GILLIAN BURKE

"Many of us have been disconnected from the miracle that is water"

- Gillian Burke

ISN'T IT IRONIC THAT, BY HAVING access to running water at the simple turn of a tap, many of us have been disconnected from the miracle that is water? Water is life. This is the rallying call of water protectors and environmental activists around the world. While it may sound like a load of overused hyperbole, perhaps it doesn't go far enough in capturing the many ways that water is critical to life on Earth.

Life can exist without light in the darkest caves and under the weight of the deepest oceans. It can survive in sub-zero temperatures and even around the fiery heat of a hydrothermal vent. But the one thing life cannot exist without is water.

Water is the single most abundant chemical found in living things. Though there are some animal and plant groups, from tardigrades to 'resurrection plants', that can survive desiccation, even they must, at some point, rehydrate to function, grow and reproduce.