Overview of Podcast Shows about Ecology's Cyclical Truths with this One-of-a-Kind Special Water Character

Overview of Podcast Shows about Ecology's Cyclical Truths with this One-and-Only Special Water Character

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”– Albert Einstein

Who doesn’t want to hold our beautiful blue planet in protective hands, symbolically? Who doesn’t like a walk in sunshine, breathe fresh air, feel a splatter of rain or eat a fresh salad, baked potato with chives-up sour cream and a cool glass of clean fresh water? That’s a nice package with a bow of gratitude, but how many parts are inside this package that need assembly to make sure that nature works as programmed? 

Bottom line, if we can’t negotiate with nature, then we better relate to the interdependent parts and functions; so we can pass Earth's priceless gifts to future generations. 

To that effect, a Facebook ad or video, does not do justice below the surface. I am looking for podcast shows interested in discussing important questions about ecosystems, natural cycles and how to resolve disruptive problems.

On one side, I believe that the audience may be amazed at the many functions of  a water cycle or ecosystems in general. I know I certainly am, learning so much through research; especially feeling, that an elementary knowledge of basic facts is not good enough to visualize the depth, co-dependence and intricacy of natural systems.

On the other side, why me as a podcast guest? You might think I lack expertise because I’m not a trained scientist with years of study. But I am a serious, respectful Earthling human being concerned enough to educate and protect our future within Earth's finite resources. Also, I am a retired teacher with an inborn DNA to value education and share more learning in an organized, open-ended way. 

To that motivation,  I wrote a one-of-a-kind e-book about a water sprite with roots based on scientific realities. Below, note the previous blogs that address ten possible podcast questions and answers.

Here are two more questions with references to the e-book and possible podcast shows.

Why does the water sprite hero have roots ... doesn’t this make him immobile?

Can scientific facts be understood better through an imaginative creative license as a first person experience?

First, it’s no wonder that dominant water forces have also played important roles in the realm of imagination, folklore and mythology. The theme of water becomes the flowchart by which people can explore, understand and integrate their cultural values based on living together whether philosophical, social or even ecological, constantly responding to change.

• It’s very interesting to note the number of deities, named by the thousands in Greek and Roman mythology, who were ascribed powers to control the elements of all water. Their names were associated with seas, storms, waves, currents, sea-creatures, lakes, springs, rivers, fountains, marshes and ground waters. The most common was Poseidon as the king of the seas and lord of the sea-gods living in a golden palace on the seabed with his queen and son Triton who looked like a merman with the upper body of man and tail of a fish, calming the waves by blowing his conch shell horn.
• Folklore from Western Native American tribes talked about water babies as mysterious and dangerous water spirits living in ponds and streams whose cries could signal distress or fore-warnings.
• Modern aquatic superheroes display supernatural powers to champion a return to justice with extravagant cinematic powers that may momentarily dazzle without facts. 

But there has never been a character quite like this water sprite with roots. He is small, kind, sensitive, vulnerable as he is curious, speaks the language of Earth’s biological citizens. He personifies the total water cycle: he is the cloud, the dewdrop, the snowflake, the currents in a pond, the sap, the saliva, the solvent for synthetic pollutants. He is given the chance to pick his own name: Corddo-mont the Sixteen-Hundred-Billionth, the Variable, the Life-Giver, the Earth Sustainer or Cordd for short.

Why does the water sprite hero have roots ... doesn’t this make him immobile?

This water sprite is a highly specialized organism whose body composition is 96% pure water surrounded by two elastic cell layers, an inner one composed of cellulose and an outer one of protein fibers. Three characteristics:

• his brain is found in his stomach where it can better regulate his complicated respiration; sometimes inhaling oxygen or carbon dioxide, depending on the role of plant or animal he  happens to be in. 
• his heart is found in his head, directly connected to his eye spots so he can both see things and have feelings without others' observations and opinions. 
• for protection, he has a typical encyst button like a belly button in his chest, which can shrink him into a state of dormancy until a more favorable time for re-emergence.

One unusual characteristic is that he can be classified as both animal and plant for two reasons:

• first, he can also anchor himself into the ground by special root-retractors between his toes. Like any other root, he can absorb minerals from the soil and digest them as necessary vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates.
• second, his outer cell layer contains chloroplasts cells which are visible like green freckles. Because these cells contain chlorophyll, he can directly convert the sunlight's energy into food energy, namely sugar, just like a plant can.

Most importantly, he can communicate with any other organic life form because they share carbon as well as hydrogen molecules.Therefore, he can express their stories, their dangers, imbalances, fears, and hopes from their realities about cyclical truths essential to ecology.    

