Today is the 19th annual International World Water Day International World Water Day, a day devoted to spreading awareness of the world water crisis. Water is used for everything -- for making jeans, paper, and even your breakfast -- and the demand for it is rapidly increasing while global supplies are decreasing.
We devoted our April issue to this important green topic, with everything from a look at how Alexandra Cousteau became an expert on global water issues to the 50 ways you can reduce your water footprint.
Thanks to Lemon.ly, who specializes in infographics, and data visualization, we were able to create this helpful graphic below with staggering water stats from our Blue Issue. Check out more of their great infographics.
Get the water facts below, find out the simple ways you can help, and share with your family and friends. And then please share with us the ways in which you try save water every day.
From: Soapbox, Please « Fox and Bunny and Woodpecker Stew | 3/22/12 at 10:40 am
[...] today is World Water Day. This infographic by Whole Living sums it up quite [...]
From: Brenda | 3/22/12 at 10:43 am
My household saves the water from our dehumidifiers to water our outside plants.
From: Mama Says What | 3/22/12 at 12:37 pm
[...] Celebrate World Water Day – Whole Living Daily : Whole Living [...]
From: Test Your Water IQ - Lemon.ly Infographics | 3/22/12 at 5:01 pm
[...] awareness of the world water crisis. To help people identify with this growing, global problem, Whole Living dedicated its entire April issue to the topic. They asked Lemon.ly to create the following [...]
From: Test Your Water IQ « Rainforest Alliance: The Frog Blog | 3/22/12 at 5:32 pm
[...] friends at Whole Living have created a great infographic detailing the importance of water in our daily lives. Check it [...]
From: Spring: Day 2. World Water Day. | Blog con Queso | 3/23/12 at 12:53 am
[...] produced by Whole Living and was created by Lemon.ly. The graphic features staggering water stats that Alanna Stang [...]
From: Ann | 5/5/12 at 10:02 am
While I appreciate knowing how I can save water, I think the more important question is asking how businesses can save water. Walk into any Starbucks and watch the appalling waste of water from a company that purports to care about conservation. Faucets are left unattended at full blast for minutes on end. I've reached over on many occasions to turn off the water because no one else was there to do so. And at a Hyatt restaurant, when asked that a free-flowing faucet in the open kitchen be turned off, I was told IT STAYED ON ALL DAY AND NIGHT--even if no one was using it--until the restaurant closed. Sure, we can all make a difference, but it's time to hold businesses accountable for their egregious waste of this most precious resource.
From: Kiara | 7/17/12 at 11:55 am
Actually, the best thing you can do to reduce your water consumption is eat less meat. Eating a single hamburger is the equivalent of taking a four-hour shower in terms of unnecessary water usage. The water savings from avoiding beef alone would exceed 300,000 gallons of water per year... per person. That's more than twice as much as a whole family uses in their entire household on a yearly basis. And you would be saving more than 400 animals each year as well... not to mention the fact that farming for animals causes more pollution, worldwide deforestation, species extinction and global starvation than virtually any other human activity, and agriculture contributes more to global warming than all forms of transportation in the entire world combined.
It is estimated that if everyone the United States were to carefully conservative with water and use special appliances we could save a total of 2 trillion gallons of water. But if everyone in the United States ate a vegetarian diet for just one month we would save half again that much in just four weeks (over 3 trillion gallons), and in one year we could save more 36.5 trillion gallons.
Currently up to 90% of all managed water is used to grow food, and 70% of more of all the edible grains and cereal produced is fed to animals being raising for meat production. So the biggest problem isn't long showers and people watering their lawns... it is, as they say, "meat-eaters soaking up the world's water."