This morning was like any other weekday morning of late. I woke up to my toddler’s request of “Milky! Movie! Milky! Movie!” and stumbled downstairs to comply. I poured my son a cup of rice milk (water-based), set the coffee pot to brew (6 cups of water), and turned on the TV.
A few minutes later my daughter came downstairs and requested her usual breakfast — Cheerios and rice milk (don’t know, but am sure water is involved in Cheerio making, and there’s another cup of rice milk consumed). I load the dishwasher from the night before and pour my coffee.
Kids settled, I go upstairs and take a 5 minute shower (say 20 gallons), using liquid soap and liquid shampoo & conditioner. I apply assorted lotions and moisturizers to assorted body parts, get dressed and grab breakfast myself.
I’m pretty sure I’ve just used more water in 45 minutes than some families in developing countries have access to over the course of day.
Quick fact checking at water.org proves that I’m right.
Water is the stuff of life. Without, life on earth would cease to exist. And even though water is a limited resource, the real issue is that of accessibility. How do many families access water in the developing world?
Why the woman of the family hauls it on her back. 40lbs at a time.
Water.org makes a strong argument that this is, in fact, a women’s issue, because so much of their time is spent finding and hauling water. Their video gave me chills. It’s guesstimated that the women of the world spend 200 million hours a day securing and transporting water for their families. And I get antsy waiting for my water pitcher filter to work, I grumble about loading the dishwasher, I can’t be bothered to do laundry in my own home, with my washer literally 3 steps from my bedroom.
Today’s Blog Action Day puts this issue in the spotlight. Let’s not forget about it tomorrow.
Scrolling down the page from where the video is located is a list of ways to get involved digitally — you can convert your avatars, backgrounds and signatures to help support this very important cause- check them out!
One reply on “The Luxury of Clean, Safe Water”
I love it. I’m becoming really scared about the privatization and sale of water to citizens. We know pretty well that big corporations tend to make things better for themselves rather than consumers and we’re facing some of the most interesting and potentially damaging debates and revelations in modern consumerism. Exciting.