We begin/began in the maternal, embryonic soup, in the pre-verbal quiet of the womb, before words like “purification” and “contamination” were spoken. Before the illusion of separation, before the world taught us to forget that we are mostly water. Water held us first. Water taught us to flow, taught us rhythm and pulse. The Cree say water is our first and most life-giving relationship — not something we outgrow, not something we leave behind at birth, but something we inhabit our entire lives.

On this World Water Day, March 22, we are called to remember the power and ubiquity of water. Water forms clouds, feeds forests, fills rivers and oceans. Water is not only the pulse of life; voices like Veda Austin’s remind us that water is intelligent, holding form, memory, and intention. Every thought, every song, every prayer leaves its mark on water. Indigenous peoples have always known this.

So, what happens when, as a result of advancing cultural dementia, a group of humans forgets? The intelligence of water is compromised, and the whole world suffers.

One of the most powerful water systems on Earth is the Amazon rain forest, a vast, breathing organism that releases billions of tons of water into the atmosphere each day. Clouds rise, travel, and return as rain, feeding forests, rivers, and communities far beyond its borders. Yet, for the sake of mere short-term profit, this cycle has been disrupted: deforestation for animal agriculture has literally caused the world’s water to lose its way–and the point of no return is near. All because of the belief that we are separate from water, that at some point in our development–evolutionary and individual–we acquired the power to leave it behind.

Animal agriculture—particularly dairy production—is a stealthy and prodigious thief of water. It drains and contaminates aquifers, depletes rivers, and dries out soils that once held life. Every glass of cow’s milk, every block of cheese, every ounce of butter, is but the spume harvested from the waves of an invisible flood.

• Producing 1 liter of cow’s milk requires approximately 1,000 liters of water, mostly for  growing feed.
• Globally, livestock consumes roughly 10% of all freshwater flow, and vast swathes of water-cycling forest are converted to grazing pasture and fields for the growing of animal feed.
• Waste- and chemical-laden runoff from dairy farms pollutes rivers and aquifers, leading to algae-choked dead zones and contaminated drinking water.
• Even “ahimsa” milk systems require far more water than assumed. (Sailesh Rao / Climate Healers)

These truths are powerfully documented in the films Cowspiracy, Milked, and Water is Love.

Sadhana Forest

Thankfully, there is also creative action at work. Places like Sadhana Forest teach a different way:

• Rewilding the land
• Planting forests
• Building swales and restoring soil to retain water
• Teaching communities to live in rhythm with water

In such communities, every tree planted, every swale dug, every patch of restored soil is part of a renewed conversation with water, one in which we help water–and ourselves–to find the way back.

Water Remembers: Song & Prayer

The Water Song, sung by Indigenous women across Turtle Island, is a prayer. It carries both memory and intention, reminding us and giving us hope, for:
“Water is life, water is love, water remembers you.”

Water may not have forsaken us entirely yet, but we must act quickly and collectively. As the Hopi say:
“The river is running fast now, we cannot hold onto the shore. We must keep our head above water and see who is in the river with us.”

Water held us first.
Before names and claims,
Before hands could grasp or own,
It held us.

It ran beneath roots before us,
And over grandfather stone,
Rose into clouds and poured back down,
Watering every thirsty being,
Encouraging every river toward the sea.

Then we came along and held it back with dams,
Dams to divert and flood our most wasteful fields.

Later, we poured it into plastic bottles, returned without deposit to the sea.
In the deceptive guise of jellyfish, these were swallowed whole
Or, eventually, broken down into microdoses and absorbed by every other life form.
This is what happened when we tried to lead water.

Perhaps, now, we can begin to follow it again,
Away from the desertifying land.
For to have no water at hand is to be forced to remember water’s power.

What if we simply stop clogging its flow?
And step back to see where it goes?
What if we only seek to plant where it is inclined to water?
Maybe it will remember the Amazon,
And find its way back there,
To start the cycle anew.
Perhaps it will ride the swales of Sadhana Forest
(for it is not opposed to our gentle coaxing)
And kindly refill our bodies in its purest form.

Recommended Resources

• Animal Agriculture & Water Footprint
• Climate Healers Resources (Sailesh Rao)
• Isha Water Footprint Awareness
• https://switch4good.org/our-pillars/cows-and-the-dairy-industry/

International Calf and Cow Mothers Day 2026

May 9–10

A global invitation to remember, to grieve, to tell the truth—and to take creative action to protect the mother-child bonds that make milk sacred.

Please join us at the upcoming Climate Healers Convergence on April 25-26 as we prepare for International Calf and Cow Mother’s Day 2026. Help us launch this inaugural event whose goal is widening the circle of compassion to include the mothers (and children) of all species.

With reverence and resolve,

Tami Hay & Anne Casparsson,

for the Million Vegan Grandmothers
Happy International Calf and Cow Mother’s Day
May this be the first of many!