Today is Blog Action Day, and this year's theme is water. While there are so many issues I could focus on for this, I'm simply going to whip out one of my favorite statistics to get things going: If you fill a bucket with water and have it represent all the H2O on the planet's surface, the percentage representing clean, safe drinking water would amount to no more than a spoonful. One spoonful!
It's no secret that the lack of potable drinking water around the globe is a ridiculously huge problem. In fact, it's so big that we in our busy lives have a tendency to pretend there's nothing wrong or otherwise ignore the issue because we think there's nothing that just one person can do about it. Well, there are things you can do! But the solutions do start with a small sacrifice: your time. To really make a difference, we all need to set aside whatever we can—a few minutes, a few hours—to learn about the water problems we face. And amidst all the gloom and doom, we need to hear about progress, too; there are a number of ingenious ways in which folks have already achieved success at helping keep our waters—and the waters halfway around the world—clean and clear.
For those of you looking for a basic background on the state of our world's drinking waters, you might enjoy my recent post on water safety. The following videos should also serve as quick, helpful primers on issues of water security, both in developing and developed nations. &infin
A friendly reminder about the world's drinking water, from Charity: water
How one man's invention could save millions, from TED.com
Why bottled water is evil—and not necessarily clean—from The Story of Stuff
The one spoonful statistic is quite dramatic. Something for teachers to use in a classroom. That's all they need to do. Just have the kids fill a bucket with spoonfuls of water, which will take a long time, and then take one spoonful out and put it in a clear cup. Lesson done. Learned ... maybe not, but it might come back to some kids later and those kids might be the ones who make the difference.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the post!