A fly fisherman since childhood, you learn that being at one with waters very essence is where artistry in fishing lies. From origin you feel its course, the life it holds, its rhythm. For me fishing is mindfulness, in modern parlay, not the catching of fish.
Taking a mindful moment to contemplate World Water Day this year, and its theme of Water for Peace, it’s clear how privileged our experience has been. What life you are born into defines your relationship with water.
Much of our work experience at Mark & May has a river running through it as a common course. Be it inventing washing machine technology at Dyson; kettle convenience technology at Strix; central heating water cleaning at Adey; countless kitchen and bathroom products exploiting the functional and experiential potential of water at Kohler, Kitchen & Bath; or waterless toileting with Loowatt.
Where water is cheap, plentiful and infrastructure is good we are insulated from the huge investment, energy consumption and environmental impact of providing a safe continuous water resource. Yet 2.2 billion people still live without safely managed drinking water and half the world’s population is experiencing water scarcity for at least part of the year. Not mentioning the impact on the natural environment, of which we, all too often forget, are simply a part.
So, we simply must care more and have the conviction to contemplate our resources differently. We are waging war on our planet. As war is the mother of invention, can we not reverse the tide and fight to preserve and not destroy, conserve and not employ and deserve our self-nominated role as dominant species in this world?
We can each play our small part. It is not OK to lazily default in despair. Especially as strategists, creatives, engineers and business developers. We design-in whole product lifecycles of resource consumption in the first moments. We must be meaningfully better each and every time.
Hats-off to those brave pioneers, some of whom we are delighted to work with and the established businesses starting to take steps. If only we could redirect more of this mighty potential to do more for good and not just profit.
Perhaps we can help…
Hi, this is a comment.
To get started with moderating, editing, and deleting comments, please visit the Comments screen in the dashboard.
Commenter avatars come from Gravatar.