This might sound strange to you because, if you live in a place where water flows freely from the tap or shower at any time, it sure doesn't seem like a big deal.

あなたにとっては奇妙な感じがするかもしれません。だって、

It's just there, right?

あなたが住んでいるところは、水が自然に

Wrong!

蛇口やシャワーからいつでも流れてくるのだから

The only obvious thing about fresh water is how much we need it.

確かに大きな問題のようには見えませんよね。

Because it's essential to life, we need to think about it carefully.

水はそこにある、そうでしょう？

Right now, at this very moment, some people—women and girls in particular—walk hours and miles per day to get fresh water.

それは間違いです！

And even then, it may not be clean.

真水に関して、最もはっきりしているのは

Every 15 seconds, a child dies due to water-borne diseases.

私たちがどれだけそれを必要としているかってことだけです。

This is tragic!

なぜならそれは生活に欠かせないもので、

The most compelling reasons to think about fresh water, therefore, have to do with what we might call the global common good.

私たちはそれについて慎重に考えなければなりません。

This is not something we normally think about,

まさに今、この瞬間に、人によっては、

but it means recognizing how much fresh water matters for the flourishing of human and non-human life on Earth now and in the future.

特に女性や女の子、

How do we think about something as local as our faucets and as global as fresh water?

水を得るために何時間も何マイルも歩いてます。

Is there a connection between them?

それでも、その水が綺麗なものだとは限りません。

Many people assume that fresh water shortages are due to individual wastefulness.

15秒ごとに、水系感染症によって亡くなる子供が一人います。

Running the water while you brush your teeth, for example, or taking really long showers.

これは悲劇です！

Most of us assume, therefore, that water shortages can be fixed by improving our personal habits:

水について考える最も説得力のある理由は、

taking shorter showers or turning off the water while we brush our teeth.

私たちが世界共通利益と呼ぶものと

But, global fresh water scarcity neither starts nor ends in your shower.

関わりがあります。

Globally, domestic use of fresh water accounts for only 8% of consumption.

これは私たちが通常考えているようなものではなく、

8%!!

今、そして将来、真水がどれほど

Compare that to the 70% that goes to agriculture and the 22% that goes to industrial uses.

地球上の人類とそれ以外の命の繁栄にとって重要なものか

Now, hold up, you're not off the hook!

認めなくてはならないということです。

Individual habits are still part of the puzzle.

私たちはどのように考えればいいのでしょうか？

You should still cultivate water virtue in your daily life.

蛇口のように地方的で且つ

Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth.

真水のように世界的な問題について。

But still, it's true.

これらの間に関連性はあるのでしょうか？

Taking shorter showers won't solve global problems, which is too bad.

多くの人々は、真水不足は

It would be much more straightforward and easier if virtuous, individual actions could do the trick.

個人の無駄遣いが原因だと思っています。

You'd just stand there for 30 seconds less, and you'd be done with that irksome, planet-saving task for the day.

例えば、歯を磨いている間に流れている水、

Well, that's not so much the case.

とーっても長いシャワーとか。

Agricultural and industrial patterns of water use need serious attention.

なので私たちの多くは、

How do our societies value water?

水不足は、個人の習慣を改善することによって

Distribute it?

変えられると思っています。

Subsidize its use in agriculture?

シャワーの時間を短くしたり

Incentivize its consumption or pollution?

歯を磨いている間は水を止めたり。

These are all questions that stem from how we think about fresh water's value.

しかし、世界的な真水不足は

Is it an economic commodity?

あなたのシャワーと関係ありません。

A human right?

世界的には、真水の国内使用量は

A public good?

消費量の8％だけです。

Nobel prize winners, global water justice activists,

たったの8%です!!

transnational institutions like the United Nations, and even the Catholic Church are at work on the issue.

70％の農業用水と

But, it's tricky, too, because the business of water became very profitable in the 20th century.

22％の工業用水と比べてみましょう

And profit is not the same thing as the common good.

しかし、責任を逃れられたわけではありませんよ！

We need to figure out how to value fresh water as a public good,

個人の習慣も水不足の原因の一つです。

something that's vital for human and non-human life, now and in the future.

日々の生活の中で水の美徳を培うべきです、

Now that's a virtuous, collective task that goes far beyond your shower.

歯を磨くときに蛇口を止めるといったようにね。