Floods and a different way of being

The floods in Iowa have been on my mind this week, as a vendor we work with in Cedar Rapids had to abandon their offices and shift work elsewhere. Last I heard earlier today, the river was still on the rise, expected to crest over 12 feet above the previous historical record. Hearing the news, I couldn't help but think of Al Gore, and his warnings. Here in Washington, I heard a rumor that we might be having the coldest June on record (and I believe it, it's felt like October). It makes you wonder, is "normal" weather a thing of the past? And it concerns me, with food prices already high, what the rest of the year is going to look like, if too many crops are destroyed, and what this might mean.

It also brought to mind this article I read in Yes! Magazine some time ago, from a 2001 edition of the magazine, about a new social movement in India. The article talked about how in addition to healing wounds brought about by poverty and the caste system, the Swadhyaya movement was also teaching people how to catch rain in special catchment ponds and use that to recharge aquifers. I think it's time to start thinking hard about how to deal with both "abnormal" rainfall patterns and drought. Now I'm no expert, but the article made me think there may be more we can do to green this garden of Earth than we might think. They don't talk about flood control in the article, but I think there might possibly be some connection there too. The article was also interesting on some other levels, but it was the water, all that water, that brought it to my mind today.

Link:
India's Silent But Singing Revolution