Monday, February 23, 2009

Water Conservation and Energy

We use up water in clothes, food, and energy production, and have a water footprint just like a carbon footprint (Alter, Alexandra, Yet Another 'Footprint' to Worry About: Water Taking a Cue From Carbon Tracking, Companies and Conservationists Tally Hidden Sources of Consumption” FEBRUARY 17, 2009 The Wall Street Journal, page A11). This is just as important as carbon consumption concerns because of the danger of water shortages from depletion and pollution of groundwater reserves, shrinking of glaciers that provide fresh water, and growing energy and food demand all over the world (Alter, page A11). There are also droughts; Argentina has been suffering under a drought that has dried up rivers and hurt agriculture, particularly the cattle industry so much that for the past two years, ranchers are being forced to sell cattle that are too thin to reproduce and thus replenish the herds (Piette, Candace, “Drought sucks life from Argentina's farms, BBC News, Buenos Aires http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7905357.stm, Published: 2009/02/23 12:47:33 GMT, © BBC MMIX).

If water wasn't necessary for manufacturing or energy production in general, there would be more water to help people who live in drought-plagued areas. And that's just one way to help when people need water--we could use clean energy to pipe water to people who need it all the time, not just when there's a drought. For more information, please see www.campaignforgreen.com.

No comments: