women and men, often under-credited and under-recognised, who had fled here in the 1930s and 40s. Some, like migrants today, landed on the coast of Kent in flimsy craft. Between them they shaped film, art, architecture, planning, publishing, broadcasting, children’s literature and photography. We owe to this diaspora (in whole or in part) the Royal Festival Hall, Penguin Books and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Hatherley also highlights less famous and metropolitan glories such as the murals in Newport civic centre – the “Sistine Chapel of municipal socialism” – created by the Frankfurt-born Hans Feibusch and his artistic partner Phyllis Bray.
Most (not all) were from the political left and the artistic avant garde, and Hatherley’s aim is both to explore their trajectories and to honour and mourn the postwar attempts at building a more fair and enlightened society in which they played a significant part. There is also a simple point, relevant to the present, about the contribution that feared and despised migrants can make to their host country.
New arrivals – fleeing persecution because they were Jewish, or on account of their politics, or both – reacted in various ways. Many, while grateful for their refuge, were dismayed by the bad weather, overcooked food, cultural conservatism and lifeless streets of 1930s Britain, the “identical little houses built quickly out of dirt”, as one put it. Nor was their welcome warm. Graham Greene attacked, in the Spectator, the numbers of migrants in the film industry. The Daily Mail railed against the “outrage” of how “stateless Jews from Germany are pouring in from every port of this country”. A brigadier from Eastbourne suggested they be forced to wear identifying armbands. Calls to lock up “dangerous aliens” led to their internment in sometimes atrocious conditions…
Possibly you already had some knowledge of the works of these migrants, but The Alienation Effect reveals their sheer breadth and depth. Hatherley, whose background is in writing about architecture, moves with confidence through the fields of film, typography and art. The book is thick with information, sometimes resembling the gazetteers or guides he has previously written. It’s an occasionally chewy read, but it’s more often acute, informative, passionate and witty, a sometimes moving tribute to achievement in the face of diversity, and an essential antidote to crude theories of national identity.’- Read the entire review HERE
See also: ‘I know first-hand that immigrants can feel alienated in their own home’
Related articles and analysis:
‘The economic and societal impacts of immigration in the UK are significant.
According to the Office for National Statistics, migrants contribute approximately £83 billion to the UK’s economic output annually.
Research also shows that migrant workers play a crucial role in sectors like healthcare, STEM industries, and finance. For instance, as of 2020, 13.8% of the UK’s healthcare workforce were non-British nationals.
Foreign-born nationals are also disproportionately likely to start businesses in the UK. A report by the Migration Policy Institute noted that migrants in the UK are about 7% more likely to start businesses than UK-born individuals.
Finally, cultural festivals, culinary diversity, and artistic contributions by migrants have substantially enriched British cultural life, promoting greater understanding and cohesion among different communities…’- Immigration & Societal Contributions
‘In this special virtual event on the 75th anniversary of the NHS, we examined and celebrated the impact of migration on the NHS, medicine, and the advancement of scientific research in the UK.’-How Migration Helped British Science to Thrive
‘Today is the United Nations' International Migrants Day, a day to shine a spotlight on the invaluable contributions of millions of migrants around the world. In a debate so often defined by negativity and misrepresented by those on the right of British and European politics, we want to highlight six ways immigration benefits the UK.’-Six reasons why the UK needs immigration
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What is the Meaning of this Journey we Call Life?
Photo Credit: Natalie Nicklin/ Via New Scientist.
Today (Sat 22 March 2025) I read a very interesting, powerful and meaningful article in my daily paper on life’s biggest question: What is the Meaning of Life? All sorts of thoughts, imaginations and ideas started to get shaped and formulated in my head. I decided to read the article again, hoping this will help me to calm my excited and busy mind. To some extent it did. But I wanted more…
I must admit that the article very much resonated with me, as this fundamental question, ‘what is the meaning of life’, has been occupying my thoughts and my mind for a very long time, since the early 1990s when I began to ask fundamental questions of myself, my personal and my professional life, meaning and purpose, who am I, what am I, why am I, what am I teaching my students, who have come to me for inspiration and guidance, and much more. It was then that I began my journey of self-discovery, a journey of search for meaning and purpose, a journey still in progress. More on this later (see the links at the end)*.
