July 2025: water is life
Each month, we break down our topic into four weekly modules. Catch up on previous editions here.
This week's module: CONNECT
- ✅ CONNECT | Conversation prompts on our most important resource
- 🎯 LEARN | Where your water comes from and what's going on with it
- ACT | What you can do towards a water-secure future
- REFLECT | Art, poetry, and commitments
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Here's what we'll learn today Reader
I'm in a crappy mood today, so I'm leaning into the poop puns.
Why are you in a crappy mood, Nivi? you might ask.
Just kidding. You're probably like, yeah, that tracks, there's a million sewage-worthy things happening in the world right now. Tell me what doesn't suck! Isn't that the point of this Changeletter?!
I promise I'll get to the positive stuff in the actual content (skip ahead to the next section if you're not interested in hearing random stuff about my life) but first, let me explain my dour attitude. Again, this is purely gossip, so scroll on for Actual Content.
Soapbox is my full-time job, and if I want to be able to pay rent + exorbitant medical bills, it means I have to do the demoralizing task of putting myself out there every day, yapping about joy even when I'm feeling like I can't get out of bed, asking people for money.
I recently got invited to do a 2-minute pitch for $10,000 that explains how we will scale. We did not get the money. This was sad. But fine. I get rejected literally every day.
What really sent me ✨down the drain✨ was the type of feedback we received from reviewers. Here's a small sample. The first and last are my favorite. (The first one though?????? breh)
- "I'm thinking that a more sedate background to your video pitch might be good, just to be sure your viewers aren't spending too much time looking around the room for decorating hints! ; )"
- "I understand that YOU literally are the lifeblood of the organization, but that’s not a selling point to donors or would-be ecosystem members. Too much focus on me, I, me. Could you share that you’re the one now, but you have an extensive network of mentors or advisors, or easy access to experts, scientists, or others to help build your case? Donors want both a passionate visionary and a swift path to redundancy. Yes, you’re asking for money for that, but pitch your organization so that its likely sustainability is more obvious. "
- "Raising money to hire someone is a tough sell, especially at this amount and in this market. Funders don't want to see their funds wasted. What if you hire someone and they leave after a week?"
I hope this made you laugh, or even better, mad on my behalf, or best yet, spiteful enough to donate to Soapbox to contradict them. SORRY MY BACKGROUND IS MY LITERAL HOUSE??
Here's the spite donation button. (Encouragement is great too, but honestly, I'm going to wallow in my haterade for a bit longer, so if I don't get back to you, that's why. But I love and appreciate you!!!!)
Okay back to the plot.
Today we're going to dive deeper into our LEARN module for our July topic: water is life. We'll explore some basics: how to know where your water comes from, flooding/sea level rise resilience, and POOP WATER.
Turns out that there is a looottttt to learn about water and poop and water again.
Ready?
THANKS Medha, Nathan, and Joseph for today's content recs!
We can't do this without you Reader
A wee lil note: if you enjoy getting these Changeletters and you would like to make a gift of reciprocity, a $9 contribution would go such a long way. Especially if you make it monthly! 100% of this work is me sitting behind my keyboard stressing about if anyone cares about this stuff, so encouragement and financial support is so greatly appreciated!
Thank you Sofia for supporting this week and Erin for putting us on your wedding registry! <333
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Your bite-sized action plan Reader
✅ LEARN by choosing an article, tool, or video to explore
Every CONNECT module, you’ll get up to four prompts to connect with yourself, others, spirit, and systems.
Your mission is to take what’s in these Changeletters and bring it into one of those dimensions.
- TOOL: Find out where your water comes from.
Isn't it bizarre that most of us simply don't know? We turn on the tap and it just...comes out? Even in drought conditions? I've lived in the United States, India, and Europe, and until this year (okay fine this week) I did not know where my water came from. You can use this tool in the USA and this one in the UK but the easiest way is to Google Ecosia ["place you live" + "watershed"]. What you find could shock you: one of our members, Joseph, learned that the rain his county gets doesn't actually feed into the place they get their water. Wild!
- ARTICLE: Learn about how climate change is shitting in our water. (Yes, I'm imagining Jeffrey Bezos going bathroom in my drinking supply every time someone clicks "Buy Now" on this unholy Prime Day. But it's not about me.) This story comes out of New York, but there are many lessons to be learned. One is that many cities' drains combine stormwater and sewage. This isn't a problem in "normal" conditions, but in overflow conditions (e.g. during heavy rains), THE POOP GOES INTO THE LAKES AND RIVERS AND OUR WATER!! It's a good time to investigate how your water supply works! The great news is that many municipalities are being proactive about this. Wahooooo
- VIDEO: Learn how China is building flood resistance with sponge cities (sounds fun, right?).
Did you know that flooding doesn't necessarily have to do with proximity to a water body? In fact, one of the reason urban environments are so tricky is because they mess with the water cycle. Rain is supposed to fall magically from the sky and then get absorbed by the ground, but instead... it hits our sidewalks and roads and is like bro what the hell. Where do I go. Why is Maps leading me astray once again. In China, they're thinking through biodiversity and nature-based solutions that help us sequester carbon, save plants/animals, AND prevent flooding!
Okay I'm literally crashing out so if I made any mistakes today or said something horribly offensive, please forgive me and all my flawed being-a-human-ness.
Byeeee
Nivi
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