Photo: Waterfall in Suriname, in recognition of Blog Action Day 2010

Suriname

Waterfall in Suriname. Photo by Rhett A. Butler 2008

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. This year’s topic is water.

Some water facts presented by Change.org:

  • 40 Billion Hours:

    African women walk over 40 billion hours each year carrying cisterns weighing up to 18 kilograms to gather water, which is usually still not safe to drink.
    More Info »
  • 38,000 Children a Week:

    Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions.
    More Info »
  • Cell Phones vs. Toilets:

    Today, 2.5 billion people lack access to toilets, but many more have access to a cell phone.
    More Info »
  • Food Footprint:

    It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe.
    More Info »
  • Technology Footprint:

    The shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with over 80 million active iPhones in the world, that’s 40 million liters to charge those alone.
    More Info »
  • Fashion Footprint:

    That cotton t-shirt you’re wearing right now took 1,514 liters of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 6,813 liters.
    More Info »
  • Bottled Water Footprint:

    The US, Mexico and China lead the world in bottled water consumption, with people in the US drinking an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled.
    More Info »
  • Waste Overflow:

    Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in water sources. This not only negatively impacts the environment but also harms the health of surrounding communities.
    More Info »
  • Polluted Oceans:

    Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year.
    More Info »
  • Uninhabitable Rivers:

    Today, 40% of America’s rivers and 46% of America’s lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life.
    More Info »
  • Conservation Starts at Home:

    The average person uses 465 liters of water per day.
    More Info »
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools:

    Students in developing countries lose 443 million school days each year due to diseases associated with the lack of water, sanitation and hygiene. Repeated episodes of diarrhea and worm infestations diminish a child’s ability to learn and impair cognitive development.
    More Info »

Author: Mongabay

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