My Water Pledge

Water is as important as air when it comes to surviving life on Earth. Our bodies are over 90% water, and though we can go without food for weeks if we have to, try going even one day without water. And yet, so much water is being wasted that many of our communities suffer from water shortages and undergo mandatory rationing in order to make it from one drought or shortage to the next.

That’s why I took the Wyland Foundation’s Water Conservation Pledge, and why I want you to take the My Water Pledge, too. I was already doing some things to save water, but taking the pledge – and calculating my water “footprint” – helped me identify opportunities to save even more.

Here’s How The Challenge Works

It starts with the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. The Challenge launched eight years ago as a competition between mayors in southern Florida to promote the health of our ocean, lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands by being smart about how we use water. Since that time, the program has expanded to cities across the U.S., including Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Tucson, and Washington, D.C. This year’s celebration in particular looks back at the progress we’ve made in the U.S. since the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969 because it was so polluted!  The Challenge encourages people to understand how important it is to protect our water resources through individual actions as well as steps we can take in our communities.

Calculate Your Water Footprint

To begin, calculate your own water footprint: how much water you use personally, at home, in your community, and more. The calculator asks basic questions, like whether you leave the water running in the sink. But it gets at some surprising issues, as well, like raising awareness about how much water is needed to produce the sandwich you ate for lunch, and how much electricity it takes to power your computer.

I have to confess, I pretty much never think about water use in those terms, so calculating my footprint was pretty eye opening.

Once I had that perspective, I took the pledge (which was a quick 5 minutes) and vowed to repair leaking faucets, pipes, and toilets, wash only full loads of laundry and dishes, and take shorter showers.

The pledge surprisingly connected the dots between wasting food and water (their slogan is, “Save a crop, save a drop!”). It also reminded me to turn off sprinklers when it rains (which should be a no-brainer, but often is not), and scoop up pet waste so it doesn’t get washed into a storm drain and end up in a stream or river.

Diane’s Results When She Took the My Water Pledge

My water footprint calculator already showed that I was doing a pretty good job of saving water. I only use 1,117 gallons a day, compared to the average 2,233 gpd.

But what surprised me was how much water I could save in a year by making good on my pledges: 68,376 gallons!! Whoa.

In addition to saving all that water, I’d save over $800 and reduce my climate-changing carbon impact by 280,000 pounds of polluting carbon dioxide.

Take the My Water Pledge by April 30!

The Wyland National Challenge for Water Conservation is having a big impact nationwide. In addition to raising awareness about the need to protect and save water, it motivates people and communities to do their part. To date, U.S. residents have made over 1.6 million pledges to make small but meaningful changes in their daily lives to ensure healthy waterways and a sustainable supply of fresh, clean water.

The challenge runs until April 30. Why not take the My Water Pledge today?

When you do, remember to join in the prize giveaway for a chance to win a reward (in addition to the reward of saving water). Last year, the Challenge awarded more than $50,000 in prizes to nearly 300 residents in U.S. cities. This year, they’re giving participants the opportunity to designate their favorite charity for the chance to win a 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

And do share on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, using these hashtags:

#cleanwater #healthyoceans #mywaterpledge

I’ve blogged a lot about saving water. Here are a few more posts to check out:

10 Ways to Save Water Outside and Cut Your Water Bill by 50%

We’re Drinking the Same Water as Cleopatra. Is It as Clean?

Water. Use It Wisely.

NOTE: Partnerships with organizations like the Wyland Foundation enable us to provide you with the expert content you need to lead the greener life you want. Our editorial opinions remain our own. Thanks! 

The post Why I Pledged to Save 68,376 Gallons of Water This Year! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Lower energy utility bills. Living in an energy-efficient home can save you hundreds of dollars on utility bills every year. What are some ways to save energy? Insulate your attic and crawl spaces. Trade in old appliances for energy-efficient ones. Weather strip windows and doors. Keep your HVAC system in good working order.  Many states and utilities offer significant rebates to help lower the cost of these initial investments. Plus, you keep all the money you save when you lower your utility bills.

