What finally opened my eyes about America's over-consumption was when I lived in Greece, on a tiny island in the middle of the Aegean. We had whatever water was collected off our roofs and into the cisterns. There was also a spring up in the north of the island with water brought down in barrels by donkeys.

I had no washing machine, and we flushed our toilets with the used washing up water. We also had no shower until we rigged something up that could hold a few liters, and I learned how to get wet, turn off the water, lather and then turn the water back on for a quick rinse.

None of this was especially hard to do, (except washing sheets by hand) but when the summer came and we found our cistern was empty, I remember feeling real panic for the first time. Fortunately, we were able to keep going by buying the spring water and also filling the cistern with water brought in by boats from the mainland.

What this experience taught me was how isolated most Americans are from how much of the rest of the world operates daily. Therein lies the greatest tragedy of our country. Its difficult to empathise with those we know little about. Watching TV ain't the same as looking at the bottom of an empty water tank.

I'm not saying that only Americans are so isolated, please don't misunderstand me, but that my own life changed drastically once I left those shores and began to travel and live in other countries that had a lot less.

Yes, I do think that there is an ultimate responsibility for places that have more resourses not only to share them, but not to squander what they have, just because they can.

Since those days in Greece, I've also helped lay drip irrigation in Israel, an amazing technique now used world wide for smaller water consumption...and I can still only take showers that last about 4 minutes.

Most of us learn from experience, but in the case of the West, we can't count on that happening to enough of us in time. Laws have to change now, and more importantly, people have to understand that we are all on this same planet together, and will survive or self-destruct according to our actions..xx..e