Day Three - April 3rd 2011

Well, the big disappointment for me is that I had a piece of garbage yesterday. It was a foil wrapper from a small wet wipe, (the kind you get with ribs or wings) and if I had actually stopped to "RETHINK" my actions I probably wouldn't have used it. I just as easily could have washed my hands or used a squirt of hand sanitizer (I keep a refillable container in my bag)

But, now that I think about it, the hand sanitizer probably isn't that good to use either. Our germaphobic tenancies are as a result of constant media drilling the idea that we must kill all germs to survive, when really we are doing more harm. Sure it's a good idea to practice safe food handling technique and to wash your hands with soap and water if you have a cold or have come into direct contact with someone who is contagious, but most germ killing cleaners are more harmful than the actual germ themselves.

Today our focus is on water.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (originally The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere) is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and was published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a later revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss.

Join us Live @ 5 for a recap of day 3.

WATER FACTS

WATER CONSERVATION

WATER CONSERVATION TIPS
A leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water every day.
A bathroom faucet generally runs at 2 gallons of water per minute. By turning off the tap while brushing your teeth or shaving, a person can save more than 200 gallons of water per month. The toilet alone can use 27% of household water.

http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/pubs/indoor.html

UK HOUSEHOLD WATER USAGE STATS
Activity Average weekly use Litres used - per activity Cost per use (UK Pence)
Bath 2 80 per bath 15p
Toilet 35 8 per flush 1.52p
Gravity Shower 7 35 per shower 7p
Power shower 7 80 per shower 15p
Washing machine 3 65 per wash 12p
Dishwasher 4 25 5p
Garden 1 540 £1.03
Washing car 1 (4 buckets) 8 per bucket = 32 litres 6p
Washing car (hose) 1 400 - 480 76p - 91.2p
TOTAL approx. 2000 litres / week

US WATER USAGE: BEFORE AND AFTER
By implementing, one can save 30% of water

http://www.drinktap.org/consumerdnn/Default.aspx?tabid=85

WATER CONSUMPTION CALCULATOR

WATER EDUCATION, FUN AND GAMES
h2ouniversity.org
wateruseitwisely.com/kids
ecokids.ca

HEART OF DRYNESS - JAMES WORKMAN - THE KALAHARI BUSHMEN

WORLD WATER COUNCIL

WATER STRESS
Imagine a channel of water a meter deep, a kilometre wide, and 7 million kilometres long—long enough to encircle the globe 180 times. That's the prodigious amount of water it takes each year to produce 3,000 calories of food a day for each of the world's 6.1 billion people.

Broken down into smaller quantities, a calorie of food takes a liter of
water to produce. A kilo of grain takes 500-4,000 liters, a kilo of
industrially produced meat 10,000 liters. Surprising numbers, indeed.
Add 2-3 billion people by 2050 and accommodate their changing diets from cereals to more meat, and that will add another 5 million kilometres to the channel of water needed to feed the world's people. Where will that water come from?

 

Sources of
Ground Water
Contamination

(click image)

Gien & Anna's
Water Saving Ideas

Rain Water collection tank:
Collect the rainwater, store in a tank and use for all flushing. Then we don't need to get piped water.
Could possibly use collected rainwater for laundry machines as well Laundry machine water can go into another hopper and be used for toilet flushing as well!

Crew:

Host - Alison
Research - Gien

Shoot Notes:

- Used natural and existing lighting
- Single location for feature topic and live @ 5 daily recap
- No toilets were flushed in the making of this video
- Zero Waste on set

Tokyo Trash Talk

Insights from
enviro-conscious
Brent in Japan.

Look for his column
each day with tips,
tricks and trash
talk from Toyko.

JAPANESE TOILETS

Over here, when one is going about one's early morning "business", one often has the luxury of a heated seat, warm water wash for "front" (ladies) and "back" (ladies and gents), as well as the ability of increasing or reducing the water pressure as desired. On fancier model toilet seats, there is a deodorizer, a dryer (!!!) and one can even select "massage" or "pulse" if one felt so inclined! Our seat, unfortunately, lacks the pulse and massage option. (The landlord is known for his thriftiness...)

One thing that ALL Japanese toilets DO come with, however, is the water-saving choice of "big flush" or "small flush". The character on the left in the photo below means "big" (i.e. POO). The character on the right is for "small" (i.e. PEE). For a full-tank- flush, push the lever to the left, and sayonara big business! For a much smaller flush, push the lever to the right, and sayonara small business! Water is saved. The toilets at my gym have a much more sophisticated flushing/washing system as you can see in the photo on the right. Basically, though, if it's just an in and out job, push the button on the left for a full flush, and the one on the right for a partial flush. VOILA!

In our house, we try to use the "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." school of thought. No sense in flushing away urine every time you go! I must pee about 15 times a day, and that would be close to 200 liters or more of water literally down the drain! If you don't want to do it for the environment, then think of your pocketbook and all the money you'll save by not flushing each time you use the loo! WASTE NOT! WANT NOT!

Toilet Control, rinse, heat, jets, massage, dry...