Spend less money on water. My water bill is consistently about half of what many of my neighbors pay. That’s because I’ve taken some key steps to use less water for bathing, clothes washing, dishes and cleaning, and even in my landscaping.

Over the years, I’ve also replaced my toilets so they only use 1.6 gallons per flush or less (older toilets may use 5 times that much). When I replaced my washing machine, I got a high efficiency top loading model, and I only wash clothes when I have a full load.

I do the same with my dishwasher, and only wash full loads. I installed a simple drip irrigation system in my yard so that water gets directly to my plants, rather than getting sprayed all over the yard.  I replaced the faucets in the showers and sinks with models that increase water pressure so a lot less water comes out of the faucet with no noticeable inconvenience.

Be healthier. Improving the indoor quality of your air is good for your health. Indoor air can actually be far more polluted than outdoor air because there’s less air circulation, and because people use cleansers and paints that contain a lot of toxic chemicals. Keep your HVAC filters clean.  Use only cleansers that are fragrance-free. And if you repaint, use paint that is free of VOCs, or volatile organic compounds.

Teach your children. When you raise kids to recycle, turn off the lights and electronics when they’re not in use, help you change the light bulbs, turn off the water when they brush their teeth, and share and swap rather than buy brand new, you help raise responsible kids who will help protect the planet as they get older.

Make more money when you sell your home. Homes that are well insulated to save energy, have water-saving appliances, and built with non-toxic paints and cleansers, garner more money when they’re sold. In fact, the statistics show that over 80% of homebuyers are willing to pay a premium to “go green.” You can often deduct the expenses you incurred in upgrading your house against the profit you make in selling it, too.

Protect wildlife. You can have your home certified as Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation if you maintain your landscape organically, plant trees and bushes, plant to attract birds, bees and butterflies, and add other natural gardening features.

Stop climate change. Climate change is the most critical issue we face when it comes to protecting life on earth as we know it. When you maintain your home to save energy, you’re doing your part to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions that help cause global warming, and related natural disasters, like extreme weather events, drought, fire, hurricanes and superstorms.

Why do you value living greener? Please share!

The post The 7 BEST Benefits of a Green Home appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Living in a condo in the city is actually more environmentally friendly compared to living in a suburb. The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports* that a person who lives in a downtown building uses only a third of the usual energy consumption of a person who lives in a typical suburban community.

So if you’re thinking of downsizing to a condo, or buying a condo instead of a house, that’s probably going to be good new for your pocket book, as you’ll use far less energy heating and cooling your home, and you’ll potentially reduce the amount of gasoline you burn since you may not have to drive as much. But apart from making the condo choice in the first place, what else can you do to save energy and water in your condo?

We’ve teamed up with Mondev Condos, which develops Montreal condos for sale, to offer this list of the 15 best ways to save energy and water in your condo.

Best Ways to Save Energy and Water in Your Condo

1. Install a low-flow showerhead. This ensures you don’t waste water unnecessarily every time you shower.

2. Think 1.6 gallons for your toilet. You don’t need a tank that holds several gallons of water to flush well. 1.6 is the accepted water-saving standard these days. Choose a water-saving toilet when buying new, or displace water in the tank you have using a plastic bottle weighted down with gravel. This way, you’ll use less water every time you flush the toilet.

3. Hang insulated drapes. By covering your windows with cellular blinds or blackout curtains, you’ll be able to lower your heating bills by reducing the amount of hot air coming in through the windows during the summer, and cold air coming in during the winter.

4. Insulate attic, walls, and crawl spaces. These are especially useful for outlets that face an exterior wall. If you put your fingers in front of the outlet, you will be able to feel cold air coming into the room if the outlet isn’t insulated.

5. Compost. Organize a community composting pick-up for your condo complex so all you need to do is collect your kitchen waste, then put it out at the curb for easy collection.

6. Place mobile draft stoppers near your door sill. If you can’t weatherstrip or insulate the door, at least put down a door stopper to block cold air from coming in.

