I’m David Suzuki, I’m 82 years old and water has always been a part of my life. I can’t remember a time when water wasn’t a part of my life. My connection primarily was through fishing, and my first memory from when I was 4 years old was going fishing for trout in British Columbia.

My “aha” moment about water—I’ve always said we are water, there’s no separation of us and water, we are part of the hydrologic cycle—but my “aha” moment must have been 10 or 15 years ago when I was out paddling on a canoe trip and one of the kids on the trip said, “Oh, I forgot to bring my bottled water.” I blown away, to this young person the idea of just dipping your cup in the lake and drinking it was something that had never occurred to them was possible. And that was my moment to say, “We are in deep trouble.” Canada has more fresh water per person than any other country on the planet, and if we can’t it for granted that our water is drinkable there is something fundamentally wrong.