Welcome to the weekly Third Degree: Tough, Brief, Weekly Interrogations on matters public and private that force thinking and response. This Sunday we target: Wearing the Albatross

  • In Coleridge’s epic poem, did the ancient mariner’s killing of the good luck albatross curse his much-adventured crew to an eventual watery grave?
  • Was the old sailor charged to wear the carcass in penance even to this day (see the statue, Watchet Harbour, Somerset)?
  • Does “nor any a drop to drink” prey upon us, we climate changed, accursed crew?
  • Must we endure a long and tendentious story endlessly recounted, mariner-like, by present day harbingers of doom?
  • Did last week’s UN Water Conference slacken the thirst for truth? Any expectations for international water week come August in Stockholm?
  • In this 70% water world, are the people on the remaining 30% properly concerned with good water availability and treatment too?
  • Do we seem to suffer an albatross curse of too little or too much?
  • Are endless California drought stories (worst in 1200 years) now silenced, for the moment, by moist mother nature while the Great Plains deal with very real Ogallala aquifer problems?
  • Can vast, arid. Southwest regions blossom if only there was water?
  • Is mankind’s answer adaptation and ability to deal with all kinds of weather and the many climate change curses so commonly and continually contrived?
  • Is the ability to control our own environment foremost? Anyone for heating, air conditioning and abundant clean water?
  • Is the sine qua non, cheap and reliable energy?
  • To get water water everywhere, why not harness the sea and change sea water to fresh and transport it to the place of need?
  • With two principle methods of water “alchemy” presently available (Thermal and reverse osmosis), can we also make a necessary, self-interest decision to rapidly deploy small, nuclear reactors to make proven alchemy reality and affordable?
  • Like “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, a long and modestly complex read, does the attached article “Desalination” provide the promise of cool, clear water?
  • Can we shrug off the albatross and rid ourselves of the curse?

Socrates reminds: “The unexamined life is not worth living. The answers and actions remain yours.

Special Thanks to Dave Pfanzelter , a valued Third-Degree sponsor (Chief Interrogator) for being catalytic and collaborative on today’s Third Degree and for providing the illuminating article–Desalination.: