And today’s reason we are an endangered species is: water. One hydrogen and two oxygen atoms. So simple. About 60% of a human being is made up of that and 71% of the planet’s surface is covered with it, but only 3% of that is fresh water, 69% of which is locked in ice caps and glaciers and 30% is underground, leaving us with 1% of accessible fresh water. A person needs to drink about 2 to 3 liters a day, which comes to about a 1000 liters per year, while minimal cooking, hygiene and sanitation will use an additional roughly 15,000 liters per year. In comparison, the production of a single barrel of oil uses about 1,500 liters of fresh water, so 1.5 times as much as a person drinks in a year, while the production of a half a liter plastic bottle uses about 3 liters of water. All this from that 1% of fresh water we have. I don’t know about you, but to me it sounds like absolute reckless management of resources. We use roughly 10% of the world’s renewable fresh water supply a year, but it’s not distributed evenly, so some regions quickly deplete 100% of their supply, some rivers are over stressed and groundwater refills way too slowly, which in times of drought can set a region back years. We have enough, don’t get me wrong. And humans only use a moderate share globally, but we put immense pressure on it unevenly. Think of it this way: you meet someone you like. You start chatting. You go on a first date and boom, before you get home you’ve got 3000 memes on instagram, another 294 messages on whatsapp and 38 missed calls from the date you’ve just spent five hours with. Are you gonna go on that second date? Thought so. Well, that’s kind of what we’re doing with water. And if the pressure wasn’t enough, imagine that date having left all their trash in your car and in fact, went back to their apartment and emptied the bin into your car and their neighbor’s, too. Because we also do that with water. How much of that abuse would you take before you said: I’m outta here? Thought so. Alas, do not be surprised if fresh water will one day go: I’m outta here.