Hopefully, people will feel a special bonding with this water character; thereby, making an emotional connection through his trials, tribulations and inclusions of all lives in a balanced natural environment. As the water sprite falls in love, so will the readers in kinship and motivational affinity to protect Nature at its best.

Can scientific facts be understood better through an imaginative creative license as a first person experience?

There is a unique power in figurative language known as personification when you can give human characteristics to non-living things or ideas. Associations help to better relate to the object or idea and have a sense of empathy that it matters. 

What more precious bonding can there be than to consider water as a valuable friend, as a person and necessity for survival? You wouldn't hurt or bully a good friend, right? 

  

Here are a  few situations where I feel personification helps to focus on water as a real entity in its own right for sustainability and protection:

• how else can you describe evaporation from the ocean as frolicking with friendly air molecules, rising higher into snowstorms and freezing into a glacier?
• how else can you describe the joy of a plant bathed in sunlight and drinking nutrients though it roots, feeling its body structure becoming stronger cell by cell?
• what better way to show the family and community life of microorganisms, like rotifers, and their special bonding to fresh water except by developing mutual feelings of respect for each other?
• who can better describe the microscopic food chain than a microorganism called Stentor as part of the Great Ecological Cycle?  He teaches his class, “This is one of the great Cyclical Truths … if one part lives, then the other part lives; if one part is destroyed then the other part will be destroyed in time? Isn't co-operation wonderful, a true democracy through diversity?"
• how else can the horror of pollution be experienced except at a personal level and loss of a personal community with a forewarning of larger systems?
• what better way to personify people as a block called humankinds which contains their inquiry, progress and power; however, the onus is left to the individual person to be responsible to make a difference outside the block?

In the end, science and imagination synchronize and weave a fascinating story that only a water sprite with roots can tell; that in order to survive, we need to balance our Earth’s ‘Cyclical Truths’  and protect its ecological ecosystems. Most importantly, the hope is for children of all ages can accompany him and respect our natural environment even more around every chapter. At the end, we should all  care deeply for his manners, fears and hopes. 

What an amazing friend especially for children to get to know!

Your questions, comments and referrals are always welcome.
What are some questions you wonder about the Earth's biology?
What are some solutions you think might help to fix imbalances?

Sincerely,
Annnemarie
amarie10@gmail.com
833 471 4661
https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

This list outlines answers to previous questions:

BLOG:  Why is environmental sustainability based on biological diversity?
             What are some amazing Cyclical Truths discovered in a water cycle journey that                   may be less known?

BLOG:  What are the relationships between Earth’s biosphere, ecology, ecosystem and                     environment and us?

             What is the interesting relationship between a water molecule and a hydrocarbon?

BLOG:  How climate change disrupts the water cycle via the Hydro-logical Express - Cause               and Effect?   

BLOG:  How is pollution related to the water cycle...the worst pollutant of all

BLOG:  How does water teach us morality?  Does ecology have an ethical base?

  

              Cordd...the water sprite                             Roti...his best friend

How Climate Change Disrupts the Water Cycle via the Hydro-logical System Express Cause and Effect

How Climate Change Disrupts the Water Cycle via the Hydro-logical System Express Cause and Effect

  “It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living….You realize you are not immortal; you are not a god; you are part of the natural world and you come to accept that.”

  Sir David Attenborough

As the huge cumulonimbus clouds rise along the horizon, there is also rising concern about rising climate temperatures, but have you thought that the primary disruption is happening with the water cycle? This complex integrated system has many parts and functions linked interdependently;  if one part is un-linked, then all the other parts can be derailed.

Therefore, let’s use a concrete metaphor to show the cause and effect of climate change on the water cycle in the form of a large train with linked boxcars and call it the Hydro-logical System Express.  It moves through the Earth’s Ecosystems where all moving parts are connected for Nature’s essential synergy within the Earth’s Biosphere.  As you can quickly see, this road map is much more than a friendly springtime shower.

Water moves around the Earth in a water cycle with immemorial, basic mechanics: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration and surface run-off. Along the way, it affects water supplies, food webs, health, sanitation, and energy production.

Imagine, this natural process is now steaming through a time of Climate Change with huge possible interference by affecting the amount, distribution and quality of available water.  In turn, communities, industries and ecosystems can also be impacted, directly or indirectly.

Here is the Nature's scientific engineering fact: hotter climate causes more water to evaporate from land and ocean water. This also means greater plant transpiration which results in water loss in soil and plants.