Moreover, these days, the meaning of life has become even more important and significant to me. Since my wife’s stroke a couple of years ago, our lives have been turned upside down. Many new challenges, difficulties, emotions, feelings, questions and more. Despite the wonderful loving kindness and support of our sons and their families, as well as our friends, here, in Coventry, I, nonetheless, at times feel more isolated, lonely and vulnerable; missing our loving conversations, storytelling, planning our lives together and doing the things we used to do…Above all, I miss Annie’s insightful and wise counsel, helping me to navigate my life and to anchor me whilst sailing in life’s stormy waters.
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N.B. On this day we also mourn the privatisation of our water which has always been the gift of love from our Mother Nature to nurture, nourish and sustain the entire web of life.
A photo by jplenio/via Pixabay
“Water is a great teacher that shows us how to move through the world with grace, ease, determination, and humility.”
If, only if, we could be wise and learn how to be like water and accordingly live our lives like water…
I am trying to imagine what the world would be like, if those who have abused, misused and privatised water and made it a tool of profit making, exploitation, plunder, pollution, and destruction, had studied wisdom traditions from the eastern cultures, traditions such as Taoism which counsels us to live our lives like water. This, as Parker J. Palmer* has noted, does not mean “go with the flow” passivity. Taoism is all about nonviolent action. It invites us to flow quietly but persistently around the obstacles that stand between us and the common good, wearing them down as a river erodes boulders.
Here are some words from the Taoist master Lao Tzu who names a few of the virtues that come from living “the watercourse way.” They won’t make you rich or famous. But they serve the common good, make life worth living, and help keep hope alive!
The best are like water…
The best, like water,
Benefit all and do not compete.
They dwell in lowly spots that everyone else scorns.
Putting others before themselves,
They find themselves in the foremost place
And come very near to the Tao.
In their dwelling, they love the earth;
In their heart, they love what is deep;
In personal relationships, they love kindness;
In their words, they love truth.
In the world, they love peace.
In personal affairs, they love what is right.
In action, they love choosing the right time.
It is because they do not compete with others
That they are beyond the reproach of the world.
Glacier preservation
Glaciers are melting faster than ever
'As the planet gets hotter, our frozen world is shrinking, making the water cycle more unpredictable.
For billions of people, meltwater flows are changing, causing floods, droughts, landslides and sea level rise.
Countless communities and ecosystems are at risk of devastation.
As we work together to mitigate and adapt to climate change, glacier preservation is a top priority.
We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow down glacial retreat.
And, we must manage meltwater more sustainably.
Saving our glaciers is a survival strategy for people and the planet...'-Glacier preservation
Glacier meltdown risks food and water supply of 2 billion people, says UN
‘World Water Day was formally proposed in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro by the United Nations General Assembly, and it was adopted the year after as an annual observance day focusing on the importance of fresh water.’
“When we cooperate on water, we create a positive ripple effect – fostering harmony, generating prosperity and building resilience to shared challenges.
“We must act upon the realisation that water is not only a resource to be used and competed over – it is a human right, intrinsic to every aspect of life.
“This World Water Day, we all need to unite around water and use water for peace, laying the foundations of a more stable and prosperous tomorrow.”- United Nations, ‘Water for Peace’, 2024
Water is Life
Photo credit: ACWA Power
The well-known statement 'No water – no life' is significant in the life of all living things on earth. Water is accepted as the basis of life on the planet (Jeremiah 2007:2). Nothing on this earth has life without water. Water was in existence even before life:
‘In the beginning of creation, when God made heaven and earth, the earth was without form and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss, and a mighty wind that swept over the surface of the water.’- (GN 1:1-2)
Water is the Common Good Not A Commodity
“The water that we extract from nature for various uses must be managed as a common good, a shared good that must be accessible to all, but not appropriated by anyone,” said Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.
‘Water is a human right. It needs to be managed as a common good. Considering water as a commodity or a business opportunity will leave behind those that cannot access or afford the market prices. Commodification of water will derail achievement of the SDGs and hamper efforts to solve the global water crisis, already further exacerbated by the triple planetary crisis: climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and toxic pollution, affecting the life and health of billions around the world.’-Water is a common good not a commodity: UN experts
‘Children are most impacted by water scarcity’
'Mahana and Firdaoussou walk a quarter of a mile for water'
‘Sisters Mahana, nine, and Firdaoussou, 12, collect water from a well a quarter of a mile from their home in southwest Niger.
