On a country road in Punakha, Bhutan we passed these terraced rice fields (though not in season for rice at the time) and I asked our driver to stop for a picture. This spot I was very drawn to for a multitude of reasons beginning with the elegance of the terraces, their patterns, colors, reflective pools, and place in the landscape. But there was also something more; I enjoyed the connection to my home in Hawaiʻi where over time I have learned of traditional practices of kalo cultivation in the loʻi and the importance of healthy fresh water streams and rivers in sustaining the crops and people that rely on them. In the picture a tributary feeds these terraces before it meanders down to the confluence of the Mo Chhu (Mother River) and Pho Chhu (Father River) in Bhutan's old Capitol. Here on Oʻahu I worked with @surfrideroahu on a Mānoa Stream cleanup yesterday (clearing 3000 lbs of trash) and we were lucky to be hosted at and educated about the Kānawai Loʻi at UH. Streams all over these islands and world are being polluted and waters privatized (huge case, HB 2501, on Maui being decided on the Senate floor in the coming weeks), but water is the life blood of this world and should not be commodified and even worse put into plastic bottles that often end up in the streams and oceans. How much do you know about water where you live? It's important to think about our resources on a daily basis and join in a cause to protect them above profiting on them.