Imagine there are five boxcars linked to the water cycle that show cause and effect:

ONE:  A warmer atmosphere can hold more water moisture; roughly four percent more water for every 1 degree rise in temperature.  One result is increased precipitation and runoff, leading to flooding. Another result, depending on geography, is less precipitation and longer drought periods.

TWO:  Mountain melt water and runoff provide more than 50 percent of the world’s freshwater. Therefore, as global temperatures rise, mountain glaciers and snow packs are melting at an unprecedented rate creating greater water stress in the habitats. Just think, glaciers can’t be replaced once they’re gone.

THREE: Valuable groundwater levels will be affected along with accelerated water competition and stress at the surface about its proper use without overusing this limited resource. Water quality will decline within the ecosystems as well. For example, higher water temperatures in lakes, streams and reservoirs result in lower levels of dissolved oxygen which adds more stress on the fish, insects, microorganisms and other aquatic animals that rely on oxygen.

FOUR: More precipitation will cause a greater pollution load to be washed into our waterways, such as nitrogen from agriculture, pesticides, herbicides and even disease pathogens. It’s simply another engineering cycle that all water will return eventually to the coastal ocean waters. This can create blooms of harmful algae and bacteria such as blue-green algae or red tide which, in turn, can damage aquatic life and  produce dangerous toxins for humans and other animals to touch or drink; thereby, hurting the fisheries, shellfish and tourism economies. A new reality called ocean acidification will need further study.

FIVE: As oceans become warmer along with an increased melt from ice  caps and glaciers, the sea levels will rise. This will drive saltwater into freshwater aquifers affecting the drinking supply as well as irrigation. These threats to fragile coastal communities are alarming as infrastructure and  economies try to cope for a roughly estimated more than 200 million people worldwide who live along coastlines less than 5 meters above sea level; a number that could reach 400 to 500 million by the end of the 21^st century.

Of course, the picture of a Hydro-logical System Express throttling through our land is a caricature oversimplification. There are far greater dimensions and confluences to the survival of the planet itself based on the variable living Ecosystems which aggregate to make the Earth’s Biosphere.

Each ecosystem has its own energy cycle which contains all of the living species and all non-living elements in any particular environment, whether as a single tree, a forest or even a puddle. This energy flows from the sun through plants, food producers, consumers,  microorganisms, and animals which ends with decomposition in order to recycle the process again.  Climate change may force habitat relocation and upset the food chain or contribute to species extinction. It will affect human land development, agriculture, erosion, flooding, droughts, or greater wildfires.

Still larger, the all-embracing and cohesive mother of all, is the Biosphere based on water, air and minerals found on land where all life exists below ground, above ground and at least 200 meters of the ocean and seas. Energy flow is essential to maintain the structure of organisms by the splitting of phosphate bonds. As levels of greenhouse gases increase, including more water vapor, the Earth responds with higher temperatures. As the Biosphere’s temperature increases, it becomes global warming versus climate change which is more localized long-term pattern changes in weather conditions.

There are arguments as to which degree human activity is responsible for climate change affecting the causes and effects of the water cycle. But there is no argument that such a wide range of human activities depend, directly or indirectly, on water and that future climate-driven changes in water resources will affect many aspects of our lives.

So next time you look up at some lazy cloud passing by on a warmer day than usual, or a tumult of clouds building along the horizon, please visualize the all-powerful water cycle connecting all possible links to precipitation, run-offs, surface water, pollution, ocean levels, ecosystems, communities and so much more within the vastness of this blue planet’s Biosphere.

Then, see yourself as one individual who needs to do your part which is morally right and responsible to keep your water in your space to be as pure and fresh as possible to make all life possible.

Questions and comments are always welcome and appreciated to further this discussion. What are some of your questions or experiences with water or lack of?

Sincerely,

Annemarie Berukoff

amarie10@gmail.com

 PS: It gives me great pride to be the author of a special e-book for children of all ages called The Incredible Journey of a Water Sprite with Roots on his Mission to Discover Cyclical Truths …

Read more about the introduction of how and why this story was written:  

Read more about the Most Common Question Asked about the Incredible Journey of The Water Sprite with Plant Roots with a Table of Contents   

It can be downloaded here:

Excerpt: My thoughts wander about the kind of ecology that humankinds believe in, as I have witnessed. Do they get it that natural life begins with DNA in a nucleus, one celled animals and plants, then species and then an ecosystem? Do they know that every small ecosystem is part of the total large biosphere on Earth that connects them all; water, air, food, resources, and shelter? Do they realize that perpetual growth, industry or destruction of any habitat is not sustainable on a limited planet?