Recorded on August 17, 2007
Summary
In this episode of New Realities, host Alan Steinfeld interviews William Marks, a master Native American flute player and author, about the consciousness of water. Marks discusses his deep connection to water, tracing it back to his childhood on an organic farm. He explains how water is the universal substance of life and consciousness, emphasizing that human behavior, such as plastic pollution and the diversion of rivers, is creating a global water crisis. He highlights the story of the Aral Sea’s destruction and urges listeners to become conscious co-creators by protecting the biosphere. Marks also reads a letter from Mikhail Gorbachev from his upcoming book, ‘Water Voices from Around the World’, highlighting the urgent need for a shift in water policies.
Transcript
Alan Steinfeld
Welcome to New Realities. This is the cutting edge leading show in consciousness. It’s broadcast every week on BBS Radio every Tuesday at 7:30 California time, 10:30 New York time. This is Alan Steinfeld, and you can also listen and watch my show on Manhattan Cable in New York on Channel 57 every Monday night. Today I have a very exciting guest because he is touching upon all the levels of the show we talk about, environment, consciousness, spirituality. His name is William Marks, and William’s going to open up with a little Native American flute solo, and then we’ll get into the discussion. So, William, please give us an introduction.
William Marks
[Flute music]
Alan Steinfeld
Thank you. Thank you, William. That has been the native flute of William Marks, and besides being a master Native American flute player, he is responsible for some of the major understanding about water on the planet. Water has consciousness, and he will be coming out with a book called Water Voices sometime this year. Voices from Around the World, and it’s a remarkable large-size book with letters of many distinguished people talking to the people of earth about the sacredness of water. William, thank you.
William Marks
My pleasure, and hello to your audience, Alan. I feel very honored to be here.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, you know that flute, I have to say. I didn’t realize you were such a great master musician because it feels like the weeping of the earth itself, the flute.
William Marks
So true, and it was used a lot by the Anasazi and other Southwestern tribes as a way of communicating with the waters of the atmosphere as well as with the waters of the earth.
Alan Steinfeld
So what do you mean they would communicate? How would the water speak back to them?
William Marks
Well, they felt that it opened up an ethereal connection with the waters of the earth. And it was two-pronged. Their ceremony would last for up to 16 days. Held twice a year. And they would gather their waters from their sacred springs. And their flute playing was an invitation, and also a communication. They felt truly that the Native American flute, which is unique in the world in its design, that it opened up an ethereal connection, let’s say, a broadband line with the atmosphere and the waters of the atmosphere, whereby it would hear their request, their connection, their communication with their flute music, and their invitation for the waters to come and water their crops and to give them sustenance.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, it’s interesting, the association between weeping, that weeping fluid, and the tears, and the water from the eyes. It somehow has so much poetic significance that way, as well.
William Marks
It does, Alan, as well as toning, that we know. Toning, and the connection that toning gives each cell in our bodies for healing, as well as the om with the healing of the earth and ourselves.
Alan Steinfeld
Yeah. Well, let’s talk about it. I mean, the water, the understanding of water, the consciousness of water. I’ve done a show on water before about the bioplasmic field water creates. But you have a, I mean, we can get into this new book, but also your history around water. And, you know, the depth, let’s say, of what water means. Can you give us a little background? How did you get into water as such a phenomenon? Because you are truly one of the experts in the world with your, the Holy Order of Water, and now this new book called The Water Voices. So what’s your background?
William Marks
Well, my background, Alan, is that I was raised on an organic farm in Northwestern New Jersey in a valley that was carved by the glaciers and left very fertile sediments there. And it was a habitat for the Lenni Lenape Indian tribe. And we were turning up arrowheads all the time in our garden. And there was a living stream that flowed through our farm with native trout, a lot of native species, amphibian species, turtles, painted turtles, many which are now endangered. But that was my exposure from youth, and I always had this affinity for water. In fact, when I was very young, six years old, my dad helped my brother and I, we built a little what we called a tree fort over the stream in a tree so that my brother and I could lay up there and watch all the wildlife come and go in the stream.
Alan Steinfeld
But you got into water in a deeper way. It’s like water from your research is consciousness. You say it’s pervasive throughout the… I mean, it’s the substance of life. I mean, how do you understand or how do you describe what water truly is in terms of consciousness? What’s your thought there?
William Marks
Well, the water, without water consciousness, we wouldn’t even be talking right now and people would not be listening. I mean, just the facility of listening is something that’s facilitated by the vortex composition of the inner ear and the water within there. But, yes, the consciousness, and I’ve said this before in giving lectures at annual conferences whereby I would ask like an audience of science teachers, and the question to the science teachers that I would pose would be, “What if there were no minds to perceive this reality? Would this reality be known to exist?” And, of course, you know, an audience of 200, 300 teachers, science teachers from throughout the United States, there’d be dead silence. And you’re looking up at me. And then finally, you get someone who raises their hand. And they say, “Well, of course, if there were no minds to perceive this reality, it could not be known to exist.” And now, of course, we know our minds are made up of mostly water. It’s the one organ in our body that has the most water.
