What is common between the beach, the pool , cold showers and lemonades ?
Water !
Even though water seems like it is an unlimited resource, is in reality a limited resource because there are no known new sources of water. Americans consume about 150 gallons of water every day, which is twice the world average. Water needs energy to be transported and has a huge environmental impact. More water required means more dams and reservoirs, which in turn means more damage to marine habitat.
Check out National Geographic’s water footprint calculator to discover how you use water and calculate your footprint.
Here are things you can do to conserve water and do your part to save the environment :
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A rock jetty on the Narragansett Bay in North Kingston, Rhode Island
They may not be the Great Lakes, but stewards of bodies of fresh and salt water in the United States are joining together to form America’s Great Waters Coalition. Recently Narragansett Bay and other southern New England waterways joined the advocacy organization, which looks to improve the water quality of its members among other goals. The organization came to be after funding for water issues across the country started to disappear amidst the financial crisis.
So far, there are 19 members across 35 different states. Organizers looked to the Great Lakes for inspiration, given that Congress set aside $475 billion for restoration and conservation of the five Great Lakes. Working as a coalition seems… [view entry]
CCTV blogger Karen Klinger has an interesting write-up of her stroll around the birthplace of your drinking water last Monday evening. Should you find the tale inspiring, you have two more chances to take part in a guided tour of the upper watershed, and three of Fresh pond. If you attend, or otherwise visit Fresh Pond check out some of the interesting 1) public 2) art versions of the watershed map:
April is National Garden Month, so get out there and get grubby! It’s an excellent way to get some Vitamin D, and fresh produce. Larger plantings or vines may also shade your home from the brutal sun of summer.
If you don’t have a yard, consider container gardening or applying for a plot in a community garden. Either way, you may want to take advantage of the city’s annual rain barrel sale so that you can water your plants with no-cost chlorine-free water. You can also feed your plants for free with compost available during normal recycling center hours (T&R 4–7:30PM and S 9–4PM) thanks to the city’s compost program and the local businesses and homeowners who contribute their food waste.
If you are lucky enough to… [view entry]
No, we didn’t get a new toilet. We converted our old one with a One2flush kit. Turning the handle one way makes a half flush and turning it the other makes a full flush. And it’s easy to increase or decrease the water levels of both of them if necessary by adjusting the settings on the flapper.
Our toilet was already a modern, low-flow toilet, using just 1.6 gallons of water per flush. But you really don’t need 1.6 gallons for every flush. That’s now the default setting for the full flush, and 0.8 gallons is the default setting for the half flush, but we’ll have to continue playing around with the water levels to figure out what’s the least amount that we can use.
The kit was relatively simple… [view entry]
A recent study conducted by IBM in Great Britain uncovered some non-intuitive trends. Although millenials seem to be the most aware of environmental issues in general, they still remain grossly ill-informed about the specifics, and waste more resources than their elders. It seems, having rarely experienced shortages themselves, British youth consume utilities with little consideration while professing eco-consciousness. For instance, approximately half of millenials surveyed waste a dozen or more gallons of water per day by running the shower before use, and not turning off the tap while brushing teeth. More astoundingly, 55% of youth—and 43% of Britons overall—were unable to indicate that a dryer uses more energy than a typical light-bulb!
Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits. – Edmund burke
Unfortunately, conscientious use of… [view entry]
Living in Massachusetts, it is easy to take water for granted with an average rain fall of 45 inches per year. While 2009 might turn out to be an above average year for rainfall, overall the region is expected to experience more frequent drought episodes. But despite the impacts from climate change and falling water tables from unsustainable suburban developments, Massachusetts is lucky in comparison to many other places across the globe like India, Australia, Mexico, Las Vegas, and the story of the week– Greece.
In a warming world, India which has been self sufficient for thousands of years is now deeply challenged on how to feed and provide water for its 1.15 billion inhabitants. A number of converging factors have forced India to [view entry]
