Water is one of the elements that is important to human needs, It is abundant and provided us to survive. Seventy-one percent of our earth surface is water covered, in fact, it doesn’t just exist on the ocean, also, water exist in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in ground as soil moisture and in aquifers, and even you and your pet. But, what the world would be like without water? It seems that it’s the the progression, just like what Jim Hightower address in his essay, “Blue Gold”. We had face a crisis already in relates to water, due to the human’s irresponsible actions such as making pollution, over consumption and the fact that we made it  not accessible for everybody because of privatization. Unfortunately, it is sadden for most of the people that we struggle for water and maybe in the future, everyone will face a war to get water.
The significant of Jim Hightower’s essay is that this is a real life issues, and it’s still exist on the present time. Initially, most of our ancestor said that back in the time, they enjoy the cleanliness of the rivers. Because most of the bodies of water are drinkable, they don’t have to worry about the water shortages. Now, it saddens them that the rich and clean water that is easy to access are now long gone, not every river in the earth are now drinkable. Because of our irresponsible actions like loitering, not properly dispose of our waste and using explosive devices for fishing our water has now polluted. It’s not just pollution, also drought makes it hard for us to get water; lots of lakes and rivers are now dry. In fact, most of the rivers are now considered dead, just like one of the river in my country, the Philippines, is also dead which is the Pasig River. Such actions we created, the causes of it is not just losing our water, also, our food. Vegetables and Livestock needs water, if our water is now dry and dirty, we cannot use this for our survival.
The over-consumption of water is also causing problems, why it is now difficult to get access of water. In the essay, the author mentioned that in California, they faced drought. 33 Million people for one state has to be provided an access to water, but, have we ever wander why in certain places such as California and other parts of Africa faces this issue? Well, one root causes for this is that we overuse water: leaving the faucet incompletely close, spending plenty of time in shower, not using cups when brushing teeth and there’s many more. Wasting a little water will have a huge impact. Although, there’s many reasons why the world has become dry, but, over consumption is one of them. We need to use water when it is needed, there’s no need for water to be wasted. Using a right consumption of water will lead to a positive impact.
Lastly, the author of essay pointed out that water fattens the wallet of those in water business. Privatization of water has now become a money maker machine, business people see water as a profit. Unfortunately, poor countries don’t have money to pay water, they rather get their water from pumps and wells. What if the pumps and wells are now empty or polluted? This will causes a great problem for all, worldwide. The corporations won’t share water for everybody but they give it to those who can afford it, however, if all the water is now undrinkable we cannot drink money at all. It is our responsibility to make sure that everybody that is in need, will get accessible to water. We should not be selfish, rather, be giving. In Canada, we are blessed that we get access to water, however, they are other countries couldn’t get water, it is important that we should help other’s and share our resources.Â
In the essay Blue Gold, it is significant because it is a global problem. We don’t realize, how worth the water is in our life. If we don’t educate our self in this issue, this will lead us to a greater problem. It will take time to resolve the problem with our water but little step is better than nothing. I would recommend this essay for everyone, to give knowledge to the people that we need to make actions and take care our earth. In the near future, if this problem will resolve, it won’t be difficult for us to fight for water.Â