JANUARY

Photographs from Aaron Vincent Elkaim’s “Where the River Runs Through”. Elkaim (@avelkaim) captures the Indigenous communities that are most impacted by the Belo Monte River Dam in the Brazilian Amazon. This dam has displaced tens of thousands of people, flooded over a third of the city of Altamira, and permanently damaged surrounding ecosystems. Brazil is one of the largest producers of hydropower in the world hosting thousands of dams that are categorized as having “high damage potential”. Dams are among several industrial operations common in the Amazon that threaten nearby Indigenous groups and the natural ecosystems critical to their survival. Others include deforestation for cattle and soybean farming, drilling for oil and other commodities, and river pollution.

COMMON WATER quenches our thirst. Common water feeds our plants. As we derive our strength from this source, we should learn to appreciate its existence too. For water has the power to change its own course. It changes its form according to what is needed from her. Ferocious rivers, soothing waves, soft droplets; choose your form of power. What water are you?

COMMON DREAMS is the things we dream of with our eyes wide open. Lately, that dream is about having a healthy future. A planet that breathes, species that can live for another hundred centuries, forests that thrive, icebergs that hold their form of glory till the end of time. Have you been doing your bit?

The embrace of water// The oceans and seas don’t ask anything from us. They let us float, let us swim, let us in on their secret; life underwater. When I dive in the water, I release all my thoughts. Let go, the water says to me. As I let go, I welcome it’s magnificent beauty. How can life be this wonderful?