Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
- Rain on your windowpane?
- Hot baths?
- The ocean’s caress?
- The coolness of the lake?
Right now for me right now I’ll have to go with water bill. We have had a record breaking year
that started with record rainfall and now is into record drought. To me that means either a dried up yard or a +$85 water bill (so I chose the first.) I lost a lot of new plants I planted TWO YEARS AGO! That is how dry it is.
I’ve been talking with others about the effects of global warming and the climate changes we’ve seen in our lives and contemplating the ones that are to come. They say that global warming is already changing weather patterns and will make everything more severe. Personally I feel the dust bowl type patterns will be returning (already are it seems) and that we had better plan for it by better building practices and by teaching ourselves and our kids how to conserve water. When I was young in school we were taught water, electric, gas conservation every year. I don’t see people caring here or even trying. Myself included a lot of the times. It’s all dependent on habits. Making them, keeping them, then it becomes second nature.
Why should we worry about water?
- Nearly 1 billion people don’t have safe water to drink.
- A child dies every 15 seconds from a lack of clean water.
- 1 in 4 children who die before age 5 worldwide, die of a water related disease.
- Children often walk miles every day to collect dirty water to drink.
- It takes 100 gallons of water to produce one egg
- It takes 256 gallons of water to produce one cotton t-shirt
- It takes 2500 gallons of water to make 2 pounds of steak!
- That dirty water you and I make goes somewhere- it is recycled back into our own drinking water and not EVERYTHING gets cleaned out. Remember water is global so it’s a global problem.
What can we do to conserve water?
- Become (and remain) AWARE of your water usage
- Don’t leave the faucet running when you brush teeth, wash dishes, wash your face…(by turning the tap off while brushing your teeth you will save 3 GALLONS of water a day! And another three for not shaving with the water running! )
- Use a low-flow toilet or fill a plastic drinking bottle with pebbles and put in your toilet tank. (This will save you 5-10 gallons a day!)
- If handwashing dishes don’t let water run. Fill one sink with clean water and one with rinse water. (Saves 200-500 GALLONS a month!)
- Compost instead of using the garbage disposal.
- Wash your car on your lawn.
- Always use bio-degradable/phosphate-free soaps (there are good ones like Dr. Bronner’s, Dollar General has a good automatic dish detergent that is phosphate free and cheap!)
- Don’t water lawns unless necessary- also plant wisely with native plants
and drought-resistant varieties
- Take showers instead of baths (wah!)
- Buy used goods and recycle old clothes
- Shop wisely and don’t waste food or water
- Get actively involved in water conservation groups and educate others!
Happy Blog Action Day 2010!