Today, let's dive into water, something we take for granted.
I looked into the origin of water,
but there are various theories and nothing is certain.
Water is a combination of oxygen and hydrogen.
In the universe, oxygen and hydrogen are the most abundant elements.
Somehow these two met and water would have formed on Earth.
71% of Earth is covered with water.
That's why Earth appears blue when viewed from space, or so I hear.
It's because of water.
But this water,
most of it is seawater...which means we can't drink it.
Saltwater makes up most of it,
and freshwater...that is, water we can drink...is only about 2.5% of all water.
Even that 2.5%...
The North Pole or South Pole...if you go there...I haven't been there yet, of course...
glaciers are piled up incredibly thick.
Those glaciers are made of freshwater,
and most freshwater is also glaciers,
and water we can drink...
that is, water in rivers or lakes is only about 0.7% of all water on Earth.
I think I heard somewhere
that our country is also considered a water-scarce nation.
It's not exact...it's just what I recall.
0.7% of water is shared by 8 billion humans...
or rather, animals also need to drink it...and plants too...
so we're sharing it.
When we were young, we couldn't imagine buying water at the mart.
But now it's more expensive than oil...is that right...?
It means that clean drinking water is becoming scarce.
South Korea is likely a grain-importing country.
We can't be self-sufficient.
In the name of development, we turned over all the fields, built factories, built apartments, built golf courses...
That's why our country imports grain.
But what if...
this is a hypothetical...
let's assume that all global imports and exports were banned.
Since rice is our staple, rice would become scarce...
and we'd have to grow wheat, barley, and whatever else we've been importing.
We'd demolish buildings and create fields...
Golf courses, factories, and so on might also be converted to fields.
Let's say we work hard and create many fields.
We plant rice, barley, and wheat...
and everything seems to work out...
I mentioned earlier that our country is water-scarce.
The already scarce water
would have to be poured into rice, barley, and wheat.
We've only recently become a developed nation,
but falling back to a developing or underdeveloped country could happen in an instant.
You shower every day, right?
Showering would probably be only once a week...
and you'd have to fill a red rubber basin with water...
It might become a world where those who have water are the richest.
We're indiscriminately extracting and using groundwater.
Samdasoo is said to sell the most...
From such a small area like Jeju Island, it's questionable where they extract so much water.
It might already be on the verge of depletion.
Aren't cars falling into sinkholes due to indiscriminate groundwater use?
There is supposedly a way to turn seawater into freshwater...
but it's apparently not yet economically viable.
This isn't exact either.
Unless we do that...
humanity's future can only be dark.
I think I drink about 2 liters of water a day...
In a water-scarce country, isn't 2 liters too much...I have such thoughts...
And it seems like Bong-i Kim Sun-dal, who sold water from the Daedong River, might have foreseen this a few hundred years later.
