Living Waters: Pulse of the Planet is an anthology about water as the foundation of life and about the profound crisis facing humanity as our relationship with water is increasingly disrupted. Curated and edited by writer, journalist and conservationist Romola Butalia, the book brings together diverse voices, including scientists, environmentalists, journalists, poets and water practitioners, to explore water as an ecological, social, cultural and spiritual reality.
A central concern of the anthology is the way human activity and climate change are altering the planet’s hydrological cycle. The contributions examine droughts and floods, disappearing water bodies, groundwater depletion, changing rainfall patterns, pollution, climate vulnerability, migration, and the ways in which water is managed or mismanaged by societies. While much of the discussion is rooted in India and the Hindu Kush Himalaya, the questions raised are global. Water connects mountains to plains, rivers to oceans, groundwater to the atmosphere, and human communities to the wider web of life.
An important feature of the book is the attempt to bring scientific and ecological understanding into the conversation juxtaposed with cultural and spiritual perspectives of water. Modern societies increasingly regard water primarily as a commodity or resource rather than as something with intrinsic value. Drawing on Indian and other traditions, the reverence for water, the anthology suggests, can also help recover a sense of responsibility towards it.
The title, Living Waters: Pulse of the Planet is particular significant. Water is “living” not only because it sustains biological life, but because it is integral to our planetary system. The anthology encourages readers to understand this system and our dependence upon it before it is irreversibly damaged.
Ultimately, Living Waters: Pulse of the Planet is both a warning and an invitation to change how we think about water. It points towards practical responses such as protecting forests and wetlands, restoring local water systems, harvesting rainwater, treating and reusing wastewater, and strengthening community participation. Yet its larger message is philosophical: we need to rediscover respect, connection and responsibility towards water.
The book goes beyond presenting a catalogue of environmental problems. Its deeper concern is with a crisis of relationship. Modern societies have become increasingly disconnected from the sources of water on which their lives depend. Rivers, springs, ponds, wetlands, forests and aquifers are often treated as resources for extraction rather than as living systems of which human beings are an integral part. The anthology asks a fundamental question: what kind of relationship do we want to have with the element that makes life possible? In bringing together scientific knowledge, environmental experience, literature and traditional wisdom, the book makes a case for seeing water not merely as a resource to be consumed, but as a living presence at the heart of the planet’s ecological balance.