“La terre est bleue comme une orange.”
[The earth is blue like an orange.]
— Paul Éluard
We call Earth the “blue planet” because of the tremendous quantity of water that covers it, giving it the distinctive bluish tint that we see from space. In fact, water—oceans, lakes, rivers and glaciers—covers approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface. Of this seemingly astronomical quantity, only 25% is in the form of freshwater, accessible to human beings for drinking. Almost all of Earth’s water is either salty or imprisoned in ice caps or groundwater bodies that are hard to access because of their depth. This is why we say that water is a scarce resource.
If we often consider water resources in terms of their vital, domestic, industrial and agricultural uses, we sometimes forget just how much these resources are an integral part of the physical environment that surrounds them. The Earth’s landscape is composed of a vast number of elements that, together, make up the thousand and one faces of our planet, rendered unique thanks to water. The immensity of the ocean, the powerful nature of cataracts and the eternal snows that embellish mountain tops form water’s many shapes, each adding to the beauty of Earth and making it an environment conducive to life.
Watch the ONE DROP™ video: Earth’s Beauty.
Published on January 8, 2010