Aired 21 July 2020 – 5:00 PM EDT
Interview with “Hydro-luminaries” Jim Lauria and Adam Tank
“We humans, without water, we’re sunk.” — Swami Beyondananda
A benefit of the current COVID-19 crisis – if there is one – is that it offers human society a chance to stop, to pause, and if we are wise, to hit “reset.” Reset suggests a stop in linear action, and then using the pause to access the wisdom that “busyness as usual” keeps us from seeing. It means seeing anew, and allowing ourselves to imagine how things would look and feel if they REALLY worked, and if they reflected our connection to the web of life and the web of love.
It’s fitting that we begin our Reset conversation with water – truly life’s most precious “liquid asset.” The Native Peoples say, “Water is life” because indeed everything we are, everything we have, everything we do requires water. Not only are we physically 70% water, but water is required for all human endeavor.
This week we are pleased to welcome two diverse “hydro-luminaries” – that is our new word for “enlightened visionary water experts” – to help us imagine together how our human species can work together to insure this precious WE-source is used wisely so that every human on the planet has access to clean, adequate water.
Our first hydro-luminary, Jim Lauria, is a leader in the water treatment field with a proven track record of revenue growth, profit improvement and new business development. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Manhattan College, he has traveled the world benchmarking the best global water management practices. While living in Hong Kong, Jim did a trains, planes and automobiles tour of China visiting breweries, oil refineries and water treatment plants to direct a $45 million investment in Chinese mining operations. In 2004 he provided peer review for the World Health Organization’s publication on drinking water treatment. As a writer, Jim has published feature and cover articles for most of the leading water industry publications in the U.S. and many top international magazines. His blog posts about global water management practices have received accolades from all levels of industry and government.
Adam Tank has over 10 years of experience in the water industry with a focus on innovation, software, and business development. As the Director of Software Solutions at Transcend he’s responsible for client success related to Transcend Design Generator and the automation of preliminary engineering activities. Most recently he served as the North America Smart Cities Director at Suez. He previously led, and sold, a robotics spin-out of the General Electric corporation which focused on cutting edge potable water pipe rehabilitation techniques. Prior to that he served as GE Water’s Digital Water Leader, managing venture investments and creating software solutions for water distribution challenges. Earlier in his career Adam served as an engineer in the CPG industry where he both lived and worked in Brazil, and led sanitation programs for General Mills’ largest yogurt plant in North America. Adam received his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University and his M.B.A. from the University of Arizona.
By the way, Jim and Adam are launching a new podcast called “Talk Water?” where they help other hydro-luminaries tell their stories so that more of us can know water, love water, value water and act individually and collectively to manage our most precious WE-source.
If you get the importance of “reset” and understand that if we humans can collectively and successfully manage water, we can handle any challenge that emerges, please join us.
To find out more about Jim Lauria, see his Linked In profile here. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimlauria/
To find out more about Adam Tank, see his Linked In profile here. https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtank/