Recently, my thoughts have been on lifestyles that leave a smaller footprint. This is partly motivated by the recent New York Times article on The Art of Organizing and partly on the mindfulness courses I've been taking.
With this in mind a few days ago an acquaintance said that water is a renewable resource. I knew this was not the case and definitely needed to find ways to talk about it. To be clear we are using water faster then it can be renewed.
Here are (just a few) reasons why:
1) Population growth - More people use more water.
2) Pollution - Factory run-off and sewage are slowly destroying water supplies.
3) Deforestation - Trees prevent evaporation.
4) Climate Change - Certain areas are becoming dryer while others water. This increases increases the number of droughts in dry areas and floods in wet areas. Both destroy water supplies.
Things you can do to conserve water.
1) Less showers. We only need a shower a day or even less then that.
2) Use a rain-barrel. You can use the harvesting rain to water the plants.
3) Lose the lawn and opt for xeriscaped landscape.
4) Re-use grey water if your local government allows it. For example, you can re-route water from your washing machine to your toilet.
Sources:
http://ournewclimate.blogspot.ca/...
http://www.eschooltoday.com/...