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This past week we were so lucky to sit down with the Jordanian NGO EcoPeace. Personally, I have never truly had an interest in the environment until now. I have never been more treated like an adult in such a professional situation. The 11 of us got to sit down at a conference table with one of the leading staff of the NGO. We had a serious conversation with him and could also ask questions. He was very invested in making us care about their water situation in Jordan, and by the end we were all very intrigued and moved by the topic. EcoPeace was started in 1994 as an ecological peace treaty with Israel, Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt... Until Egypt dropped out a few years later. The focus of the NGO spans roughly 70 miles to shores of Tel Aviv. EcoPeace believes that peace within the region could be established through a necessity to cooperate and share resources. The focus of EcoPeace is firstly on water, and then the increasing population that is affecting borders and politics in the region. The importance of water is seen as a human right that impacts Jordanians direct health and livelihood. Deprivation of water is a major issue in Jordan as it is one of the second or third most water scarce countries in the world. Due to Jordan's geographic location as downstream of the water sources, it is difficult to get access to water without sound relationships with their neighbors. Recently the Syrians have limited water by dams leading to Jordan, and Palestine's lack of water is not helping the situation. EcoPeace believes that the sharing of water is a key factor in political reconciliation. Water used as a political tool all over the region; as seen in Israel depriving water to the West bank, and as mentioned above in Syria to Jordan. Israel will maintain power throughout the Holy region because they have the water source. For example, Israel has a 24/7 supply of water whereas Jordan has incredibly limited access. As we were sitting in this conference room, we looked out the window across the tops of sandy buildings with large containers of stored water on their roofs. The EcoPeace spokesman described how often it is impossible to avoid having these containers of water contaminated with bacteria, larva, carcinogens, too much chlorine, and a multiplicity of other issues. It was incredibly interesting to realize how geographic location defines accessibility and monetary issues in a region... For example the Middle East has access to oil with a deprivation of water, while this is arguably the opposite in the US. In addition, we discussed the unfair distribution of water within Jordan and how there is clearly a hierarchy of accessibility. A lot of Jordan's water is wasted on energy to make and export unnecessary products such as tomatoes, bananas, and other products that are not natural to the region. I was particularly interested in this point of topic because of how decreasing the sale of these products will change their industry... what will happen to the people who depend on exporting those products? How will the economy be affected? How will Jordan be affected in a competitive market? Etc... I was lucky to get some answers on those questions, and basically the need for water outshines all of those questions, and an inner focus on Jordanian's health is more important than an outer trade focus. The conversation then shifted to the actual projects that EcoPeace was working on such as reviving the Jordan River... Which today is about 3% of what it originally was. The entire time I was sort of thinking of how frustratingly simple this problem was and how angered I was that Jordanians were not being helped. I felt the sort of angst Thomas Paine must have felt in writing Common Sense... Water access is a 2+2=4 equation. The spokesman discussed how lazy the UN is being and how tedious and difficult it is to convince politicians because they feel that many issues come before the issue of water. Surprisingly to many, if this issue is not solved sooner rather than later, at the rate Jordan has been suffering, in 20 years Jordan might completely collapse. He then went into the importance of the survival of Jordan as the stable pillar of the Middle East. With the influx of Syrian, Libyan, Iraqi etc. immigrants the population increase is making the problem only more severe. He described his anger towards the other Middle Eastern countries for example the Gulf countries who are not aiding the tense region. He said how angering it is that all the noise abroad that the region receives is negative publicity on ISIS across the neighboring borders, when truly the Middle East needs less monetary and military aid and rather humanitarian aid, because money will only lead to partial solutions. EcoPeace needs awareness, moral support, connections, and Jordanian and international commitment. Water is a basic need that we take for granted when many people in Jordan have hardly any access to it. The fact that water is used as a political tool is appalling and must change in the coming years before it is too late.