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I never realized just how time-consuming it can be to manage a blog.  Originally, I had visions of updating it every day, and then these visions quickly protracted to hopes of weekly updates, and the reality suggests that if I make it once a month, I'm lucky.  Over the past two weeks, I had the unfortunate experience of being admitted to the hospital--actually two different hospitals with one day in between--for severe dehydration.  The real irony of this is that I was the water treatment and chemistry subject matter expert for PepsiCo for 12 years...a fact not lost on my colleagues at PepsiCo, "How could the water guy get dehydrated?"

 

At the risk of getting a bit too medical, it happened because I had been suffering from a gastrointestinal bug, which caused me to have diarrhea for about a week.  I should have known better, and immediately increased my electrolyte and water intake, but I didn't.  As if that weren't bad enough, I also didn't cut down the vigor of our workouts at the gym...lots of physical activity with no subsequent rehydration.  All-in-all, it was a stupid, stupid series of events for which I hold myself completely accountable.

 

Aside from the tongue-in-cheek irony, the dehydration was severe enough that it caused me to pass out at home, which was the impetus for my bride (a physician) to insist that she take me to the Emergency Room.  The experiences in the Emergency Rooms are fodder for another day, but--multiple tests later--the physicians decided to treat me for the GI bug, and prescribed a course of intravenous metronidazole and intravenous levaquin...both antibiotics to combat the bug and whatever secondary infections might have  arisen.

 

So am I writing this because I feel the overwhelming need to vent about my hospital stay?  Hardly.  There is a link to the purpose of my site and my blog...the water crisis.  Previous blog entries have already talked about the water crises, and I have purposely tried not to focus on the negative aspects.  This time, though, it's become personal.  A child dies every 15 seconds globally from a water-related illness.  The vast majority of these deaths result from--you guessed it--diarrhea.  Diarrhea just like that which resulted in my hospital stay...with a MAJOR difference...several, actually.

 

I had the good fortune to have access to a trained physician, and first-world medical services in the Emergency Room, and a car to bring me to the ER...and medical insurance to pay for my visit and my hospital stay...and easy, immediate access to the medications necessary to treat the illness.  Not to mention the balanced nutrition I received while in the hospital (despite the usual complaint about the taste of "hospital food")...and the social-emotional support of my friends and family while recuperating.  It made me realize how truly fortunate I am.

 

You see, the kids that die when the clock counts down those 15 seconds--by and large--don't have ANY of the things I just mentioned above.  None of it.  No hospitals (let alone emergency care), no transportation (or infrastructure), no medication (and no money to pay for it even if it were available).  And to make matters worse, they are often in this dire situation because it was their "drinking" water that caused the illness...and they were likely suffering from chronic and severe malnutrition even BEFORE the diarrhea struck.  A tragedy, for sure.  But the tragedy becomes unconscionable when you realize that most of these deaths could have been prevented--and been prevented easily--with relatively minimal funding and other support from those countries which are more fortunate.

 

The water crises are not isolated to the developing world, although they currently feel the impacts so acutely.  Future projections for increasing water stress and scarcity--and all the negative knock-on effects that ensue--involve geographies in our own back yard.  The problem is not "their problem"...it's "our problem"...everyone's problem.  We need to open our eyes, and act.

 

When I was asked to present at an internal PepsiCo Symposium today in honor of Earth Day, as difficult as it was to do, I declined.  The reason was because I had promised a colleague, Louise, that I would speak at an Environmental Careers session at Columbia University's School of International Public Affairs (SIPA), and couldn't bear to reschedule for the third time.  I had no idea what awaited me at SIPA, short of what I was told would be about 30-40 graduate students interested in hearing about my evolution to the position I currently hold.  Filling of the room was off to a slow start, but my capable, poised, and professional host, Erika, assured me that more students would emerge...and they did.  I started with a youtube video that my former manager (Bert) sent me just yesterday, and I thought it set the context really well.  If you haven't seen "Did you know?" you can click here, or click on the Presentations tab of my website to have a look.  It's five minutes well spent.  After the clip, I talked about how "Millennials" (the children of baby boomers that were born roughly between 1980 and 2000), have what it takes to change the world--or at the very least, change the course of the private sector, for the better.

 

My first exposure to an audience of Millennials was as a guest lecturer at Northwestern University last week (thanks to Ann Feldman, of artisticcircles.org), and now at Columbia today.  As is usually the case when I speak externally, I got so much more from the audience than they got from me.  To look out and see the audience engagement, and how their eyes weren't looking down at a text message, or looking over at their classmates...they were trained on the screen, and on the message I was trying to convey.  I started by telling them that the main message I hoped to convey was the importance of finding that holy Grail in the workplace--passion for what you do.  I cautioned them not to do work for the money, or the perks, or the influence, or--worst of all--because their parents expected them to do it.  I told them to find their passion, and pursue it.  It makes all the difference; it is transformative.

