More Environmental Concerns, Less Controversial Issues

Water, Water, Water, Water, Water, Water, Water, Water, Water, Water, Water...

EVERYWHERE

But not a drop to drink...?

So lets just talk about how much water is on the earth.  How much? Well just as we are about 70% water as humans, the earth is about the same. We keep hearing that the next war will be over water, which surprises some people, maybe not locally as many communities have droughts, but from a global perspective it appears we have plenty of water!


Fact:

• 97.5% of our water is SALT
• for the math whizz's this means only 2.5% of  our water is FRESH
• 68.7% of that is snow and ice (yes this means those massive glaciers!)
• 30.8% groundwater + 0.4% lakes, rivers ect... = our source of fresh water
• NOTE: this is less than 1% of all the water on EARTH

With that in perspective, lets think about everything we could possible use water for...

The Obvious:  showers, washing dishes, drinking, flushing toilets, washing car, watering lawns, washing laundry, watering plants... to name a few

The Not-So Obvious (Virtual Water): 

• How much water on average does it take to produce...
• a car = 40,000 gallons
• 1 pound of plastic = 25 gallons
• pair of jeans = 900 gallons
• 1 pound of wool/cotton = 100 gallons
• refine a barrel of crude oil = 1,900 gallons
• 1 pound of cheese = 900 gallons (milk) + 600 gallons
• pair of leather shoes = 2,000 gallons
• 1 pound of roasted coffee = 2,500 gallons
• one latte = 50 gallons

So perhaps cutting showers short by 2 minutes is not the most effective way to conserve water, not saying it doesn't help, but consuming less "stuff" seems to be the way to go! While everything we consume, in any sense of the word, uses water, there are some products that take more water, or that just aren't as vital. For example, although 1 pound of cheese uses more water than a pair of jeans, do we really need the 8th pair of jeans? Most likely not, along with the 50 gallon latte we get every morning on the way to work. Obviously water is VERY important for more than just quenching our thirst, which is why using it to its fullest potential in the most sustainable way is absolutely necessary.  There is, ultimately, plenty of water on the world for all to use, as the same with many other natural resources, however they are not unlimited. Taking care to only consume our share is essential for making the world go round.