Erin Brockovich - Supermans Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It

Someone once asked me, what would your epitaph be?

My answer: Someone who gave a damn.

Let me be the first to tell you that life takes an interesting turn when your name becomes a verb. Well, first my name became a movie and then it became a verb. To Erin Brockovich something has become synonymous with investigating and then advocating for a cause without giving up.

My name is also used to describe other people. Theres an Erin Brockovich of China. Shes found more than four hundred villages in her home country where the children have been sickened by their water supply. Theres an Erin Brockovich of Kenya, who is fighting lead poisoning, demanding compensation and cleanup from the government and companies whose factories have dumped toxins. Theres an Erin Brockovich of food, whose youngest child had a severe allergic reaction to scrambled eggs and now advocates for reducing chemicals in our food system.

But before the movie and before I became a name people recognize, you should know that I was raised in Kansasthe land of sprawling wheat fields and bright yellow sunflowers. Lawrence, to be exact, which is the sixth largest city in the state, nestled between the banks of the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers. Its a vibrant college town today with a population of fewer than 100,000 people. Like many parts of my home state, we had hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. The American poet Langston Hughes spent his boyhood in Lawrence, and he based his first novel Not Without Laughter, published in 1930, on his experiences growing up in small-town Kansas, tornados and all.

I was born in the summer of 1960 when Chubby Checkers dance hit The Twist was playing on every radio and life in America seemed rosy and bright. Little did anyone suspect that the 1960s would be marked by such upheaval and that by the end of the decade, it would feel more like our great country was falling apart. Rachel Carsons book Silent Spring was published in August of 1962, calling out the chemical industry and launching an environmental movement. The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, burst into flames in 1969. Images really can tell a thousand words and the dramatic photos made headlines throughout the country. How did a body of water ignite into flames? A Time magazine article described the river as so saturated with industrial waste and sewage that it oozed rather than flowed. That sight sparked major reforms and a newfound need for environmental action, which included the passage of the Clean Water Act and the creation of state and federal environmental protection agencies.

When I was a little girl, my father would sing songs to me all the time about water. Sometimes, we would be playing down at the creeks and he would make up little tunes. See that lovely water, trickling down the stream, dont take it for granted, someday it might not be seen, he would sing.

My dad was a star college football player at Kansas University. He served stateside in the U.S. Naval Air Force during World War II. He went on to work for many years as an engineer for Texaco and later for the Department of Transportation. He was a genuine hardworking American who loved his family. He and my mom were married for sixty-five years. If thats not a testament to love, then I dont know what is! They both instilled so many of their values about persistence and drive in me. Not to mention that my mom was a journalism and sociology major, which I think helped fuel my snooping instincts.

Before he died, my dad promised that in my lifetime water would become a commodity more valuable than oil or gold, because there would be so little of it. I believe he was right and that time has come.

My dad had good instincts. He was the kind of father who was always there for me, and he shared his wisdom. He once said, When Im not here to save you, its important for me to know that you can save yourself.

I was the youngest of four children, but my parents didnt baby me. They always told me that theres no single way to do something. If you cant make it work, you find another way. They taught me to fight for what I wanted in my life, and for that I am forever grateful. Despite my love of learning, I struggled in school and was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia, which meant I had trouble with reading comprehension. I was smart, but my grades didnt reflect it.

I had a teacher in high school named Kathy Borseff, who recognized that I knew all the answers in class, but I would flunk my written tests. One day she did an experiment and let me stay after class to take the test orally. I got an A+. She changed my life with that experiment. Experts knew so little about dyslexia at that time, and I hated people labeling me inferior and putting me in a box as a slow learner. Dyslexics typically have high IQs, but they are misunderstood. We think and learn differently. Thankfully, my parents protected me from losing my self-esteem too. They were constantly reminding me that I didnt have to choose to see myself as slow, and I was thankful for the reminders.

I would frequently come home from school feeling so frustrated from the hurdles of the day, and one time my mom said, Erin, youve gotta have some stick-to-itiveness. I rolled my eyes because I didnt think it was a real word. But not a few minutes later my mom came back with a Websters Dictionary in her hand, and I was shocked to see it on the page. The definition: a propensity to follow through in a determined manner; dogged persistence born of obligation and stubbornness.

What a word! I was captivated by this concept and it gave me a lot of hope. Even if I had challenges, I didnt have to give up on the dreams I had for my life. In fact, Id argue that these early challenges helped shape me into the woman I am today. Perhaps some of the challenges you are working with right now are shaping you too.