Firdaoussou makes this trip 12 times a day, meaning she doesn’t attend school and spends her time helping with housework.
The well only has enough water for four days before it runs dry, so Firdaoussou will be forced to walk even further to fetch water.’- Photo and the text Credit, see HERE
The painful and wasteful Consequences of Water Privatisation, Debt-austerity regimes and Climate Change on Women Farmworkers across the Global South.
Zina Amour (Algeria), Scène de famille (Family Portrait), 1967/ Via Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
…’One report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that it takes women in sub-Saharan Africa forty billion hours a year to collect water, equivalent to the annual labour time of the entire French workforce. The estimated funding gap for building water infrastructure in all of sub-Saharan Africa is $11 billion, which, according to Oxfam, is equivalent to less than two days of earnings for the world’s billionaires. Given that sub-Saharan African countries pay a total of $447 million a day servicing their debt, it would take 25 days of this debt service to construct adequate infrastructure to pipe water into every home in the region. And yet, the world shrugs off the imperative to liberate African women from the onerous and anachronistic work of carrying water for kilometres on end when a piped system could be funded by a fraction of the massive social wealth generated on the planet. Such a project would require industrial growth to manufacture these pipes and water systems, creating jobs and lifting people out of the poverty wages that continue to asphyxiate women around the world…’-Twenty-Five Days of Debt-Service Payments Could Emancipate African Women from 40 Billion Hours of Water Harvesting
The Day of Infamy
The Day They Privatised Water
When they sold off the source of life, they destroyed life and humanity
‘Did you know that in 1988, England and Wales became the only countries in the world to privatise their water supply, handing over regional water companies to private monopolies? These water companies were sold debt-free so there was no economic justification for their privatisation.
It was simply a theft from the tax payer, a way of turning our most essential public service into a money-making scheme - a scheme which has paid out about £72 billion in dividends. A scheme which has racked up £56 billion in debt which, surprise, surprise, the tax payer has taken on.
In other words, 77% of those dividends were only paid out because the water companies didn't pay their own debts…’-Water Privatisation Was A Historic Mistake
Privatisation, extreme weather and politics: How Britain’s waterways became an ‘open sewer’
Water companies raise bonuses to £9.1m despite record sewage discharges
An anti-water privatisation march in Glasgow, April 1992. Derek Copland/Alamy Stock Photo/via The Conversation
‘In the spring of 2024, residents of the south Devon harbour town of Brixham kept falling ill. Their symptoms – including “awful stomach complaints, bad diarrhoea and severe headaches” – went on for weeks. A retired GP who ventured to the pub after finally recovering from the illness recalled that, when someone asked those present to “raise their hand if they hadn’t had the bug”, not a single hand went up.
Given the controversies about raw sewage discharges that were swirling at the time, the drinking water seemed an obvious suspect. Many local residents contacted their water provider, but by late April, South West Water was still insisting the water was safe to drink, and that all tests for contaminating bacteria had returned negative.
Then suddenly, the company issued an urgent “boil it” note to thousands of households in Brixham and nearby villages and towns in the Torbay region. A tiny parasite that causes the intestinal disease cryptosporidiosis had been discovered in the water supply.
The contamination was eventually pinpointed to a defective valve under a stretch of farmland which had allowed cow faeces to enter three holding tanks of drinking water – downstream from the main water works, and from where the water’s quality was routinely tested…’-Britain’s ‘broken’ water system: a history of death, denial and diarrhoea
Thatcher said water privatisation would be successful, instead they are dumping raw sewage at scale
Revealed: warning to ministers over privatised water kept secret since 2002
It is estimated that we can survive twenty-five days without food; six days without sleep, but only four days without water.
Water Privatisation is a Scandal, Prem Sikka, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex (Water companies have loaded themselves with debt while pumping sewage into waterways, hiking bills and paying out billions to shareholders – a scam against the public that will only end by taking our water back from the profiteers.)
