H2O is the one thing. We call that an organizing principle to all life and all culture.  H2O has a heavy and cool job. Perfect for young and old H2O loving hippies.

Yet, it is also intuitively given that H2O, at the very least, serves a physically fundamental purpose. Let's untangle and find out how water is the one thing that keeps us going. 

H2O Supports Life: Survival And The Organizing Principle

Let's get the obvious out of the way: We need the elixir of life to survive, and the planet needs Adam's ale to survive. Every living thing relies on aqua. Around 71% of the Earth is covered in H2O.

We all know you can survive for around three weeks without food but only around three days without it. To keep yourself in good health, you should drink eight glasses of H2O daily. And that's just us–animals and the environment rely on h2o, as we rely on those animals and this environment. 

In the book "The Social Life of Water", edited by John Richard Wagner, the author reports that 99 percent of our molecules are h2o molecules. Survival and aqua are synonymous. It profoundly influences what we place importance on, and how we act, naturally becoming an organizing principle.

The Elixir of Life and Culture

H2O, the lifeblood of our planet, is an essential element that sustains all living organisms and shapes human cultures across the globe. From the microscopic to the macroscopic, the Wet Stuff plays an indispensable role in the intricate web of life.   

At the core of its significance lies its unique properties. H2O's polarity, its ability to form hydrogen bonds, and its high specific heat capacity make it an ideal solvent, a temperature regulator, and a vital component in countless biochemical reactions. These properties enable H2O to dissolve nutrients, transport them throughout organisms, and maintain a stable internal environment.

From the moment life emerged in the primordial oceans, H2O has been the cradle of evolution. It provides the medium for cellular processes, facilitating the exchange of gases and nutrients. Without aqua the complex biochemical reactions that underpin life would cease to exist.   

In his article Biology and Pathology of Water, the famous scientist Albert Szent-Györgyi stated:  

“Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water” 

Beyond its biological importance, h2o has profoundly shaped human civilizations. Ancient river valleys, such as the Nile, Indus, and Euphrates, witnessed the rise of some of the world's earliest and most influential cultures. These riverine societies flourished due to the abundant water supply, which enabled agriculture, trade, and the development of complex social structures.   

Water has also been a source of inspiration and spiritual significance for countless cultures. In many religions and mythologies, adam's ale is revered as a sacred element, symbolizing purity, renewal, and divine power. Lakes, rivers, and oceans, have often been considered sacred sites, where people gather to pray, meditate, and connect with the natural world. 

In contemporary society, h2o remains a vital resource, essential for agriculture, industry, and domestic use. However, the increasing demand for H2O, coupled with climate change and pollution, poses significant challenges to water security. As the global population grows and H2O scarcity becomes more prevalent, it is imperative to adopt sustainable H2O management practices and conserve this precious resource.   

The Value Of H2O In Ideology

If anything supports society, it's the push for survival. Whether you're a laissez-faire free market guy, a beret-touting revolutionary, or a Molotov cocktail malcontent, survival is at the very core of these principles. These more pronounced approaches to societal structures make that obvious.  While you may agree or disagree with these ideologies, survival is at the heart of all of them.

"Water: A Biography" by climate scientist Giulio Boccaletti outlines the interchanging relationship between social history and H2O In this book, he writes about how democracy found its feet in Rome via collective well ownership. In a Medium post speaking about why he wrote this book, he expressed: 

"The story of water is really a story about us."

H2O's Value In Socioeconomics  

How we set up our societies stems from these political ideologies and vice versa. Our societal arrangements are also profoundly enmeshed with H2O. As "The Social Life of Water" explains: 

"We do not have to look far to find examples of economic activities, like agriculture and fisheries, that are entirely water-dependent. But water is also essential to most manufacturing processes, to hydropower generation, and to the technologies we use to carry sewerage and industrial waste away from human settlements. The location of all human communities, until fairly recently, could be predicted by the location of water…"

In addition, a 2017 article in the World Wide Fund For Nature written by Karin Krchnak and Jennifer Sara, entitled "Water For All: Securing Global Freshwater Resources For People And A Living Planet" states:

"...the Zambezi River provides ecosystem goods and services central to the economies of eight countries: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe."

H2O Culture: H2O Celebration And Beliefs

Society and culture are intimately intertwined. Societal structures express practical principles. Cultures, conversely, encompass the norms on which these lines and physical structures are built. Culture defines what counts as celebration, belief, and traditions. 

Whether they celebrate the wet stuff, use it as a symbolic tool for cleansing, or believe in its mythological aspects, cultural practices linked to this compound spring out from every angle; many of these are based on the implicit assumption that H2O is the giver of life and the onus on which we base our survival. At the very least, the cultural regard for H2O stresses its crucial importance to life.

There is a Hindu tradition in which people lay the ashes of their departed in the Ganges River. They believe that by doing so, their souls will not be reborn but taken to heaven instead. This implies that H2O is spiritually fundamental to life–that it can even ensure that someone will not enter the world of the living.  

The Wet Stuff And The Meaning Of Life

As much as we try to escape our societal assumptions and cultural beliefs through philosophical tinkering and new experiences, we can never truly do so. Whatever culture any of us happen to find ourselves in, the fact remains that they all share belief systems that celebrate the value of the elixir of life.

Our physical, societal, cultural, and existential lives are so tangled up in reverence for the essential nature of the elixir of life, that no matter where we look, we find ourselves submerged. 

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Below is a short video from NatGeo called - Death Along the Ganges River | The Story of God. For better or worse, the power of religion touches all of our lives, no matter what our faith. This is Morgan Freeman's journey to discover how our beliefs connect us all. This video discusses the world famous and spiritually famous River Ganges. Note - some of the video is disturbing - however WaterCelebration seeks to be real about how H2O touches us all - plus (Plus, We love Morgan Freeman).