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Thursday, 14 July 2011 20:41

Small Step: Inspiration for Saving Water

Treehugger tells the story of a 9-year-old boy who helped save thousands of liters of water with a school project:

Published in Small Steps
Thursday, 29 April 2010 15:30

Eco-challenge: Drink Tap Water

This will be our challenge for this month:

  1. Tap water in Belgium is safe and needs to qualify to 55 EU and WHO criteria and you can read all about it on www.vivaqua.be in English (under "Practical Information").
  2. At first it might have a chlorine smell/taste, but if you leave it for 10 minutes most of it has evaporated!
  3. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice might make miracles as to the taste!
  4. If you want to read about the impact of you drinking bottled water (waste, health, etc.) have a look at this article from www.emagazine.com
  5. If you prefer to use a water filter jug (e.g. BRITA) only use very cold water and store it in the fridge if you intend to keep it longer than a day (max. 2 days in total!)
  6. It is up to 100x cheaper than bottled water!
  7. Imagine how much waste and transport you could avoid by providing each family member with their own refillable drinking bottle!
Published in Eco-challenges
Thursday, 29 April 2010 15:27

Eco-challenge: Shorten Your Shower

Our challenge for this month is not so difficult, but quite important!

  1. A shower takes less water than taking a bath unless you shower for more than 8 minutes!
  2. By taking a short shower you can save money, but also reduce the amount of precious drinkable water you use to wash yourself with!
  3. One might think of timing a shower and a song or two might make it more fun (see also short shower songs and more tips at Do The Green Thing)
  4. Try to reduce the flow of water either manually or by installing a very efficient high aeration shower head (which you can find in shops like BRICO for about 15 €).
  5. A thermostatic knob might also help to find the right temperature immediately so you do not loose water before you actually take the shower.

Good luck with finding your favorite short shower tune!

Published in Eco-challenges
Thursday, 29 April 2010 15:18

Eco-challenge: Cut Your Water Consumption

Pier Faucet by jarnott on flickr!Living in a country like Belgium, the idea that water is a scarce resource can be hard to swallow; scarce things don’t fall from the sky every other day. But globally, the situation is quite different:

  • Only 3 percent of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and at least two thirds of that is held beyond human use in glaciers, ice caps, permafrost, or deep underground wells.
  • That last 1 percent? It’s not evenly distributed. In 2006, one billion people (one sixth of the world’s population) were living on less than the bare minimum of four liters of water a day needed for survival.
  • For the future, the situation only looks more precarious. Rising population means more pressure on existing resources, while global warming may put much of the freshwater supply at risk of disappearing, both from melting ice caps and glaciers and from decreased rainfall in much of the world.
Published in Eco-challenges