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(FORI) in the mid-1970s to the early 1980s and read and wrote about the watershed and its components: trees,
orchids and other vegetation, wildlife, soil, organic matter, bacteria & fungi & other forms of life in the forest litter.
I learned that the forest was a watershed. I was happy knowing all that.
Today, I learned that I’m sitting typing this with my very new Core 2 Duo PC in a very old apartment sitting on an
ancient watershed. I got that from this definition given by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center:
A watershed is an area of land that captures water in any form, such as rain, snow, or dew, and drains it for a
particular stream, river, or lake. All land is part of the watershed for some creek, stream, river or lake.
Now, the Adarsha Report and the Smithsonian clarification both make me unhappy because I know I have done
little toward taking good care of this, our watershed.
The authors of the Adarsha
Report tell me further: ‘A
watershed is made up of
soil, vegetation and water
along with the people and
animals who are the
integral parts of the
system.’ That’s revelation
to me. So, I am part of the
watershed. Up to a few
minutes ago, I didn’t realize
that a favorite quote,
something I recall fondly,
John Donne’s meditation,
describes to me, in truth if
not in fact, a watershed!
The authors of the Adarsha Report tell me further: ‘A watershed is made up
of soil, vegetation and water along with the people and animals who are
the integral parts of the system.’ That’s revelation to me. So, I am part of
the watershed. Up to a few minutes ago, I didn’t realize that a favorite
quote, something I recall fondly, John Donne’s meditation, describes to
me, in truth if not in fact, a watershed!
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of
thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in
mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls
for thee. (The Literature Network, online-literature.com)
Beautiful! Now, let me translate:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the watershed,
a part of the land. If a clod be washed away by the rain, the village is the
less, as well as if a hill were, as well as if a house of your friend’s or of your
own were: any man’s lack diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for you.
There’s more to the Adarsha Story. The Adarsha watershed lies in the village
of Kothapally in Ranga Reddy District, Andhra Pradesh, India: 465 ha, 274
families, 1,492 heads. I gather that the Adarsha watershed was selected as a project area by ICRISAT and partners
precisely because it had all the negatives: lack of rains, frequent droughts, low harvests, infertile soils, no irrigation,
no villagers conserving water on their farms, little incomes. If they could make a difference here, they could
make a difference anywhere.
The Turning Point