Blogs & Utterings

by Corinna Wang [public toilet at Bryant Park in NYC © pam lazos] Most conversations around bodily functions can be uncomfortably embarrassing discussions, especially those concerning use of the bathroom. Everyone has a bathroom ritual they deem necessary, one that...

Stories and prophecies surrounding Mother Earth and Father Sky are abundant in indigenous folklore where Indigenous People have long protected the earth from those who would seek to abuse her resources. That’s why it is so wonderful to see that storytelling tradition...

Written by Kate French We all agree and understand that water is intrinsic to human existence and without it, life on earth will become extinct.  Simply put: water is life.  Less understood is that water has also been used a tool of oppression.  In the...

Written by Christiaan Morssink. Reflections on the United Nations Sustainable Gastronomy Day, June 18 I grew up with the ritual of growing food in the backyard and on a small plot of land that my father, like so many others, “rented” from the railroad company. All in...

by Pam Lazos When I was born, I shared the water on this planet with just over 3 billion people.  Today, I’m sharing it with 7.7 billion and growing at a rate of 85 million people per year, and it’s safe to say that no matter what year, each and every one of...

by P. J. Lazos If you or your kids have ever won a goldfish at a carnival, chances are you took it home and stuck it in a glass bowl where it swam happily for years.  We had one live for six years until the little rascal finally called it quits.  Soon after we brought...

THIRST: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World by Scott Harrison, Founder and CEO of Charity: Water Publ: Currency, 2018, 336 pg. A Review by Stan Laskowski, co-Founder, Global Water Alliance This book is inspirational! I...

They asked us to go to the Dominican Republic, so we did. A travel report about our scoping exercise; facts, impressions, reflections. By Tom McKeon, Erica DePalma, Michelle Barakat, and Liz Pyshnik   We are four young professionals who are passionate about...

By P. J. Lazos    As I made my way into work the other day, an announcement on the radio alerted me to a flood warning that would be in effect until later that evening.  It had rained the day before, and the day before that, the rivers, brown and agitated, running...

   As the forefathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence, the unalienable rights endowed to men (and women) of this country are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Fast forward 242 years and we are seriously messing with those rights as we clamor for a...

By Liz Pyshnik and Tom McKeon The Grand Canyon is known for its spectacular views and strenuous hikes through earth’s geologic time capsule. The trails are made up of switchbacks and sharp elevation changes --- often powdered with mule feces. The mules carry supplies,...

Are you listening? “Yes, Sir”               You’re on a beach. It’s hot. You’re thirsty and you pull a handy plastic bottle from your cooler, take a big swig. You know better than to try the water from the lake, and surely not the ocean ..It’s happy hour time;...

            To me, Leonardo da Vinci is the greatest example of a Renaissance Man, a polymath with expertise in a wide variety of subject matter; a humanist (a person who values human beings and the autonomous, free-thinking self), supportive of critical thinking; and...

In light of World Toilet Day, Pam Lazos discusses the accessibility of toilets in cities such as New York, Paris, and others around the world.

By Tom McKeon Benthic macroinvertebrates (macros) are spineless bugs, visible to the naked eye. They are often the nymph and larvae forms of many familiar creatures buzzing and crawling around you every day. Creatures like adult dragonflies, mosquitoes, crane flies,...

by P.J. Lazos   It’s a tenet of the modern age that if you are alive and thriving on our planet, walking around in a “meat suit” — to steal a term from the TV show, “Supernatural” — you are likely composed of a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals, some of which you ingested...

by Tom McKeon & Liz Pyshnik (N.B. This blog is posted together with the slideshow that was presented at the workshop) Educators, lab scientists, and researchers from universities around the United States came together to run a 4-hour workshop on incorporating...

by P.J. Lazos The woman behind the podium said: “Who controls water controls life.”   At the International House on Chestnut Street near the University of Penn's campus in Philadelphia, we had just watched a short film, part documentary, part drama, “A Drop of...

by P.J. Lazos             When our kids were growing up, the rule was no potty talk at the table. Of course, that just emphasized their need to tell fart jokes, their favorite topic, and then laugh hysterically. Now, in a strange twist of events, I talk about poop and...

by Alan Beyersdorf I signed up for the Global Water Alliance (GWA) Symposium 2017 at the University of Pennsylvania via Facebook; venue the Wharton School. Hmm, that means business--a relatively uncharted territory for me. Numbers. Charts. Graphs; Costs, benefits,...

Reposted from Green Life Blue Water March 22, 2017 was World Water Day.  The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 Global Goals designed to end poverty, provide a quality education, provide affordable and clean energy, and create sustainable cities...

Let's Talk Water: A Series of Blogs by P.J. Lazos Given the recent rains in California, resulting in the evacuation of some 100,000 people due to concerns over stability of Oroville Dam, you would think California’s drought problems are over, but you’re wrong. While...

Photo credit: Nafissatou Ba & Manisha Ayut Modeling by P.J. Lazos              On January 16, 2017, Dr. Christiaan Morssink, Treasurer and Board Member at the Global Water Alliance (GWA) celebrated MLK Day by modeling. No, he didn’t walk down a runway in the...

Let's Talk Water: A Series of Blogs by P.J. Lazos   I think that if Francois Auguste Rene Rodin (1840 - 1917) knew that one of his most famous sculptures, “The Thinker” had become the symbol of World Toilet Day, http://www.worldtoiletday.info/, a day established...

Let's Talk Water: A Series of Blogs by P. J. Lazos Consider the cow. It takes one gallon — 3.6 liters — per 100 pounds of body weight to water a cow and two gallons when it is hot outside. If Bessy is lactating, you need to double those numbers. However, that...

Swimming In Urban Streams After It Rains Exposes You To Fecal Matter?By Tom McKeonSwimming can be a fun and refreshing activity on a hot summer day. It’s easy to hear sounds of joy around swimming holes and hard to forget the relaxing shared experiences; the idea...

Let's Talk Water : A series of blogs by P. J. LazosHow’s this? In the future we will fight wars for water. Sound plausible or more like SciFi? Probably no one really thought we’d fight a war for oil, but then Iraq happened and that strange concept became part of our...

Let's Talk Water : A series of blogs by P. J. Lazos Water is cleansing. Water is ubiquitous, yet scarce. You can only live four days without water. You need water. Your neighbor needs water. Water beats rock. Water security is defined as the capacity of a population...