Alan Steinfeld
Oh, your brain, you mean?
William Marks
The brain, exactly. Yes, the brain, the brain itself, this physiological brain in which so-called then we have the mind of the body, the mind that’s facilitated by the brain. In the upper chakra, etc. But just that alone, that the manifestation of thought and consciousness manifests in the brain, where most of the water in our body is, 20% of our body water, you know it’s 1/50th that organ is 1/50th of the weight of our body. So there’s a direct connection there alone. So here we have the manifestation of conscious within our beings, so that we can have this mind to perceive the existence of the universe. And when you think about it, Alan, it goes back to, you know, if there was no one in the forest, would they hear the tree fall, or the one hand clapping. And all those other things. So if there were no minds to perceive the universe, the universe would not be known to exist, and perhaps, just perhaps, it would not exist, because it’s a state of mind. It’s an interactive intelligence.
Alan Steinfeld
So is water necessary for consciousness and life, you would say throughout the universe itself?
William Marks
Yes, I would say so, and your mythologies and your religions corroborate that. Common sense tells us that this is so, and I kind of think innately many of us feel that that is true.
Alan Steinfeld
So it is what they call the universal elixir, but it’s the universal substance it seems, of life. And you say it’s pervasive throughout the universe itself. You say even stars have water on them.
William Marks
Yes, that’s a relatively recent discovery when we have these sub-millimeter wave analysis satellites that they call them SWAS. And anyhow, they’re used to look for water throughout the universe. And these sub-millimeter wave astronomy satellites, what they do is they pick up the signature of molecules of water. And lo and behold, when they were first launched and they were looking out into the universe for the signature of water, they picked up a signature of water toward our sun. And they thought there was something wrong with the satellites, so they sent signals to recalibrate it. And again, they got this water signature from our sun. Now, you have to think our minds at that time, Alan…
Alan Steinfeld
Well, sure. How could there be water on the sun? Well, they still think that. I mean, I would still think that if I didn’t know you and your research.
William Marks
Well, you’re exceptional. You’re an unusual human being. But no, but really, I mean, the sun is hot. I mean, how can there really be water? Where does that water come from? It doesn’t make sense. Well, we have hydrogen on our sun. And part of the molecular production, we have the production of oxygen on our sun. Because it’s a chemical manufactured producing all the elements there. Of course, and we are all derived from what our stars are composed of. So what they discovered was that the sun regulates itself from overheating by creating superheated steam, whereby the oxygen and the hydrogen combine to form superheated steam, and the steam manifests very frequently in sunspots, which are the explosions out from the sun to relieve itself of heat.
Alan Steinfeld
So sun spots are actually the sun letting off some steam and cooling itself, is what…
William Marks
That’s exactly it. Now, Alan, on that note, we go back to Thales of Miletus. The Ionian philosopher. And now what does Thales say? Back in his day, thousands of years ago, he said that even the bodies, the heavenly bodies of the universe are composed of water, and yea, they exhale water, our fiery bodies of the universe. So here he was telling us thousands of years ago that our stars and our sun, the fiery bodies of our universe exhale water. God knows he was in a space that we cannot at this time in history determine. Like there were so many things he forecast the eclipse, the solar eclipse, when there was no known way to forecast an eclipse in any civilization on Earth, never mind to forecast it at a latitude and longitude like he did. So he was a being on a different level. Just beyond, very unusual human being, kind of like Viktor Schauberger. He had a communication of knowledge with water.
Alan Steinfeld
And this is some of the stuff you get to in your first book about water, the Holy Order of Water.
William Marks
Yes, that is expressed in my first book, The Holy Order of Water, Healing Earth’s Waters and Ourselves. That book, which was endorsed on the cover by Walter Cronkite. And Ted Danson. I met Walter Cronkite on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Such a beautiful, beautiful place of water. And he sponsored my research into solving some terrible pollution from the yachts that would come here to race during the summer.
Alan Steinfeld
How did you solve that pollution?
