watering down a colossal crisis

“Many people have lived without love,but none without water.”

Yes, to a massive degree!

Here are a few simple steps towards sustainability:

Can simple life style changes bail us out of today’s grave water crisis?

A slow dripping tap can waste up to 30 liters of water a day!

Get all leaks fixed right away.Start accumulating the leak in a bucket/mug instantly.

Dropping some (food) colour in the toilet tank could help detect the leakage.

On how many days a year, does your home/office bear NO water leak at all?

Run the water tap with minimal force, only when needed.Close it tightly after each use.

Keep it closed while

• Applying soap

• Rubbing the brush

• Using the shaving razor

• Scrubbing/soaping vessels

- A dual flush system can operate at half (& full) the tank capacity.

Flush very judiciously.

Get a low flush toilet that lets you regulate the water outflow.

* http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-Any-Toilet-to-a-Low-Flush-Toilet

Indian squat toilets: Extremely water efficient and hygienic!

Don’t use the toilet as a wastebasket!

upto 16 litres of potable water

Every time you flush,

goes down the drain!

Source: “Hunting Down Water”, an award-winning documentary

Choose a restrained bucket bath,

over an extravagant shower bath.

The shorter, the better.

Bath tubs are a great deal worse.

Clean vehicles, floor, etc. water economically.

to cool the house exteriors, etc.!

Why pour water when a wet cloth could do it?

Water is too scarce a resource to be splashed about

Delhi alone guzzles 4.5 crore liters of water for car washing!*

* Source: “Hunting Down Water”, an award-winning documentary

Efficiency needs to be extended to water too!

Prefer semi automatic. It lets you reduce the cycle time and reuse

the water for another load.

• Must choose an automatic one? Go for front loading, then.

Planning to buy a washing machine?

• Lower the washing frequency.Running the machine only at full load saves energy as well as water.

An RO (Reverse Osmosis) filter discards double the quantity of water it purifies.*

Employ it only when unavoidable.

Can’t do away with RO?

• Pick a unit that retains maximum water.

• Bucket the outgoing water. Reuse it in cleaning, washing cloths, gardening, etc.

Yet another practical way to reuse water:

Wash fruits & vegetables in a bowl (& utilize that water elsewhere).

* Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis#Disadvantages

Rainwater harvesting

Catch me when you can!

Collecting rainwater is inevitable for meeting the rapidly rising freshwater demand.

It also prevents the flooding of streets.

A one-time solar investment fetches recurring power and monetary savings.

Btw, cold water baths (if used judiciously) offer several healthbenefits [e.g., accelerated blood circulation].

Solar systems for water heating (& lighting)

[1] http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthglacier.html [2] http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/38627[3] The ‘Water in a Changing World’ report by the UN [4] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090119210532.htm

Climate change severely aggravates our water plight.

• Glaciers store about 75% of the world's freshwater. [1]

• Gravely many Himalayan glaciers, which feed seven Asian rivers, may disappear by 2035, propelled by global warming. [2]

By 2030, global warming will have pushed more than half the world's population onto “areas of high water stress”. – the UN [3]

Even a skeptic, who questions the exactness of these predictions, would admit that they are unlikely to be off by much.

"Scientists Agree Human-induced Global Warming Is Real, Survey Says”. [4]

Just a minor temperature rise? Not quite!

[1] www.washprofile.org/en/node/3381 [2] Centre for Science and Environment [3] National Crime Records Bureau

Climate change perturbs the entire weather cycle, inducing more & mightier calamities.

Between 1973 and 1982, about 1,500 natural disasters occurred, while from 1993 to 2002 they increased to as many as 6,000! [1]

68% of our farming needs rain - the right amount (not less, not more), at the right time. [2]

1.84 lakh farmers committed suicide between 1995 & 2007. [3]

• Floodwater contains infectious organisms, and chemical & other waste.

• Grossly inadequate mechanisms to store rainwater before it hits the drains/oceans.

How come floods and (safe) water crisis

rise together?

Thankfully, the climatic crisis too can be conquered!

What follows are components of

Individual Environmental Responsibility:

• ‘Deadly dozen’ diseases could stem from global warming. [1]

[1] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081007-climate-diseases.html [2] http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/dec/10/slide-show-1-countries-worst-hit-by-climate-change.htm

• India is one of the 10 countries worst hit by climate change. [2]

• 100s of millions of barrels of oil eaten up annually in plastic production [4]

• Paper items wipe out a few billion trees, every year. [5]

• Colossal consumption of energy [Production, Transportation & Disposal]

[1] http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Plastic_bags [2] EPI: http://www.earth-policy.org [3] Environmental Protection Agency

1500 bottles end up as garbage, every second! [2]

1 million plastic bags are consumed every minute! [1]

Only 6.8% of all plastics were recycled in 2007. [3]

Just (re)use, don’t throw!

