Solutions
Submitted by Tanvi Nagpal on 8 March, 2010 - 17:01
At this very moment, millions of women are carrying 40 pounds of water on the return leg of their average 3.5-mile daily trek.
So today, on International Women's Day, I want to pay tribute to the resiliency of these women, and highlight the collective possibility they embody -- if freed from the back-breaking and time-consuming burden of collecting water.
Providing women with access to a nearby source of clean water frees up their days to earn an income or engage in other more productive activities – which can help significantly elevate their status in the community.
Submitted by Thomas M. Kostigen on 5 March, 2010 - 11:00
photo by Beth Harper via Creative Commons.
Outdoors is where we as residents tend to use huge amounts of water. In some parts of the country, mostly out in the arid West, 70 percent or more of residential water is used for lawn irrigation.
Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Pink flamingos and fountains aside, decorative lawns that need lots of care and lots of water are scourges. It may be that suburbia is making the wells run dry. Indeed, homeowners use an average of 120 gallons of water each day for things outside.
Think about that for a second: "things outside" -- where rain should be able to do the job nicely -- if we stick with the vegetation that grows naturally in our locale, that is. Irrigation, my dear water-freak neighbor, was invented to keep our fields of food alive, not your imported turf.
Submitted by Andy Sternberg on 5 March, 2010 - 00:20
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and former U.S. President Bill Clinton unveiled a new United Nations program to raise money to help fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and more. Through the program, called MASSIVEGOOD, travelers can donate a minimum of $2 on top of their airfare to support an international UN Health financing initiative by clicking on MASSIVEGOOD. Five clicks, the equivalent of $10, bought an insecticide-treated bed net, while 25 clicks was enough to pay for a year’s worth of HIV medication for one child.
Submitted by Mark Tiele Westra on 3 March, 2010 - 04:26
Around the world, most boreholes are drilled with big, heavy equipment which arrives by truck, makes a lot of noise, and gets the job done in a short time, at a cost of about $5,000 to $20,000 per borehole. But there is a growing interest in doing it in a different way -- drilling by hand. It takes longer, it is heavy work, but it also gets the job done. Why are people getting interested? A hand-drilled borehole costs about $500 or less.
Submitted by jgeeslin on 2 March, 2010 - 13:52
Läkarmissionen is one of our NGO partners in Sweden and is helping us to fight the global water crisis. Their operation began in 1958 to support a Swedish church related mission hospital in South Africa. That is what gave them the name Läkarmissionen - the Swedish Medical Mission Foundation.
Läkarmissionen’s intention is to make it possible for marginalized people to gain improved quality of life. Our experiences indicate that circumstances can be changed, and that sustainable results can be achieved, as we include the people in need in the process of change.
Submitted by jgeeslin on 27 February, 2010 - 15:40
UNICEF announced that musician/social entrepreneur Pete Wentz will be the national spokesperson for the 2010 UNICEF Tap Project!
Submitted by Thomas M. Kostigen on 26 February, 2010 - 12:02
I used to daydream in the shower, letting my mind fog over like the bathroom mirror fogged with steam. Then I became aware of how much water I was wasting with every extra minute I stood there. Now it’s as if I shower at the Bates Motel: I’m in and out quickly. Many of us mindlessly waste water, either because we are just fogging out or because we really don’t know any better. A home-based education on water is what we need. And here’s why: Our homes are where we use the most water in our lives. The average household in America uses about 400 gallons of water per day. That can easily be cut to less than 100 gallons by doing a few simple things. Here are some tips culled from The Green Blue Book.
Submitted by jgeeslin on 24 February, 2010 - 00:24
Live Earth is very proud to partner with Walking for Water, a school-based program to raise awareness around World Water Day on March 22nd. Participating students are sponsored by friends and family and commit to walking 6 kilometers (3.73 miles), carrying 6 liters (1.59 gallons) of water in backpacks to raise funds to finance water projects in developing countries that need it most.
In preparation for the walk, teachers and guest lecturers educate the children about the importance of clean water and adequate sanitation in developing countries.
Submitted by jgeeslin on 19 February, 2010 - 09:58
Metro Vancouver is promoting the use of the city’s wonderful tap water instead of purchasing the very unecofriendly bottled water. According to officials in the area, Vancouver is hoping to reduce the city’s bottled water consumption by 20% at the end of the year. This is all part of their Tap Water Campaign.
Submitted by Mark Tiele Westra on 16 February, 2010 - 12:01
I spent October 2009 doing a super-intensive water and sanitation course in Bolivia, organized by the Mobile School for Water and Sanitation -- EMAS. There, I met Samuel Ito Cartajena, aged 39, and his wife Hermelinda Yapanqui de Ito. Together with their 16 year-old daughter, they live in Juliaca, a city in the Puno region in southern Peru. Samuel was one of our teachers, and Hermelinda cooked for the twenty of us. This is their story.
