The Waters

We have a lot to do with what happens to rainwater from the time it hits the ground, to the time we drink it. And our small efforts can add up over time to prevent catastrophe. Kathy Gee has great advice for us: don’t live downhill from someone else, and start a rain garden. And: Along Appalachian streams, people grew up watching the hellbenders swim around and fight beneath the surface. Now, their grandchildren have hardly ever seen the two-foot long salamanders, affectionately called snot dogs. Bill Hopkins says that what’s happening to the snot dogs’ water also has an impact on our livelihood. Later in the show: Water is a vehicle for social and political inequality all over the world. But Claire Payton says that the issue is front and center in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Plus: Abbey Carrico says that fictional representations of water help us make sense of life and death.