 

By the end of the lecture, I had no doubt that the passion was palpable in the room.  I had the pleasure of speaking to an audience of "kids" (I had to say it, since they all looked SO YOUNG to me!!)--of young adults--with a deeply-engrained social conscience, and the pleasure was, indeed, all mine.

 

With these future leaders and policy makers at the helm, I am more confident than ever that the world will see a solution to the myriad environmental crises with which it is plagued...with which WE are plagued, as citizens of the Earth.

 

What an appropriate and uplifting gift on Earth Day! 

In preparation for Earth Day tomorrow, April 22nd, I was planning to provide some really dramatic and heart-wrenching facts about how the planet really is in peril, as are the people, the animals, the plants, and everything that resides on it.  Factoids about abject poverty, the scourges of chronic hunger and disease, the lack of food security for billions of people, the inability of billions of people to be able to go to a kitchen tap and have safe water emerge...so many things from which to choose.  But, instead, I thought that maybe this was not a time to herald, like the character Chicken Little, that "the sky is falling...the sky is falling."  After shouting this too many times, people tend to stop listening.

 

Instead, I thought I would focus on--and try to ignite--the remarkable spark that lives within each one of us.  The sparks that could--if everyone cooperates in even a small way--collectively make significant progress toward making the planet and its people healthy once again.  That is, after all, what is at stake.  One small thing to make a difference.  The links below are sites that contain a wealth of information, but almost all of it is centered on action--action that individuals can take to make the idea of helping the planet "personal."

 

Thanks for reading, I urge you to visit the sites, and have a happy and impactful Earth Day 2009!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past Saturday, March 28th, marked what could be the largest Earth Hour celebration, to date!  You can read all about the initiative and the results on the Earth Hour website, but millions of people world-wide cast their votes in support of the Earth, urging world leaders to take action to fight global warming. The results will be presented at the 2009 Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.  If you would like to see very interesting before and after photos of major landmarks across the world, visit this site, and click on each of the photos (they toggle between "before" and "after" the lights were turned off).   This year is a BIG DEAL for climate change.  In December, in Copenhagen, Denmark, the COP15 will be held (Conference of Parties), which is where government ministers from all over the world will convene to--hopefully--draft what will become the "next Kyoto Protocol" for climate change.  In the same city in May of this year, at the World Business Summit for Climate Change, leaders of industry will have their opportunity to make their voices heard at what is arguably the premier lead-up event to COP15.  I am so proud to say that our own PepsiCo Chair and CEO, Indra Nooyi, will be attending the Summit, and will have a chance to very visibly voice her support of the role that industry can play in helping to find solutions to the climate crises.

 

Solutions to the climate crises...sounds a bit like "boiling the ocean."  Quite a task, but one which must be done, for the good of the planet and for the good of the people, animals, plants and every other thing that lives on it.  I think for people who have children, this idea of preserving the planet for future generations is something that comes more naturally.  After all, you want your kids and grandkids to have a healthy, thriving planet, right...even if, frankly, you might be long gone yourself?  For people without kids, though, it is just as important that you, too, embrace the concept.  How could you look at so many of nature's wonders...whether it's the beauty of a sunset, the majesty of the Grand Canyon, the complex elegance of the parts of a flower...not to mention all of those adorable animals that share the planet with us...and be willing to let it all die?  You might argue that it's nature's will, but I'd rather think if we have a chance...no matter how small and how difficult...to change nature's course, we must. 

As I mentioned, there was a fantastic celebration of World Water Day--to educate and bring awareness to this most significant of issues--in Tiruchiarapalli, India.  A colleague of mine, Claire Lyons from the PepsiCo Foundation, attended the remarkable festivities.  I thought this running narrative that she provided from the site would be of interest:

 

Tiruchiarapalli, Tamil Nadu, India -Held in the town of Kolakudipatti

 

A more joyful and colorful sight and festival I have never seen! The general concensus on the headcount was that nearly 30,000 women participated in today's World Water Day 2009 Festival outsidethe southern Tamil Nadu city "Trichy" - for the 11th year,  celebrating water and sanitation!

 

The NGO Gramalaya, headed by the very lovely, professional and dedicated director Geetha Jegan who is a key in-country implenting organziation of WaterPartners on the WaterCredit project funded through PepsiCo Foundation.

 

Photos also courtesy of Claire Lyons

 

 

 

Under what appeared to be an acre-sized tent canopy row after row of women sat fanning themselves in the high humidity of near summer temperatures. Women sat in their Self Help Groups (SHGs) - adorned and wearing the sari identifying which Self Help Group they belong to - groups came from and average of 60 kilometers today and some as far away as 90km.

 

 

Speeches, dances, food, water,  all of this highlighting the fundamental building block of water - and how it frees a woman and her family from illness and wastes of all kind once a household connection is provided.

 

One SHG clan claimed they have eradicated all diarrohea from their village because of their water connections, household toilets and following proper handwashing practices everyday.