Water School: The Ways Water and Humankind Affect Each Other

As a human rights attorney for the United Nations I have seen the direct impact of water on the lives of people around the globe, but individual hygiene to water wars between nations fighting for survival.  I have also seen the environmental impact of irresponsible water usage and the environmental justice issues that arise. This course tackles these issues head on, teaching learners to look at the essential natural resource in an entirely different lens.

This course is designed to teach learners to ultimately respect and understand the importance of water.  It will encourage critical thinking from all aspects - how water effects learners individually, their homes, their families, their communities.  The course comes at the topic of water in an interdisciplinary way, learning about water scientifically, sociologically, economically and culturally in order to ultimately allow learners to critically analyze the importance of water and how our treatment of it impacts themselves and the world they live in.


During the first week of Water School  we will learn about water basics, the humanity and geology of water.  Water resources on our planet can only be understood within the context of the water cycle: there is only a finite amount of water and the same water moves through different states of solid, liquid and gas in a repeated cycle.  The human right to water will be discussed and understood.

The second week will continue with the class focusing on the theme 'water and me'.  The time will be spent helping learners understand the impact of water through defining dehydration and sanitation as essential elements of our individual physical relationship with water.  

During the third week the theme will be water and the family.  Learners will consider the day to day activities and survival of every family, regardless of size, composition, nationality, or social and economic status and their relationship with water.  Focusing on agriculture, production and pollution, this class will help learners to understand that while the need for water is universal, the amount of water used and how we receive, store and dispose of it, is not equal globally.  

On the fourth week the learners will turn to focus on water and their local community.  By understanding the effects of rainwater and wastewater on local communities young learners can understand how the way they protect the local water sources has an impact on the local environment .  By pinpointing the characteristics of the local ecosystem the learners can discuss and consider plans of action for responsible water use for the local community.

Week five will focus on the community in a more regional sense, considering shared waters and how communities are affected both upstream and downstream.  Looking at issues such as water and trees, water and energy, and watershedding learners will begin to see how water connects communities, interconnecting one to the other.  

Pivoting to week six, the class will then look at water and biome.  A focus on ecosystems and local watersheds will be engaged in during this hour.  By looking at water relationships through biomes (regions that are defined by climate type, plants and animals), the learner begins to see waters relationship not only to human communities but to natural regions on our planet.  


The final week pulls in the focus to water and the planet at large, looking at sustainable use, consumption patterns and the survival of the planet and humanity.  Learners will consider the importance of working together.  Understanding that water defies boundaries, learners will understand that the water crisis on the planet is beyond the scope of an individual country or sector and that we cannot deal with water in isolation.  

Finally, the learners will present their indivual projects on plans for local action for global change to ensure the health of water on the planet.  

The class will includes the presentation of information, the discussion and debate of concepts, group project work and the presentation of an individual project.