7.  Insulate your windows. Use weatherstripping or caulk you can get at your local hardware store to seal leaky windows.

8. Replace old light bulbs with LED lights. LEDs are the most efficient bulbs on the market. Though they cost a little bit more, they save a lot more energy, and last longer, as well.

9. Switch off your lights and electronics if no one’s home. Often times, people forget to turn off the lights when they leave for work, or even when they’re away for a holiday. You can make this simple by installing sensors in your rooms that will automatically turn the lights off when no movement in the room is detected.

10. Choose ENERGY STAR appliances.  Refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, clothes driers, most electronics, and even your HVAC system are all available in highly efficient models. Check ENERGYSTAR.gov before you buy.

11. Install a surge protector to avoid unnecessary spikes in energy use. Power bars also prevent phantom power with just one switch.

12. Repair any leaking faucets and toilets. Leaks make up 13% of home water usage. You can actually do this job yourself – check this video.

13. Install aerators on your faucets and showerhead so you can further save water. You will usually just need to screw it onto the faucet to avoid splashing a stream of water when you open the faucet.

14. Bicycle, Walk, Use Mass Transit. Depending on your proximity to city center, you might be able to get a bike-sharing station set up in your condo complex to link your community to other parts of the city by bike. Even without bike sharing, take advantage of your proximity to work, shopping and entertainment by riding your own bike, walking or using mass transit.

15. Create an organic community garden and set up a farmers market or CSA for your complex. Making it easy to grown your own organic food will save you money and trips to the grocery store. Getting a CSA to deliver pre-reserved bags of locally grown food to your complex will also cut down on how much grocery shopping you need to do while providing a reliable source of delicious fresh fruits, vegetables, baked goods, and in some cases, meats.

Improving the efficiency of your home will not only save you money and help protect the planet. It will also increase the resale value of your property when you finally sell.

*EPA: Location Efficiency and Housing Type: Boiling It Down to BTUs

The post 15 of the Best Ways to Save Energy, Water in Your Condo appeared first on Big Green Purse.

You’ve probably heard about your carbon footprint. That’s the amount of carbon dioxide you generate when you use fossil fuels, like coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas. Your carbon footprint matters because it indicates what you’re contributing to the global problem of climate change.

Knowing your carbon footprint can help you figure out where you can save energy and shrink your footprint overall. If we all took our footprint down a few sizes, we’d make a big dent in the rate that climate change is increasing. The same goes for water.

Why Shrink the Size of Your Water Footprint?

In many parts of the U.S. and in many regions of the world, clean water supplies are shrinking so rapidly  that knowing our water footprint has become essential if we’re going to use the water we have wisely.

√ Only 1 percent of all the world’s water can be used for drinking (nearly 97% is salty, and the remaining 2% is tied up in the polar ice caps and glaciers).

√ There’s no “new” water. Though H2O cycles through a series of phases – as water on the ground or under ground, precipitation as rain, snow or sleet, and back again – the actual amount of water on earth is finite. We have just what we have, so we need to use it wisely.

√ You use more than you think. Right now, in America, on an average day, you’ll probably use about ninety gallons of water, which amounts to about 107,000 gallons for the year – enough to fill your bathtub almost 3,000 times.

We use water to grow lawns, wash dishes, rinse food, shower and shave, and let the tap run when we brush our teeth. About 14 percent leaks down the drain.

Older toilets waste more clean water in a single flush than many Africans use in an entire day.

Find and Fix Leaky Faucets & Toilets Before Drips Drain Your Wallet

We use water indirectly, too. Every product we buy has its own water footprint, and part of that footprint adds to ours every time we consume.

If you’re a “meat and potatoes” kind of person who loves to shop, your water footprint will be significantly larger than that of a vegetarian who is into recycling, swapping and sharing.

How to Measure Your Water Footprint

→ Read Your Water Bill. The easiest way to measure your direct water footprint is by reading your water bill. Most of us receive a monthly or quarterly bill from the utility company that supplies us with water. Look for these two pieces of vital information in every bill:

1) Your “average daily consumption” that is typical per person in your area.