William Marks
Ah, first we had to document it. And so we would establish a baseline, early in the season before the yachts came into the Edgartown Harbor. And, as soon as the boats started arriving, and especially prior to the yacht races, and little did they know I was out there in my boat very nonchalantly putt-putting around, but there I was taking samples with an assistant all over the harbor. And on race day, once you know it, they’re all dumping their heads into the harbor, so when they got into the outer harbor to begin their race, they would have gotten rid of the weight. To give them a little racing edge. But it just bumped up the bacterial levels in the harbor to such extremes that they were too numerous to count and so the water in the entire harbor were unsafe for swimming and shellfish, etc. And we did solve that problem, thanks to Walter. He walked in with all the results of my study. He walked into the selectmen’s office. And he set it down in front of them, and my laboratory was state-certified, so the results would hold up in court. And he said, “I’m embarrassed.” He said, “I’m embarrassed by this town. He said I’m embarrassed by the yacht club, the New York Yacht Club.” And he put down the facts, the research results, which told the tale, and as a result the following year they sealed the heads of boats coming into the harbor. They changed the starting line of the race to further out in Vineyard Sound. And, most importantly, they made available a portable pump-out boat that would go around the harbor and pump out the heads of anyone that flagged them down for free to get rid of the waste.
Alan Steinfeld
Ah, and to save the harbor, for sure.
William Marks
Absolutely, Alan. Yes.
Alan Steinfeld
So is that, is that now a standard thing in a lot of races now?
William Marks
Oh, it’s standard here. It’s been with us now for quite a few years since we did that study and Walter walked in and exposed it. So, and it’s also been a model for other harbors in the Northeast.
Alan Steinfeld
But, you know, before we get into the Water Voices book, how do we clean up the water, the pollution on the planet? How do you see a way of solving that major problem here?
William Marks
Well, that is a big question. That’s a super big question.
Alan Steinfeld
Is there a way of solving it? I mean, there’s so many people and so little space, really.
William Marks
Well, what you’re looking at is basically what Gilbert Grosvenor, the chairman of National Geographic, has expressed, and that is if humankind does not change the way we relate to water and how we manage water, that he is forecasting and the scientists and others of his ilk are forecasting the collapse of our civilization.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, how do we change the way we relate to water? What’s the model we would use?
William Marks
Well, what you’re looking at, when you talk about water, Alan. It permeates our biosphere. And our biosphere goes up to the upper stratosphere, permeates the atmosphere, the air we breathe, with water vapor, and then it goes down into our earth. And we now know that on the bottom of some of the deepest regions of our oceans, our biosphere produces life through the outgassing, and we know that they have discovered unique forms of microbes that live under extraordinary heat and pressure two miles down in rock into our earth, but again what is the most important factor is the presence of moisture to enable these life forms to exist. And they are unique, and we do have new life forms manifesting on the face of the earth.
Alan Steinfeld
Right, so how do we change our relationship to? What is a proper relationship?
William Marks
Well, the proper relationship, and here is another key thing I’d like to preface in answering your question, Alan. First of all, we cannot destroy water. All right? Water has, and permeates the universe, we now know this. Water has existed for untold billions and billions of years. We cannot age water. It’s impossible for science to even guestimate the age of water. It is that ancient in the universe, it may even predate the universe. So, therefore, we, as humankind, when we hear of someone saying, “We’re going to destroy all the life on Earth. Oh, God, we’re going to pollute the waters and it’s going to kill all the life.” That is such egocentric puffery, it’s almost laughable. Our power is so limited. All we do, Alan, by polluting the water, mismanaging it, putting up dams, contaminating our biosphere, all we are doing is, when we see extinction of species, we have problems with global warming that we exacerbate. But all we are doing when you think about it, we’re messing it up for ourselves and our children and our children’s children. We’re messing it up for our species. Now when you wipe out the beauty of some species that have gone extinct because of our behavior, what does it do? It takes away from something in the ecosystem so it’s not as rich and varied, which, of course, is important for our survival. But also, too, it robs away perhaps listening to a unique birdsong, perhaps seeing a unique configuration of form or color.
Alan Steinfeld
So it enriches our lives, and nature enriches us. And our spiritual passage here in our limited time.
William Marks
Right. So that alone, just to give you a preface, what we do is we mess it up for ourselves.
Alan Steinfeld
So what is the proper reorientation and relationship that we need to have to water, which is the very fundamental of life?
William Marks
Right, the very fundamental, to try and put it simplistically, we are a very rare species in the regard that we have this imaginative creative intelligence that allows us to alter and manipulate the reality that we pass our time in. So we see this in our inventions and our technologies. However, what we cannot do is create life. We can create Frankenstein, let’s say. You know, that old Shelley, the Frankenstein concepts like, that’s beyond us. We can manipulate the genetic coding that is here, which we do, and sometimes to our dismay and hardship. But what we do, and we do it very well, we resurrect pollutants that were buried over hundreds of millions of years beneath the surface of the earth to allow the evolution of life as we know it today, even for ourselves. The air to be clean, without chemicals, the soils not to have poisons in them, that we call poisons because they’re poisonous to us. And so that higher life forms may evolve in the oceans and the streams and the ponds and the lakes and the forests.
