Life on Earth began in water, and all life stayed in the water for 3,000 million years. For much of that time every living thing was tiny, single-celled and simple. The drop in my drink helped life on Earth to begin. Little multi-celled animals lived on muddy seabeds 530 million years ago. Some had five eyes, nozzles like vacuum cleaners and backward-facing mouths. The drop in my drink has carried the bodies of creatures whose shapes and designs have disappeared forever. Some plants managed to move out of the water about 450 million years ago, but they could only survive on wet ground. Then plants developed roots which reached down through the soil, searching for moisture. Plants cannot live without water. Water fills them, like containers. Water gives them shape, and makes and carries their food. The drop in my drink has been inside the first plants that lived in the sea, and the first plants that lived on dry land. Some animals moved out of the water to creep over the land around 390 million years ago. The first were worm-like, and wore their skeletons on the outside. Later, animals with backbones, four legs and wet skins began clambering over the land. All the animals had to develop new ways of breathing and moving on land. But wherever they were, they had to find supplies of water to stay alive. Salty swamps and stinking bogs bordered the edges of a shallow inland sea 75 million years ago. The sun shone hot. Not much rain fell. But slow-moving, weed-covered streams fed into the swamps, and here hadrosaurs lived, drinking the fresh water. Water is the major part of every living thing on Earth. The drop in my drink has been inside millions of living things. Excerpted from The Drop in My Drink: The Story of Water on Our Planet by Meredith Hooper All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
