By Alyson Laura, LEED AP BD+C, O+M
World Water Day is March 22nd, 2015. For twenty-two years, the United Nations has been highlighting water issues, and this year’s theme is Water and Sustainable Development.
In the office of Sustainable Investment Group (SIG), water is part of our daily discussion surrounding sustainable development-indoors, outdoors, and everywhere in between. Water is so plentiful and safe that our challenge is to use only what we need. Because of our abundance in the United States, world water day is a chance to look beyond our own relationship to water and recognize the global relationship to water.
Water touches our lives in many ways. Learn more, here. Our personal water footprint does not end when we shut off the faucet. Everything from turning on a light switch to driving a car carries an associated water footprint.
- Hundreds of millions of people still lack access to water for sanitation.
- Top decision makers remain undereducated about ecosystem valuation.
- 40% of the world’s urban expansion is growing slums.
- Emerging economies are increasing water demand for manufacturing.
- Coal-fired power plants require billions of gallons of water for cooling
- Water is food:
Salad – Low water use
Lettuce: 3 gal
Tomato: 8 gal
Moderate water use
Orange Juice: 50 gal
Egg: 50 gal
Tofu: 60 gal
Almond: 80 gal
Chicken: 300 gal
Animal Protein – Excessive water use
Hamburger: 600 gal
Steak: 1200 gal
We all have our own individual relationship to water. There are no right or wrong lengths for your shower. Just a call for awareness that what may feel like a big sacrifice, could be a small expression of gratitude towards the global water supply.
© 2015 Sustainable Investment Group (SIG). All Rights Reserved.
