Water on the brain
Michael Greenberg/Thinkstock
Walk down most streets on Manhattan's Upper East Side on a weekday morning and you'll find yourself dodging the watery spray kicked up by dozens of hose-wielding doormen cleansing the pavement for the daily parade of designer shoes and custom running sneakers. Men hired for the primary purpose of holding open doors for the affluent spend each morning dousing the sidewalks with gallons and gallons of the wet stuff to clear cigarette butts from prime real estate.
WATCH VIDEO: G Word: Water from Oil
Only 3% of the Earth's total water is freshwater. Of that, only 1% is available for human consumption. Do the math and you've a grand total of 0.01% of the Earth's total water being usable. Still, if used more judiciously this amount is enough to support the world's population three times over. What do I mean by "more judiciously"? Try this one for size: Fifty percent of all water consumed in the U.S. is used to grow feed and provide drinking water for cattle and other livestock.
5 Ways to Value Water Usage
(statistics via National Geographic, thanks to Bernard Cullinan)
1. Beef, Sausage, Pork
1. 1,857 gallons of water are used to produce one pound of beef
2. 1,382 gallons for one pound of sausage
3. 756 gallons for one pound of pork
2. Cheese and Eggs 4. 589 gallons of water are used to produce one pound of processed cheese 5. 400 gallons for one pound of eggs 6. 371 gallons for one pound of fresh cheese 3. The Life of a Doomed Cow 7. 808,400 gallons of water for 18,700 pound of pasture, feed, and hay 8. 6,300 gallons for drinking 9. 1,900 gallons for cleaning stables and farmyards 10. 816,600 gallons total 4. Fibers 11. 2,900 gallons to produce one pair of blue jeans 12. 2,800 gallons for one non-organic cotton bedsheet 13. 766 gallons for one non-organic t-shirt 5. Vegan Food 14. 103 gallons to produce one pound of bananas 15. 84 gallons for one pound of apples 16. 55 gallons for one pound of oranges 17. 43 gallons for one pound of beans 18. 25 gallons for one pound of eggplants 19. 9 gallons of water for one cup of tea 5 Steps to Green Your Personal Water Usage 20. Conserve: 100 Ways 21. Use a Rain Barrel 22. Reduce Your Use of Toxic Products That End Up in Our Water 23. Say No to Bottled Water