Alan Steinfeld
So what do we need to do in order to understand, and how do we change a reality of water being separate from us, and somehow show the sacredness, the life-carrying force? I mean, how do we get a population on the planet to recognize what we need to take care of, I guess I’m asking. I mean, what do we need to do to have people wake up?
William Marks
Well, you said just then, Alan, about water being separate from us.
Alan Steinfeld
Yeah, that’s what people think, that’s why they lost the connection, I guess.
William Marks
Lost the connection because water, the water that is here is recycled continuously through all life, and it is continuously cycled through us in the food we eat, and the water we drink, and the air we breathe. So, there is no separation.
Alan Steinfeld
And our bodies, what percentage?
William Marks
Our blood is about 80% water. Our brains 85%. Even our muscle tissue is 75% water.
Alan Steinfeld
And our planet is how much water?
William Marks
70%, 75%.
Alan Steinfeld
That’s amazing. So, those ratios are pretty intriguing. So in this new book called Water Voices from Around the World, you have 77 different authors writing letters to the people of the earth addressing water. I mean, you have people like Mikhail Gorbachev, Jane Goodall, Ted Danson, you mentioned. Kofi Annan. You have the President of Tajikistan who started the Decade of Water at the UN. What do you want to read? Some of these letters are parts of them. You have Pete Seeger. You have people who’ve really dedicated their lives to… You have Desmond Tutu. You have Archbishop Tutu. I mean, what letters of these? Because it’s a beautifully laid out book.
William Marks
Yeah, there are over 400 photographs relative to water from around the planet that compliment these letters. But if I may, not to get away from this trend of thought that we were segueing into, in answer to your question that we were working on relative to what we can do… What we can do. And it is kind of simple but again, we’re unique as a species on the planet Earth because we’re the only species that creates non-living forms. That we transform the resources of the planet, we create metals, we take chemicals, and we transform them into plastic. So we are unique in regards to our behavior in creating non-living entities. Now, again, the biosphere of our planet, that where water brings forth life in the atmosphere, on the surface and below the surface, that biosphere has a limited amount of energy, and we know this. It’s called the law of energy conservation, which is a basic law of physics, the foundation of physics, whereby you cannot destroy energy. What you do is you transform it into something else. The energy takes another form. So we take, for instance, we’ll take different chemicals and we use energy to transform them into let us say plastic. Okay, so now that plastic itself is composed of molecules and atoms, which take up space, but basically now they’re not organic, meaning that they do not break down, and they’re not a source of food. So they become destructive elements to the rest of our family of living creatures. And ourselves because they interrupt that cycle. That flow in the biosphere of energy from life, and the recycling of that energy back into life through the organic matter, through plants, through bacteria, through water. And that cycle is disrupted by our creation. Now, when we create these let’s just stay with plastics. We take energy out of the biosphere, electricity perhaps, hydro power. We take the chemicals, and we mine them. We have a building that then they, of course, as we combine them, they release these noxious, poisonous chemicals into the atmosphere. So we take energy out of the biosphere to create these plastic non-living entities, and then they release a poisonous gas, and then as they break down, like the plastic bottle for drinking water takes up to 1000 years to break down…
Alan Steinfeld
And we throw away approximately 35 million of these water bottles, plastic water bottles, every day. 35 million every day?
William Marks
Every day. And it’ll take up to 1000 years to break down each one. So what we do… What does that say? Now, again, it’s interrupting that beautiful, life-giving cycle.
Alan Steinfeld
Right. The image that just came to me when you were talking about interrupting that cycle is that we are creating dead ends for the renewable resources of the living earth. We’re shutting actually parts of the earth’s life off by creating these toxic entities.
William Marks
Yes. Right. So we’re disrupting the earth itself. We’re suffocating the earth and its waters. And we’re interrupting a beautiful harmony that evolved over billions of years. And, you know, it’s so important for people to grasp the simplicity of this answer. In the fact that when you awaken and you begin to see this, well, what are your choices on the very simplest of levels? Do you need that plastic flamingo in the front yard to survive?
Alan Steinfeld
Well, the bigger irony is that people think they’re drinking healthy water by buying these plastic, you know, waters from around the world. And they’re really, you know, think they’re doing something for themselves, but they’re not doing anything for the planet. I mean, that’s a real irony, all these Poland Spring waters and all those other things that are just everywhere.
William Marks
Well, there’s a consciousness awakening to that very fact whereby your higher-end restaurants that used to sell these waters from all over the planet are now selling water from local sources.
Alan Steinfeld
And glass is a lot more biodegradable. Why can’t we use glass again?