‘The British economy has been subject to a giant experiment: privatisation on a scale more extensive than in almost any other OECD country. Perhaps most strikingly, following the lead of Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, in 1989 the Conservative government privatised the water industry in England and Wales. This outlier status remains to this day: the majority of water infrastructure in other countries is held and managed by the public. To see the disastrous effects of this experiment, one need only look at England’s crisis-ridden water companies—or brave a swim in an English river flooded with sewage…’-Mathew Lawrence, director of the Common Wealth thinktank and author of Planet on Fire, in The Economist, Jul 10th 2023
Debunking the Greatest Heist and Con Artistry of All Times: A Case Study of Water Privatisation in Britain
Massive Sewage Discharge for the People
Pennies from Heaven for the Shareholders and Obscene Bonuses for the CEOs
‘Privatisation has meant failing water infrastructure, increased sewage spillages and reduced confidence in the safety of drinking water, while shareholders pocket billions.’-The water industry is a national scandal
The Inhumanity of Water Privatisation in Britain
I worked on the privatisation of England’s water in 1989. It was an organised rip-off
Privatisation, a very British disease
‘Water is Love’ - Ripples of Regeneration
A film by Ludwig Schramm, Rosa Pannitschka, Martin Winiecki, Isabel Rosa Zabou and Emily Coralyne Bishop
‘Water is Love: Ripples of Regeneration ', an award-winning documentary, is about rehydrating the landscapes around us through community-driven decentralized water management. Following a group of youth shaken by the climate crisis and portraying powerful examples of climate restoration on three continents, “Water is Love” offers not only a beautiful story but an opportunity to bring people together and inspire local action.
Whether it’s the beyond-devastating fires in Los Angeles, the historic drought in the Amazon or ever higher global temperature records, facing the reality of climate breakdown can make us feel powerless and overwhelmed.
We know you don’t need more information about what is going wrong.
That’s why Water is Love focuses on what can be done. It shows that a world of ever more catastrophic drought, floods, and fires isn’t a foregone conclusion. Through restoring water cycles and ecosystems - Earth’s natural climate regulating systems - we can make this Earth a place that’s habitable for all beings, that is regenerative, honored, and abundant.’-Text via Kosmos Newsletter (Learn more here.)
“Water is Love” follows a group of young people grappling with the climate crisis while we journey around the world to share inspiring stories of regenerative ecosystem design to create water retention in communities, villages, and regions.
We touch upon traditional ecological knowledge, how water makes climate, and the importance of restoring complete water cycles.
Through inspiring stories from successful projects in India, Kenya, and Portugal, we aim to spark conversations and actions that contribute to a regenerative and resilient world. As we’re facing both the growing devastating impacts of climate disruption and the failure of governments to act, this film points to an often overlooked need and possibility: community-driven decentralized water management as a critical key for surviving — and thriving in — this century.
Watch the trailer- Water is Love
A must-read book
Liquid Love uses language and culture to show how all of us are closely related to water.
- Of course we all start in water - in our mommy's belly - resting, breathing, feeding and growing in water.
- Of course we all need water to live - that is a no brainer.
- Of course, water is directly linked to our survival as a species and to the survival of our blue planet.
- Of course, both our earth and humanity are comprised of about 75% water. But, there is more.
Water has direct connections to the entire culture. H2O is closely connected to music, art, science, love, spirituality, philosophy, religion, medicine and economics. Plus, water references have been abundantly sprinkled through our human language. This is where Liquid Love works its magic.
Liquid Love uses language - quotes to be exact - the show illustrates our ties to water.
Water in language can represent "all of it". It's the big picture, the big metaphor, the big idea. Simultaneously, water in language can represent the
smallest common denominator. It is the parable that all of us can understand.
Let this book move through you like a gently running brook. Let it splash upon the shores of your consciousness. Let it show you a way to wade back
into the interconnectedness of your daily life. Allow yourself to be inspired by the moistness of it all. Start to see water outside of the cup. Let yourself see a different side of H2O.
Through this new view - this new transformed view - look at other areas of your life that you may have taken for granted ... like water.
Notice the value. Respect the source. Revere your own life.
For only with love and reverence will we care for all that matters most.’
Learn more and buy the book HERE
- A moment that changed me: The day I discovered William Morris
- Open Letter to Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England
- ‘To Big Sur, with Love’: Revisiting the Healing Power of Wanderlust
- Israel-Gaza ceasefire must lead to a lasting peace
- Jimmy Carter: The Prescient President who Foresaw the Coming of the Global Warming