There are events in a person’s life that causes you to stop and reconsider your priorities and look at things in a different way. We live in a busy ever-changing world and in many ways a society that becomes more polarized each day. For my wife and I one of these events was the birth of our first grandchild. It was a long time coming and at times we wondered if any of our three sons would ever make this dream happen. When you have children early in life you worry about being thirty-eight or thirty-nine-year-old grandparents. In our case my wife Carol and I were looking at becoming sixty without the joy of holding a grandchild. In the end it was our youngest son that got the job done and we welcomed Seamus Cleary into the world on September 26^th, 2018.

At age fifty-nine we have our first grandchild. What type of world will Seamus grow up in? What can I do to in a small way work to make sure Seamus has the opportunities that the generations before him had?

I know how much the world has changed in my life time. Some of that change has been very good and has improved the lives of a great many people. Advances in medicine, communication, education, and opportunity are things that have moved forward in many areas in a positive way.

We also have seen many problems with environmental issues, poverty, terrorism, and never-ending wars in several areas of the world. We need to remember that world population is growing at an alarming rate in some parts of the globe. In 2017, the estimated annual growth rate was 1.1%. This is a reduction from past years where growth worldwide was closer to 2.0 percent. The last 100 years have seen a massive increase in the population, due to medical advances, far lower mortality rates, and an increase in agricultural productivity. While a one or two present growth may not seem like much consider as an example in the United States in 1990 we had a total of 253,339,000 people. In the year 2010 it was 310,384,000 individuals an increase of 22.5 percent in ten years. That is an increase of over fifty-seven million people in ten years. According to the most recent figures from the U. S. Census Bureau as of the end of 2017 we now have 325,700,000 individuals living in the United States. The land mass in the country is not growing so it’s more people using more resources each year.

As the population grows so does the pressure on our natural resources including our water supply. We have seen the effect on changing weather patterns on our planet. Looking at the California drought, followed by the recent tragic wildfires that are still burning in the Golden State as I write this editorial, there is no denying that climate is now an issue we need to consider and plan for. The ever-stronger hurricanes and the devastation of infrastructure of Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria should be a wake-up call to everyone in government and to all of us in the water and energy industries. We need to take the politics out of the discussions about upgrading our infrastructure and work to make sure we have the plans in place to ensure we are ready for population growth and weather changes that will stress our water, energy, transportation, and communication systems. I think everyone in the industry understands that we need to invest in our waste and water systems to prepare for the future. Without these resources in place our economy will suffer and opportunities for education and growth for all members of our society will decrease or be eliminated. It is up to us to make sure that we work to ensure that future generations have all the opportunities we had and that the generation before us had.

I know that I plan to do all I can to raise awareness in both our industry and with the general public about getting our infrastructure updated and ready for the future. I plan to work for educational opportunities for people entering all phases of our industry to ensure the workforce is available to update and upgrade our systems for many generations to come. I also hope that in the future my grandson Seamus will follow both myself and his father into the plumbing and mechanical industry. After all The Plumber Protects the Health of the Nation.

Our children, their children, and all future generations deserve every chance possible to succeed in this life. Let’s all work together to make sure they have the tools they need to accomplish any goals they set for themselves. Pearl Buck once said, “The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible – and achieve it, generation after generation.” I don’t think truer words have every been spoken. Let’s make sure we leave a world that allows them to achieve the impossible.

About the Author

Sean is a 40 year member of the United Association Local 524 Scranton Pa. He has worked in all phases of the plumbing and mechanical industry and is a licensed master plumber. Sean is a Past President of the American Society of Sanitary Engineering. Sean is also the member of the ASSE Cross-Connection Control, Technical Committee. Sean is employed by IAPMO as the Vice President of Operations for the IAPMO Backflow Prevention Institute.