William Marks
Much more biodegradable, but here is the conundrum about using glass to put in water. Yes, you’re right. The integrity of the water is much higher in glass. However, again, it’s all energy in a biosphere. And so you’re taking water, let’s say that bubbles up in California and a beautiful spring. And you put it into a glass container. Now that takes energy just to do, create the glass, to collect it, and now you’re going to ship it to let’s say China. Or New York. But it takes now a tremendous amount of energy because water, one of the beautiful things about water is it does carry a lot of weight. And it’s in our oceans, and that weight is what balances our weather, and it moderates it, so it’s quite beautiful in its composition in that regard. But again, it’s taking tremendous amounts of energy to fly this water across the ocean. The energy, now we’re taking so much energy to move that water in the glass jars, and to send it around the earth on jets and ships and what have you. So it’s a negative to the biosphere. You’re taking energy living that otherwise, now here’s the key element, it’s pretty simple again. We’re taking the energy that otherwise would be invested, invested in a living world, and in creating other life forms, evolving life forms, new life forms. And we, the human being, is taking, stealing that energy away from the life force of the biosphere and investing it into non-life.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, that’s why I don’t drink Fiji water. It’s the most ridiculous thing in the world.
William Marks
Ridiculous. Insanely so. I mean, it actually does taste good. It tastes like good water, but it’s just insane to ship water from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the East Coast. I mean, ah. And it’s not good water because it’s been in that container sometimes for a very long period of time. Water, whatever water touches, it acquires the properties of. So the plasticizers, plastic again, is something that is again not life-affirming, and it is a chemical, and its composition. So yes, over time, you have, if perhaps it was in a hot building or a hot truck in its transportation, it’s getting bounced around, so it’s not really healthy water.
Alan Steinfeld
So all those plastic molecules, some of them get into the water. Inevitably. So let’s get to the book because I appreciate that, but did we answer about then how we can actually think of water differently.
William Marks
Yes, we did. We touched on it but not.
Alan Steinfeld
So just give us a little more about how people can think of water differently.
William Marks
Well, when you think of water, you’re thinking of the biosphere and again the limited amount of energy that is in the biosphere. So, think of every action you take in your life. What you buy, you know, the plastic gizmos, the unnecessaries, the plastic toys… Even, and we are getting better because we’re now thinking using those words sustainable lifestyle, that’s right at least it’s in the popular vocabulary. But the consciousness hasn’t taken the step about the biosphere, and the water, and the life force in the water being disrupted because of our purchases and our behavior. So anytime you do something, and that your audience, any of your people who are listening now, think about every action you take, and every action, whether you’re driving your car, whether you’re buying something, and think, is this taking living energy out of our biosphere, and therefore taking water away from the living world, energies away from the living world so that it’s going to contaminate the water, disrupt the water, the cycle of life, the cycle of biodegradables? Is my behavior and my purchase, anything I do, is this going to end up investing in a living world or investing in a non-living world?
Alan Steinfeld
Well, you’re a lot more conscious than most people. I mean, but it doesn’t mean we can’t all start. I mean, everyone listening to this program can be more aware of their personal effect on the environment, you know?
William Marks
And it can be so simple, and your smallest gesture is helpful in bringing forth life on the planet. And here is another key element, because we are so unique as a species, and we’re having this awakening toward water consciousness, that water is the one entity that we know of in the universe that creates life, we are an affirmation of that. I feel that in the religious texts and theologies where we read that human kind is made in the image and likeness of our creator, our creator is water, and each of us is a water being. Well, to just to wrap this up relative to what people can do, I feel that we can, when you become conscious of your behavior and your purchases, your consumerism, on every facet of your life, we can, if you’re going to begin to use your living consciousness and your money and your behavior to help invest in the biosphere, the limited energies in the biosphere into a living world, what happens? You become a co-creator with water to bring forth life on the planet Earth. So you become a co-creator. That’s being godlike. With the beautiful creative energies of water working on a concomitant basis together in an harmony, so you’re helping to bring forth a living world instead of a dying world.
Alan Steinfeld
So when we act consciously in harmony with the earth, we are being creators and giving back to life is what you’re saying.
William Marks
Precisely. And what we’re doing instead of disrupting that cycle, Alan, we are becoming conscious of participating in that cycle. So we’re not disrupting it, and we’re going to assist it.
Alan Steinfeld
Right, and it will also give back to us as well, because…
William Marks
Oh, God, yes.
Alan Steinfeld
It’s amazing how simple. I mean, I will not buy that next plastic bottle of water. I mean…
William Marks
Thank you, thank you, that’s the good beginning right there.
