ABSTRACT
My evolution toward concern for social issues began with a biological/environmental background that led me from seeing the natural, physical world and its inhabitants as interconnected to including the human social world in that interconnected web. It is in this light that I contemplated water and human use of it on a recent cross-country trip. Living where water resources are abundant and where clean water is available at the turn of a tap, I was struck by how quickly straight rows of crop fields change to circular patterns of center pivot irrigation rigs, how bridges span trees and brush rather than flowing water, and how ground cover shrinks to clumps of vegetation scattered across bare ground.
