Science writer and teacher Nina Munteanu returns to Ladner, BC, where she raised her family and worked as an environmental consultant, to give a talk about water.

Photographer, author, and limnologist Nina Munteanu explores the many dimensions of H2O—the practical, the physical, and the magical. Munteanu will share stories about water from her recent book “Water Is…The Meaning of Water” that explores our most incredible yet largely misunderstood and undervalued substance. Journey through history to the latest theories and bizarre knowledge—from the hardy tardigrades and intention-invoked water crystals to the Ojibwa water spirits and the Kumbh Mela on the Ganges and water’s quantum properties.

Munteanu explores why da Vinci spent hours studying flowing water and the vortex, why being near water makes us feel good, and why virtually all cultures considered water sacred.

Part history, part science and part philosophy and spirituality, Water Is… combines personal journey with scientific discovery that explores water’s many “identities” and ultimately our own.

“I’ve given this talk many times to a wide range of groups from Grade 8 ecology students in Mississauga Ontario to senior citizens interested in water in Langley BC,” says Munteanu, who hopes that her readings and discussions will provide new insights and perspectives on water. “Canadians tend to take water for granted—at our own peril.”

Most of us envision water as its archetype: liquid flowing in rivers, brooks, gurgling springs and surging oceans. We envision myths from the ancient creation stories to the current thoughts of today or of sacred rituals of which water plays an integral part. We think of its refreshing crystal clarity as the matrix of life. Science writer Philip Ball tells us that water is “not a personality but more like a culture to itself, with laws, arts, and a unique history and geography.” Water’s “public persona” has co-evolved with humanity through our various cultures and philosophical beliefs, fashion, and political and social change. Yet, throughout the millennia, water has remained water; it is we who have changed.