Alan Steinfeld
I mean, I know I go through them like everyone else, there are a dollar, you buy them on the corner, and you just throw it away, but you know where’s that going, that’s…
William Marks
Well, we know that through the studies that you fill that bottle up at home, and with a simple little filter, because the bottled water you buy, a lot of it is basically filtered, the same filtered water that you have in your public water supply. And so if you have a little home filter, you’re drinking freshly filtered water that’s not using energy to be transported and put on shelves, it’s not sitting in a plastic container for an undetermined period of time. So basically, you’re getting fresh water right into, you can use a plastic container, but the residency of the water that you put in from your home is going to be in that container for a day or two at most.
Alan Steinfeld
So that’s a big thing people can do, stop buying the plastic. Get a good filter to filter the pollution, and kind of mineralize it or something.
William Marks
Even a countertop filter like Brita will remove, let’s say you’re water from your public water supply is questionable to you, or not the best wherever you may be. Truly with what we have today in simple little filters, they remove just about anything that would be objectionable. You put that into your plastic bottle and believe me, you have a superior product that’s healthier for you and for the planet earth and for the living world.
Alan Steinfeld
What about the minerals, getting minerals in your water, which people say are important too?
William Marks
Well, they are important, and these filters will not remove the minerals. Because they’re in solution.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, that is something people can really do. So getting back to the book, The Water Voices, what kind of things do people say? What do some of these well-known writers say to the people of the earth about water?
William Marks
Well, we have, you mentioned some of the higher profile names, but these letters come from all around the globe, from writers of every background imaginable. Yes, we have in 77 writers, and then we also have articles relative to some of the things that you and I have been touching on in this conversation.
Alan Steinfeld
That’s right, the voice of water healing and the water philosophies. Well, you mentioned Mikhail Gorbachev. Yeah, can you read a little part of the letter? He specifically wrote it for this book.
William Marks
Yeah, hold on, yeah, every writer addresses their letter to people of the world.
Alan Steinfeld
That’s a beautiful, I’ll, yeah, and… So that’s the way they address, that’s their salutation… To people of the world. Yeah, I just want to say I’m talking to William E. Marks and the website to find out about this book and some of the other things that William is doing is www.watervoices.com. Or they can just put in, if they’re doing a search, they can put in water voices from around the world and that’ll bring it up on the internet as well. Great. So, you were impressed with Gorbachev particularly, who I think is one of the great people on the planet. He really turned the whole Cold War around. He’s not even acknowledged enough for having single-handedly changed the planet, the political situation on the planet.
William Marks
Yes, and I will read you, you asked, I just when you were talking I pulled out his letter. I’d be glad to. I’d read part, that is almost a revelation about what was going on in Russia when he took power.
Alan Steinfeld
Right, so this is a world premier for Water Voices, isn’t it?
William Marks
Yes, it is, it truly is, yes, because it has yet to premier, it’s coming out that first week of September, the book will be here and it will begin to be available in bookstores throughout the world.
Alan Steinfeld
Great. I’m really excited. I think it’s a, and I just want to describe the cover is the planet Earth in the form of a heart. It’s a really beautiful cover. You know, that globe of the Earth, heart-shaped, with the continents kind of coming around. So anyway, it’s a beautifully made book, so yes, let’s hear that letter. All of these letters are addressed to the people of the earth?
William Marks
To people of the world. People of the world, yes. He says, this is Mikhail Gorbachev, “Access to water is literally a question of life and death. I first learnt this through my experience as secretary for agriculture for the former USSR when I inherited a crisis caused by the decision to divert the rivers which feed the Aral Sea. Decades later, this decision continues to destroy lives and has left an environmental wasteland. On the other hand, changing water policies for the better can have a positive effect on the environment, public health and education and give people jobs and a chance to lead fulfilling lives. The world is at a crossroads. This is the moment of truth.” That’s Mikhail Gorbachev.
Alan Steinfeld
Now, what he talks about, the Aral Sea… What happened, because we really don’t know in the West here.
William Marks
What, the Aral Sea was one of the largest inland seas of the world. Yes. And it was so huge that they would have large fishing ships that would go out there trawling and netting fish in large quantities. Now what the USSR did, and he was part of this as the Secretary of Agriculture, but he said he inherited the crisis because these decisions were made before he came into power. But they diverted the rivers that fed the Aral Sea, and the reason why they did that was so that the USSR could produce bumper crops of cotton, wheat, and other export, and also to gain independence from the world of imports. They diverted the rivers that fed the sea.
Alan Steinfeld
Oh, so the sea wasn’t able to have as much water in it.
William Marks
And now beyond, now this is, this is a horrendous story, and by the way, what we have in the book to complement his letter, we have satellite photographs of the Aral Sea in 1973 from, taken from satellites, and then we have 30 years later, 2003, we have the exact same location, a satellite photograph of the same dimensions, latitude, longitude showing what has happened to the Aral Sea.
