(Editorial) “Rise of sap”, by Delia Balland

“My vine is making bunches again, is this normal? » A few days ago, one of my aunts asked the question on the family social network, with a photo to support it. In seventy years of gardening, this green thumb had never seen this. Because, this year, many plants are forcing their nature by becoming everbearing. And, more numerous, the species which, in order to hope to reach maturity, wait for rain – enough but not too much, and not without sun.

Awareness is also growing. With a delay, the stalls, where fruits and vegetables are unevenly present, tell the scale of the battle fought in the fields, what effort it took since spring to prepare the dry land before sowing, protect the young shoots, increase the watering. So much energy to try to preserve animals and crops, to limit the shock as much as possible. At the time of writing, all departments are subject to more or less severe drinking water restrictions (data being unavailable for Guyana and Mayotte). Nothing compares, however, to what people in other parts of the world experience. But France is not finished with the drought. Faced with its consequences, remaining inactive is the worst choice.

“Not to plan is already to groan,” Leonardo da Vinci is said to have said. Today, certain pioneers are reaping the fruits of more or less recent anticipation. Thus, breeders and farmers who have innovated in terms of fodder in Normandy. Further south, in Mérignac (Gironde), elected officials have made water savings their hobby horse. A quarter of a century later, it’s paying off. Neither has a panacea, but their example shows it: our resources have not dried up.

Our dehydrated country is indeed not lacking in sap. Mgr Étienne Guillet, youngest bishop of France, witnesses this in his diocese of Saint-Denis. There, on September 25, the Pope has a meeting with young people from everywhere. In his prayer intention for the month of September, Leo XIV invites us to recognize water as a “right without borders”. The enthusiasm aroused by his visit reflects another thirst: that of a true word which will replenish the water table of trust and fraternity.