1. Ease up on the meat
DID YOU KNOW to produce 1 kilogram of boneless beef it takes 6.5 kilograms of grain, 36 kilograms of roughage (coarse grains and pasture), and 155 litres of drinking water. A vegetarian diet has been calculated to require only 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat eating diet requires 4,000 gallons per day. Can imageine that you save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year. Do you part and eat more Chicken!
2. Get a water filter bottle
Starting with just one person, the effect of reducing the number of plastic bottles being thrown away can be amazing. Do your part by getting a portable water filter or water bottle filter for everyday use. Water Filters are good for you and save the environment.
3. Start with a good green design
Custom building a house? Talk with your architect and plumb it for greywater recovery. Greywater recovery uses separate pipes from the toilets and the rest of the house. Redesign the roof to collect, mitigate, or filter runoff water. The water can be directed to big cisterns that can hold enough water to last through the entire summer. Choose permeable paving to allow water to soak through to the ground instead of it washing away. Want to really go extra green in this new construction, consider filtering grey (or even black) water with natural plants and other organisms. Lastly, landscape for your climate. If you live in the desert don’t plant grass because it will require too much water and will create a non-green situation.
4. Get involved
in Africa and Asia approximately half of the population has no access whatsoever to clean water. It has been reported that every 10 seconds a child dies because of dirty water. Estimates have shown 4 million children under five die every year due to water-born diseases (like cryptosporidium, giardia, etc). Over 1.1 billion children have no clean water nearby their homes. Many children in third-world countries share the same water they use to drink, cook and bathe with their livestock animals. You don’t have to be an actor to get involved, but here is an example: Matt Damon set up H2OAfrica after he “saw firsthand the effects of one of the largest public health issues of our time, the world water crisis which is at its worst in Africa.” Even churches are starting campaigns to control the spread of bottled water.
5. Location
We may find that many of water sources are going to disappear in the near future. We should be looking to live in areas of the world that can easily sustain us with out the artificial means in which we heavily rely upon.
** Think about these 5 things and do what you can to go greener than just plain green.