[4] http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ask/crudeoil_faqs.asp#plastics [5] http://ecology.com/features/paperchase/

Growingly gigantic landfills, and now ocean-fills!

In place of multiple

Plastic bagsDisposable cupsTissue papersDisposable water bottles

Use one

Jute/cloth bagMug/glassHandkerchiefReusable bottle

A screen saver saves nothing & burns energy.

Increasing reliance on diesel generators

Skyrocketing energy consumption

Dangerous levels of damaging pollutants (including Black Carbon & Nitrogen Oxides)

Escalating power cuts

Why not switch off the monitorevery time we leave the desk

for few minutes or more?

Configure power options such thatthe monitor closes after an idle time of few minutes, and

the CPU/laptop hibernates after half an hour, automatically.

Suspend or hibernate it for breaks >= ½ hour.

A computer that runs 24 hours a day uses more power than an efficient fridge! *

Turn off the CPU/laptop at the end of the day.

Buying locally made food & goods - as opposed to imported itemsfrom malls - averts the hefty emissions tied to transportation.

Exception: The locally sold stuff that lacks energy-efficiency

Food production (farming) is exceedingly water intensive.Goods production is a prodigious polluter and energy-eater.

Eliminate food wastage. Shop only what you need.

Purchase products with minimal/reusable packaging.

Cut down on meat as much as possible.

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

Animal products accounts for 51% of the world's total emissions!- “Livestock and Climate Change” by Goodland and Anhang, World Bank environmental advisers

Several times higher water footprint (compared to the same quantity of veg food)

Enormous agricultural (& forest) land occupied for cattle breeding, aggravating the already alarming crisis of food (& tree-cover)

Albert Einstein :

Years of resource consumption (to raise animals) for one-time output!

30% of Indiais asthma-hit!

Choked roads? Where?!

Just 2buses!

Prefer Non-motorized

(Cycle, Walk, Cycle Rickshaws)&

Mass transport (Bus, Train, Shared autos, Vehicle pooling)

It’s also good for the body and light on the wallet!

Minimize the use of individual autos & personal vehicles.

Flying less (and light) saves tremendous fuel/emissions.

Sir Albert Einstein

Long walks/rides are as pleasurable as long drives, & healthy too!

* Source: Bharat Petroleum {http://www.bharatpetroleum.com/YourCorner/petrozine/quart2_2008/index.html}

If and when you must drive a motorized vehicle,

• Electric cars do pollute (via the coal-based power they run on), but less.

• Keep the tyres fully filled (for increased mileage).

• Turn off the engine at the signal when

the waiting time is > 15 seconds*.

Consider mileage/power consumption more than looks/comfort while buying vehicles and appliances.

CRT LCD

For instance, pay up a bit extra and buy a higher BEE* starred (say) fridge to save on power & money on a monthly basis.

The same holds for TVs

LCD is almost twiceas efficient as CRT.

CFL

Tube lights can be replacedby CFLs of lower Watts, too.

* Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India

Laptops consume less than half the powerthat desktops do!

• Print only what’s absolutely necessary.

• Print two-sided.

• Utilize the blank spaces of unwanted print-outs for rough work.

* Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_trees_do_you_save_with_one_ton_of_recycled_paper

A 200-member company,with a daily average of only 2 print-outs per person,

eats away 1 full tree in just ~20 days*.

• Use notebooks thriftily, utilizing all available space.

Curtail the AC usage – at home and in the car [More desirable: Curtail the car usage!]

Favour stairs to elevators whenever possible(e.g., while coming down).

Help prevent small kids from working in awfully Unhealthy & unsafe confines of fire cracker factories.

We have a right to celebrate, but at what cost?

Compost the kitchen waste [dailydump.org].In the very least, throw it to the plants/garden.

Segregate waste: bio-degradable (kitchen, paper) & otherwise.

Sell as much waste as possible (plastic, paper) to scrap dealersfor recycling/reusing.

Clichéd, but crucial: Plant & protect trees!

Celebrate special days by funding tree plantations,at a nominal price per sapling (treesforfree.org).

A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a seasonas 10 people inhale in a year (on top of absorbing tons of CO2).*

* Source: http://dailypioneer.com/202087/Plug-the-Carbon-leaks.html

Only after the last tree has been cut off, and the last river poisoned,

will we realize that we can’t eat money!