Today is Blog Action Day 2010, and the invitation is to blog about water...quickly becoming a limiting factor in our global life.
- Did you know that more people die because of lack of clean water in our world than because of all forms of violence combined?
- Did you know that more people have access to a cell phone than a toilet? (and of course you realize that this is intimately related to #1)
- Did you know that here in Albuquerque, a high desert climate, more than half of water use is for landscapes, playing surfaces like soccer fields and golf courses, and pools?
- Did you know that one gallon of reverse osmosis bottled water takes 7 to create?
- Water is not very portable, so no amount of saving water in Albuquerque will help the folks in Africa. But it may be that the US is maxing out its more abundant water resources pretty fast. (see this article, for instance: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/is-the-us-already-past-the-point-of-peak-water.php)
What to do? The most important thing we can do for our local water supplies is to take a hard look at what we are using outside. Appropriate landscapes, covering pools we use and filling pools we don't use, and sweeping with a broom rather than a hose are all things to consider. The most important thing we can do to help people in other nations is cut down on consumption of imported meat. Meat is the most water-intensive thing we eat and so often, the nations that produce it are allowing the rich to get richer by using all the water to produce meat to sell while the poor go without this necessity of life.
