To demonstrate the global importance of fresh water, and draw attention to its increasing scarcity, the United Nations has declared 2003 to be the International Year of Fresh Water. Water is the very blood of the Earth: it is the tear on the cheek of a child, the energy in a fuel cell, the nourishment in food, the necessary catalyst for the flourishing of all life. One of the greatest needs of our time is to recognize the crisis created by the rapidly depleting supply of water, and develop a global constituency willing to take responsibility for its future preservation and wise use. An original approach to the meeting of such a monumental challenge is urgently needed.

Thirty-three years after the first commemoration of Earth Day, the world's environmental predicament is worse than ever. If we really wish to make just and sustainable living a reality, we need to make strides towards achieving a holistic environmentalism, underwritten by a reverential ecology. By systematically studying, celebrating and publicizing the universally potent yet mysterious and enigmatic role of elements like water in the functioning of natural systems, we are more likely to unite the intelligence, hearts and practical skills of all those concerned to correct the deteriorating state of our planet.

To advance this aim, The Walter H. Capps Foundation, in cooperation with several leading NGOs, is organizing a series of annual retreats on "The Four Sacred Elements," as part of its internationally acclaimed program of invitational forums. The Walter H. Capps Invitational Forums have attracted leading thinkers, policy makers and change agents to Santa Barbara for over thirty years. Testimonials from past participants have demonstrated a great appreciation for the opportunity to join together with others who share a mutual interest in both probing the deepest questions of our time, and suggesting pathways of practical action that could improve the lives of future generations.

The first retreat in our series, scheduled from August 28-31, 2003, will explore the importance and relevance of fresh water from the twelve different perspectives outlined in the accompanying diagram entitled "The Sacred Wheel of Water." To date, this approach represents the most comprehensive attempt to explore this topic. We intend to organize workshops and presentations within each of the general areas indicated in the diagram, as well as panels and discussions designed to encourage participants to attempt innovative dialogue and applications across conventional boundaries of thought. Special attention will be given to creating a youth constituency for fresh water, and exploring fresh strategies for implementing recommendations that issue from the retreat.

We hope to examine some extremely controversial and difficult questions
during our time together:

• How can cultural traditions be utilized to restore a sense of reverence about water?
• How can public education be designed to support sustainable uses of water?
• Should water be seen as a planetary resource accessible to every being?
• Can we continue to view the human use of water independently of the intricate ecosystem that sustains our entire planet?
• Can the market play a role to ensure fresh water is provided through a fair and progressive system of pricing that leaves no being in need?
• Who should be responsible for restoring, purifying and protecting the world's fresh water from patterns of abuse that have rendered it polluted and scarce?
• Which of the primary uses of water are wasteful and destructive to future generations?
• Where do we draw the line between public demand, planetary necessity and private control?

At the conclusion of the Forum, we intend to draft a comprehensive declaration of suggested protocols that integrates the best thinking from each of the focus areas we have identified. Each set of protocols will be accompanied with a suggested plan of action to facilitate their widespread dissemination, discussion and eventual adoption by all those concerned to correct the ongoing deterioration of the world,s most threatened natural resource. The four days of meetings and discussions will be designed to facilitate the drafting of this statement. Each evening writers will attempt to put into manageable form the discussions that have been recorded that day.