2) How much water per person per day is being consumed in your household. My bill also shows how much water overall I used during the billing period, which in our area is every three months. I keep my bills for a year and compare them from bill to bill. Doing so, I can see both how much water I use and when I use the most.

My water usage is actually only about 50 gallons per person per day, compared to the “typical” person in our area, which is 70.

I also use almost twice as much water in the summer as I do in the winter, probably because I’m making more iced tea, taking more showers to cool off when it’s hot and muggy outside, and watering my garden.

Confused?

If you find your water bill confusing, you can try the clever Water Footprint Calculator created by Grace Communications Foundation. There are many calculators online, but I like this one because it’s got state-by-state options and the graphics are clever. When I took it, it calculated that I use about half as much water as the average American! It also suggests these ways to reduce the size of my water footprint even more:

7 Ways to Shrink Your Water Footprint

1) Take shorter showers. For every minute I shorten my shower, I can save 2.5 to 10 gallons of water (depending on how much water is coming out of the shower head).

2) Turn off the faucet when brushing teeth. That could save 4 or more gallons of water each day.

3) Use a dishwasher. Believe it or not, dishwashers are far more efficient than hand washing dishes, because you can wash so many more dishes at once. Hand washing one load of dishes can use as much as 20 gallons of water, compared to an energy-efficient dishwasher that clocks in at as little as 4.5 gallons. NOTE: If you must wash dishes by hand, don’t leave the water running nonstop. Fill a pot with rinse water, use a sponge to rinse off all the dishes, then soap them up and rinse them off.

4) Wash clothes less. I don’t mean that you should wear dirty clothes! But much of our attire – like blue jeans, sweaters, dress clothes – don’t need to be laundered if they’ve only been worn once. Washing less will extend the life of your clothes, as well.

5) Fix all leaks. And I mean all! Check bathroom, kitchen and bathtub faucets, toilet tanks, hose attachments outside, and any place else where water can just leak away. Fixing leaks will save you money on your water bill, too.

6) Replace your thirsty lawn with native plants that require less water. If you must have a lawn, water it deeply and during the cooler parts of the day, to promote healthier root growth and to make sure most of the water goes into the lawn rather than evaporating into the air. If planting new plants, choose those that can tolerate the amount of rainfall normal for your area. Don’t miss this post:

8 Best Natural Alternatives to Growing Grass

7) Eat less meat. I’m not much of a meat eater to begin with, which is good when it comes to water. FYI, it takes over 1700 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef, so switching to a plant-based diet helps reduce your water footprint significantly.

To get a sense of how much water other products use, check out this handy reference at National Geographic.

And remember: don’t just pay your water bill the next time it comes. Read it closely to see how much water you’re really using.

The post 7 Ways to Shrink the Size of Your Water Footprint appeared first on Big Green Purse.

One person of every three on the planet today isn’t nearly so fortunate, according to the International Water Management Institute, because they lack reliable access to fresh water. Even here in the U.S., the federal Government Accountability Office reported in 2003 that “water managers in thirty-six states anticipate water shortages locally, regionally, or statewide within the next ten years.”

The rest of the world looks equally thirsty. By 2025, worries the Water Management Institute, all of Africa and the Middle East, and almost all of South and Central America and Asia, will either be running out of water or unable to afford its cost.

Dirty Water Kills Kids

They’ll also be contending with its safety. “Every day more children die from dirty water than HIV-AIDS, malaria, war, and accidents all put together,” says Maude Barlow, co-author of Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water. According to a 2003 survey by the European Environment Agency, nitrates, toxins, heavy metals and/or harmful microorganisms contaminate ground water in nearly every European country and former Soviet republic.

And What About Cleopatra?

There is no “new water.” We are essentially using the same water Cleopatra used 2,000 years ago. But we’re using a lot more of it:

If today is an average day, you’ll probably use about 90 gallons of water just for today – which amounts to about 107,000 gallons for the year: enough to fill your bathtub almost 3,000 times.

