Awareness of the climate crisis has increased significantly, but less so than the willingness of people in the industrialized world to change their daily lives. The latest surveys show this. The case of water is an exception.

Scientific evidence of climate change is not enough. We need a social transformation that takes us from concern to awareness and from there to action. We must turn climate challenges into a value of social belonging in which each of us can act meaningfully.

The access to water or the lack thereof defines two types of homes: the comfortable ones, which allow a dignified and healthy life, and the ones which cannot provide their owners with anything remotely similar. Many of the 2.185 billion people with no safe access to water dream of having it at home. This is the case of the Cameroonian protagonist of the short film Utopia, finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 3.

Water with fecal waste is one of the main causes of food contamination and its spreading in a community. The solution is to ensure safe access to water and adequate sanitation and to implement personal hygiene practices in those who prepare the food and those who eat it. The short film Pollution Cycle, finalist at the We Art Water Film Festival 4, shows how easily unclean water can spread infections through a simple sandwich.

The oil spills in the Marañón River cause an environmental and human disaster that reveals the defenselessness suffered by many Amazonia inhabitants when faced with the legal maze in the fight for their human rights. The short film Cuninico, when the rain forest turns black, finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 4, shows the marginalization of the natives whose lives and economy directly depend on the river.

The Best Feature in the Magazine and the Best Strategy in Social Media of the 2017 iAgua Awards have been presented to the We Are Water Foundation, which attended the most important event in the water sector in Spain with three nominations. The award ceremony showed the concern of the professionals of the sector about the water and sanitation problems and their booming spirit of collaboration.

• The position of meteorology and climatology in the social understanding of climate change will be debated at the 13th International Weather and Climate Forum (29th-31st May in Paris)
• The importance of communication and education, focal point of the meeting in which the audience is the main protagonist
• The We Are Water Foundation presents the campaign #NoWalking4Water to the international community of professionals of atmospheric sciences