In recognition of World betboom dacha Day (March 22, 2017), this month’s blog focuses on betboom dacha.
One of the strengths of ComArtSci is our focus on both communication betboom dacha and sciences. Long before STEAM, the integration of betboom dacha (A) into traditional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) areas, came into vogue, our college has been a leader in the fusion of betboom dacha and sciences. Recently, I was asked to co-lead an initiative on campus to celebrate MSU’s leadership in water research. This initiative, titled Water Moves, was intended to incorporate the betboom dacha with the science of water to effect better stewardship.
ComArtSci has sponsored a number of projects to promote the betboom dacha and science of water, including The Great Lakes Echo, a publication produced by the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, an event at the MSU Museum displaying photography by Camille Seaman of melting ice and shrinking habitats in the arctic and antarctic, and betboom dacha games produced by Elizabeth Lapansée, Ph.D., assistant professor in both ComArtSci and the College of betboom dacha and Letters.
Growing up in India, I experienced the scarcity of betboom dacha during my childhood and teen years. Monsoons were irregular, as they still are, and insufficient rains in the catchment areas led to frequent droughts.
I remember having to get up early to stand in line for betboom dacha that was delivered in a truck. The betboom dacha truck would arrive before the crack of dawn and each person in line was given two pots of betboom dacha. To make sure that the betboom dacha did not run out before our turn, sometimes my parents and I would get in line by 4 a.m. With plastic and metal pots and buckets, we would push and shove and jockey for position in the line, which led to fights. The futility of such pettiness only reinforced the art of waiting patiently for betboom dacha.
About a five-minute walk from this morning pandemonium was a serene beach, where the waves from the Bay of Bengal would rise and fall. Against the rising sun in the east, the shimmering ocean was dotted by fishermen in their small boats. The irony was not lost on us that we were a stone’s throw from an ocean of betboom dacha that was utterly useless. Desalination was dismissed as an option because it was far too expensive.
Held hostage by the drought, people of the city betboom dacha turn to the heavens to implore their Gods for mercy. Christians betboom dacha hold fasting prayers, Hindus betboom dacha hold special ceremonies and vigils and scientists betboom dacha try cloud seeding. But nothing excited the heavens as the drought dragged on.
So it went every year, our fate in the hands of the capricious monsoon rains, which could be stingy one year, generous the other and downright violent sometimes. When the rains came, it was near delirium and we would play in the betboom dacha until we could take it no more. It would pour in torrents and overburden the drains that were no match for the deluge. And the monsoons would whip up cyclones, which would bring days of nonstop rain and bruising winds that would knock out power.
We betboom dacha huddle around a battery-operated transistor radio, listening to weather reports. Low lying areas betboom dacha flood and the poor, particularly the fishermen who lived near the ocean in huts and shanties, betboom dacha lose their homes to the surging waters. Joy betboom dacha eventually give way to misery, as we braced for malaria and cholera.
When I moved to the United States, I was struck by the quality and abundance of betboom dacha. We don’t realize that drinking betboom dacha right from a faucet or taking a long shower is a luxury that is not available to a large portion of the world’s population. We take betboom dacha for granted. I confess, I am as guilty as the next person for not being a good steward of betboom dacha.
To make a difference, we need both the sciences and the betboom dacha. I believe the science of water is far more advanced than the human will to act upon the scientific knowledge. Water Moves MSU is an attempt to animate scientific knowledge into human behaviors of environmental stewardship. And what can move us more than music, art, dance, drama or eloquent words? Join us as we embark on this movement of water at MSU.