We use water to grow lawns, wash dishes, rinse food, shower and shave, and let the tap run when we brush our teeth. About 14 percent leaks down the drain.

Older toilets waste more clean water in a single flush than many Africans use in an entire day.

Only 1 percent of all the world’s water can be used for drinking.

Nearly 97 percent of the world’s water is salty and otherwise undrinkable. The other 2 percent is locked up in the ice caps and glaciers.

What if You’re Pregnant?

In the U.S., we count on our tap water to be safe, and for the most part it is. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets standards for approximately ninety contaminants in drinking water. Outbreaks from microbial contamination — the kind that give you a stomach ache or diarrhea — are rare, given how many people are serviced by the public drinking water system. The bigger issue revolves around chemicals that wastewater treatment facilities weren’t designed to remove. The common fertilizer ingredient nitrate, for example, can seep into drinking water through runoff from lawns, gardens, and agricultural fields, causing “blue baby syndrome” if it depletes a newborn baby’s hemoglobin. Pregnant and nursing women and the elderly should also avoid water that’s high in nitrate content.

Bottled Water is Not the Solution

Bottled water won’t be the solution. Since so much “bottled” water is actually tap water, there’s no guarantee there’ll be enough to go around. And as we’ve discussed here before, bottling water in plastic, throwaway bottles creates a whole host of environmental problems that are better left alone.

All Those Drugs, All Those Weird Fish

Pharmaceuticals — including painkillers, depression medication, and birth control drugs — and endocrine-disrupting chemicals from deodorants, shampoos, body soaps, and lotions are also roiling America’s freshwater supplies. The cumulative effect of trace amounts of these chemicals has the EPA concerned, given their links to behavioral and sexual mutations in fish, amphibians, and birds. Part of the problem is that consumers flush old and unwanted drugs down toilets or drains. Another factor is the sheer volume of pharmaceuticals and personal-care products entering our waterways. In a U.S. Geological Survey/EPA study of 139 streams in 30 states, pharmaceuticals were found in 80 percent of the samples taken.

These aren’t benign elements. According to a 2006 analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey, “previously banned compounds…such as DDT and chlordane, natural and anthropogenic hormones, herbicides, fungicides, industrial chemicals” and other compounds that might act as endocrine disrupters lead to aberrations like both male and female sex organs turning up on the same fish.

Nasty Chemicals in the Water, Learning Disabilities in Kids?

The National Academy of Sciences is worried, too. Its list of “naturally occurring and man-made contaminants in drinking water of concern to all of us” includes arsenic, perchlorate (a component of rocket fuel and fireworks), copper, and methylmercury, the scourge of parents anxious about learning disabilities and developmental disorders in their kids.

What About the Oceans?

The ocean’s misfortune is also our own. Twenty percent of coral reefs and 35 percent of mangroves have been lost since 1980, along with their capacity to buffer coastal communities from storms. With nearly half the world’s cities located within 50 kilometers of a coast, people are more vulnerable than ever before to extreme weather events, like Hurricane Katrina, whose impact on New Orleans is pictured at left. Over half of the synthetic nitrogen ever used to fertilize American farmland has been applied in the last two decades. As much as 50 percent of it has run off, creating dead zones in great aquatic cauldrons like the Gulf of Mexico that make short shrift of those shrimp you like to serve for dinner. Does anyone need a reminder about the impact the oil industry has on global H2O? We’ll be learning about the devastating impact of the recent Gulf Oil Disaster for months and years to come.

Is it Hopeless?

It all depends on what we do next. We know the world’s waters are in peril. We also know there’s no way we can make more water. But we also know what to do to keep it safe. Here’s the big picture:

1) Eliminate the use of all toxic chemicals.

2) Immediately implement the water conservation strategies we’ve already invented.

3) Transition as quickly as possible away from fossil fuels in favor of renewable resources that don’t contribute to climate change or pollute our rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans.

We know what to do.

Will we? The answer is up to us all.

The post We’re Drinking the Same Water as Cleopatra. Is It as Clean? appeared first on Big Green Purse.