Alan Steinfeld
It’s a graphic on this is mind-boggling. What, can you describe it a little bit? What happened to the Aral Sea?
William Marks
Well, what you see is a beautiful sea, a huge sea with some peninsulas from the land jutting into it, but it’s a huge, huge body of water.
Alan Steinfeld
Like the size of some of the Great Lakes, would you say?
William Marks
Yes, exactly. Good analogy. Okay. And then you see 30 years later, and that’s very brief time relatively speaking. You see just little patches of water that remain of the Aral Sea.
Alan Steinfeld
So it’s just patches, what’s there?
William Marks
It’s frightening because some of the photographs Alan show these large fishing ships that I told you about, the sea was drying up so quickly that we see now today these large fishing ships, which they tried to get out but the sea got dried up so fast, they’re sitting out on dry land today. These big fishing ships that used to go out in the Aral Sea, but another thing is when they diverted these rivers for agricultural purposes, they used again, they’re trying to catch up with the rest of the world, so what did they do, Alan? They used a lot of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides. So that they could produce these bumper crops. Now, what happens as we see in these hypoxic areas like the Gulf of Mexico, we have an area of over 5,000 square miles that’s a dead zone from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico to the very bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, 5,000 square miles, it’s dead.
Alan Steinfeld
What do you mean dead?
William Marks
Dead. Nothing is living there. Nothing. Why? Because of the discharge of waste upstream and the Mississippi River mostly from agricultural sources. So these dead zones, there are 150 of them around the world.
Alan Steinfeld
There’s no fish in those areas?
William Marks
No, there’s nothing, even the eels on the bottom are dead. Nothing, nothing is alive. The reason being because of the concentration of the chemicals, the sediments, and there is no oxygen. So it’s a dead zone. 5,000 square miles. It fluctuates, sometimes larger, sometimes smaller, depending on run-off. But in the Aral Sea, what happened was these chemicals that they used in heavily irrigated areas returned, flowed downstream into the Aral Sea. And over decades, what happened was the chemicals, these toxins, became entrapped in the sediments. And the sediments that came down from the rivers became heavily saturated and they were deposited on the bottom and the shorelines of the Aral Sea. Now, the Aral Sea dries up. And so what we have are these dust storms. Literal dust storms, it’s like a desert. And these dust storms pick up the sediments that have these chemicals embedded in them. And it creates these toxic dust storms that are dangerously polluted and toxic to anyone that breathes them.
Alan Steinfeld
You don’t even hear about those kind of things over here.
William Marks
No, well, this is the way our world is today. you know what we hear about, we hear about these people living in these houses and they’re all playing jokes on one another and…
Alan Steinfeld
Reality shows. Yeah, that is hardly reality. This is, well, what you’re talking about is the reality that we really… This is life and death, this is big games. I so… is there no way to save the Aral Sea? We cannot redivert those rivers. And bring back in there, and…
William Marks
It’s got… it’s finished. It’s gone. The Aral Sea, I doubt if we’ll see it come back, and I’d say if we were to stop diverting the rivers, which they cannot do because once you create areas of agriculture and you created populations that are dependent economically on these diverted river flows, it’s difficult to change back time.
Alan Steinfeld
Wow, wow. So that’s just one letter and one major issue that it addresses. And do you wanna read… I mean I know we could spend another couple hours on that which is a major… But what else, what else other major topics in the book?
William Marks
Well, one thing that’s curious about Gorbachev before we depart from him is that he is dedicating the rest of his life to helping the world change its course on this water crisis.
Alan Steinfeld
Wow, he’s dedicated his life to water, huh?
William Marks
Yes, and the rest of his life through Green Cross International, an organization he has created and heads up. But he is dedicating the rest of his life to helping lead the world out of the water crisis that we are in now. And also too, there are other profound people like Gilbert Grosvenor, the Chairman of National Geographic Society. He too is dedicating the rest of his life to helping the world, leading the world out of this present water crisis.
Alan Steinfeld
So we are really in a water crisis, it really is.
William Marks
It’s internationally we are. It’s going to take a profound change in the way we live and behave to change the course of history for the survival of civilization. It’s serious. And it’s also intriguingly serious because we do have the wherewithal collectively to change the course of history and change the course of whether it’s going to be a living world or a slow… not that the world would die, but our civilization would die.
Alan Steinfeld
Right, I did just see Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie The 11th Hour which addresses some of what you’re saying.
William Marks
What did you think of his…
Alan Steinfeld
I think they devote too little time to what people can do and they’re just going over, you know, how bad it is, which is important, but I think they, there should be a whole film just about what you’re saying. Don’t buy that plastic bottle of water. Look what it’s doing. It’s deadening the planet. It should be a whole film about that. I mean, you know. So I didn’t think there was… It was good, but it wasn’t enough what people could, what practical things that people can do.
