A Drop can Make a Difference

Today is World Water Day, a day first designated by the United Nations on March 22, 1993. After a United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, participants and advocates recommended an annual international observance for water. Each year, UN-Water highlights and advocates against a current or future challenge for water and sanitation around the world. This year, with the theme “water and jobs” UN-Water is advocating for the 1.5 billion people, nearly half of the world’s workers, that work in water-related sectors but still “are often not recognized or protected by basic labour rights.” By advocating for these people and highlighting this issue, UN-Water focuses “on how enough quantity and quality of water can change workers' lives and livelihoods - and even transform societies and economies.” We rarely think about our dependence on water. We use and consume water at our leisure. We can pull a bath almost instantaneously, creating a therapeutic oasis for ourselves after a long day at work. We can run to the kitchen to fill up a glass of clean, uncontaminated, filtered drinking water, without even giving it another thought. We can leave the faucet in the bathroom running while we quickly do something else. We can throw out a glass of water that has been sitting on our desk for days, or a bottle of water that we left sitting in our car for a little too long. But, on World Water Day, we might be a little more mindful of the ways that we consume and depend on water. If only for a day, we might turn off our faucets while we brush our teeth. We might drink that day-old water that has been sitting on our nightstand. We might appreciate where our water comes from and how it is so easily accessible to us. While we should not allow our mindfulness of how we consume and use water to flow from a sentiment of guilt, we should always encourage ourselves and one another to use our influence, uniqueness, and passion to create worthwhile and impactful habits. When we collectively use our influence and our mindfulness, we may be able to change lives around the world. When we are mindful, we begin to notice that the appreciation of water is made worthwhile in any action, big or small. We, then, will be able to see and believe in the product of change even as we turn off a faucet when we are not using it or when we buy a bottle of water that directly contributes to transforming societies around the world. When we use our own uniqueness to contribute to a worldwide community dedicated to ending the global water crisis, we will come to know that every drop makes a difference.But, on World Water Day, we might also challenge ourselves to appreciate water in other, unconventional ways. One organization that actively, passionately, and transformatively works with communities in order to eradicate the global water crisis is Generosity.org. Since is start, Generosity.org has funded over 727 water projects, providing roughly 413,000 people with clean drinking water. But, these water projects have been built collectively by people who have believed that their drop can make a difference in the world. Where 663 million people around the world do not have access to clean drinking water, Generosity.org is working to empower and transform communities. Going further than merely installing water projects in various communities, Generosity.org equips and teaches the people of these communities to manage and maintain the water projects. With each drop, these projects are changing lives. But, with each project, there are movers and shakers that unite to offer their talents, passion, and resources in order to build them from the ground up. This team of global advocates, of world changers, starts with you. When you realize that your drop can make a difference, you begin to take action to empower people around the world. One of these ways is by donating to a water project, a family, or even one person in order to provide them with clean drinking water. Another way is to partner with the talents and passions of your friends and family through fundraising. Generosity.org makes this fundraising option tangible and wholly influential through their Us for Us campaign which invites individual creativity and infectious passion that inspires transformation throughout the world. An easy and tangible way that you can take action to empower people and communities around the world is simply by purchasing a water bottle. Generosity Beverages and Generosity Water, a for-profit business selling the highest quality alkaline bottled water with a perfect pH balance of 10.0, has funded three wells since its establishment this past August. But, more than a business that provides the best quality water, each water bottle sold enhances the quality of life and sustains the wellbeing of communities around the world. With every purchase of a Generosity Water bottle, two people are provided with clean drinking water for a month. See, these collective drops, these dynamic ripples, are making a powerful, transparent, and effective difference in the world.So, how will you celebrate World Water Day? How will see that your drop makes a difference? Maybe start by committing to appreciating water a little more each day- finishing that entire bottle of water, turning off the faucet, donating to a water project, purchasing a bottle that directly impacts a community, taking a swim in the ocean, exploring the lengths to where a river’s flow ends, marveling at the powerful and captivating beauty of a waterfall. To see your drop make a difference, you can commit to celebrating water every day by joining with Generosity.org's 365 campaign- by giving $1 a day for the next 365 days, you can celebrate the impact access to clean water has every day. In any way that you appreciate the essentiality of water, know that your influence, passion, ambition, creativity, and strength shape your drop to make a profound difference in the world. More than that, know that your drop, in unison with all other drops, sends out a ripple effect to positively transform lives around the world.