William Marks
Well, now just through our conversation here, I hope that these very simple changes in one’s consciousness that we have just discussed, and each person will see and think of many things themselves that would contribute toward a living world where they would be participating in co-creating a living planet for themselves and their children.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, I think that’s important to show that people are, can be empowered to co-create, because they have been made to be co-creators.
William Marks
Absolutely, that is our purpose here. Yes, to be working in harmony with the life forces of the universe, and especially of water, toward that purpose. And how beautiful… My definition of heaven and hell, Alan, to be honest with you… is that we all know that, first of all, we really are not sure where we come from and where we’re going. But we do know we have a limited passage here, a limited amount of time. And please think of this, Alan. Most of the universe that we have been able to explore, we, in our definition, see it as being non-living because water does not live in the fluid state that we enjoy here. It, this is rare. And what we have so far explored in the universe…
Alan Steinfeld
This experience with the liquid water and the manifestation of life is rare. The watery planet we live on, yeah.
William Marks
Yes, and we know this through our astronauts and our probes with the satellites. So that’s a given. And we’re surrounded by space that is non-living as well.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, I think we may find, you know, life other places.
William Marks
We may, but it’s rare. And so is the living experience rare. So having said that, Alan, and here we are in our limited passage here, that the gift that we’re given of life, and we can see, smell, feel, sense, think, and we have this passage in this living place where there are other life forms. And every life form is precious because it is rare. So what does modern man do? Modern man, this is a recent phenomenon. Most human beings at this time in history spend their lives surrounded by non-living things.
Alan Steinfeld
Like plastic things.
William Marks
Plastic things. They live in an environment in an urban setting where they’re, the only other life forms they may come into contact with are other humans. Maybe they’ll see that hawk, that tail, male hawk up on the side of a building, or maybe they’ll go to Central Park and they’ll see some squirrels.
Alan Steinfeld
Well, most people think their computers are the next best living thing, you know?
William Marks
Alan, well said. Right. Well, so here they have this passage in this living place that is so rare in the universe. And they spend most of their lives surrounded in an environment with nothing living in it. And so now they leave. Let’s say they die. And so they’re out there in the spirit world. And they reflect now because they’ve entered into a realm that is somewhat infinite and ongoing and recycling. Whatever it may be, but there’s a moment of reflection where they realize that perhaps the rarest experience for their spirit in its infinite journey was to spend some time in a form, a living form, on this rare place called Earth, where all the colors and manifestations and the touchy-feely stuff happens, and you hear the bird songs, and you smell the flowers, and you see the sparkle in the water, and you can enter into the water and be surrounded by it. So, they leave this living place, and what happens? They, my God, I had an opportunity, the rarest opportunity my spirit could have ever have imagined, to be there and to hear those bird songs and to participate in the creation of life in that rare gem, that precious, rare gem in the universe. What did I do? I spent most of my life in a square cubicle with no other life forms around me. And I did very little, and with my living energies to contribute to that rare and precious realm of life.
Alan Steinfeld
Wow, wow, that is beautifully said and I think, you know, if people hear this they will re-evaluate how they choose to live their lives as well.
William Marks
I hope so, Alan. Thank you.
Alan Steinfeld
Thank you, William, we’re just about out of time. That was beautiful because I actually, I get it. I get it, and I think being in nature, feeling the living earth under your feet, and swimming in the fresh waters, and, you know, tasting fresh foods, I think that gives us much more of an honoring of who we are as beings, living beings. And spiritual beings, right, because it honors the spirit that’s incarnating in form. Yeah, thanks. I’m talking to William E. Marks. He’s the author of a new book coming out called Water Voices from Around the World, www.watervoices.com. I’m Alan Steinfeld. You want to end with a little flute?
William Marks
If you like, I’d be glad to. Just notice, you know, probably just pull us off the air as we kind of close out here. But if you want to, I’ll just say goodbye with some flute in the background.
Alan Steinfeld
Okay, Alan. Thank you so much, William. I hope that we will do more shows with William, and we’ll get more into the letters, the 77 authors of Water Voices from Around the World. This book will be coming out in September. And I have to say William Marks is one of the strong voices of water for the planet. He travels all over the world giving lectures on water. He talks at the UN. He’ll be talking in New York. He helped start the Decade of Water with the President of Tajikistan, and he has another book called The Holy Order of Water. So this is also William on the Native American flute, and thank you, William.
William Marks
[Flute music]
Alan Steinfeld
This is Alan Steinfeld for New Realities. You want to reach me, I’m at newrealities@earthlink.net. Thank you for listening.