Water

Water. What does it mean to you? How much do you take your water for granted. When you think of water, do you think of nature's bounty...streams, rivers, oceans, rainfall? Or do you think of the miracle you get out of the tap every time you turn the faucet? Do you realize just how lucky you are to have the miracle of plumbing? Can you even imagine what it would be like to live without running water? This past weekend I had my bathroom water shut off due to a pipe leak which lead to a substantial amount of water on the kitchen floor. Even though I all the other water in the house worked, and I just had to borrow another bathroom it seemed like such a major inconvenience. Which makes me question how in the world I ever dealt with having to haul my own water from a pump for two years while living in Guinea. My daily existence involved carrying 45 pounds of water on my head for 400 meters to about half a mile (I can honestly say that carrying on top of your head is the easiest way to carry that kind of weight that kind of distance), washing dishes in a bucket, taking a bath from a bucket, praying my water was clean as I didn't want to keep drinking bleached water, considering every possible way to conserve said water (it is amazing how little water you can use in a day if you try), hoping that really was the sound of thunder because it meant I could catch rainwater to use, all while trying to ensure I consumed 5-8 liters of clean water a day to balance out the heat.

I had it easy. I had a safe water source. I had a relatively close water source. I had closed container to carry my water in. Not everyone is that lucky. Did you know that every day in Africa women and children walk a combined total of 109 million hours to get water? Did you know that unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, war included? Up to 42,000 each week? Did you know that the average American uses 159 gallons of water every day? Can you even think of all the times you are using that water? That makes the 2-4 gallons I used a day seem impossible How little do you think you could manage to use for just one day? Want more scary facts? Check this out.

It is blog action day. Start thinking about water, your access to it and others access to it. Consider what it would be like to be one of those others. Imagine how different your life would be. Consider action of some form.

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Climate Change

It is blog action day again, the one day a year that bloggers unite to write about a topic of concern. This year I've been asked to write about climate change. With all of the recent news stories about tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and such it is hard to ignore the disastrous affects that climate change is having on lives around the world. This is truly a topic which concerns us all. The deeper question for me is always to try to figure out how does this really affect me - and what steps does that mean I can and should take to help do my part? Here in Paraguay I'm not sure that climate change is a big concern. There don't seem to be any emissions control on vehicles, liter is clearly a big problem, recycling has just begun to be talked about and spread (our students are trying to reach out to other schools to get them interested in recycling programs, although there are the horse cart men who dig through the trash for recyclables - more on that at a later date), clean water is still not available for everyone even in Asuncion leading to greater use of bottled water...I couldn't even tell you if any changes in climate have affected crop growing in Paraguay at all. I just don't see the immediate results here. So what are the affects? Personally, I think it is in the idea of places that I want to travel to having a limited shelf life - will I get to the Galapagos Islands before they are to far destroyed to admit visitors? Will weather patterns make it difficult to enjoy the time off to travel I do get? Those are the thoughts which lead me to consider what I can do personally that might make a difference. My lifestyle doesn't lend itself to saying I'll try not to take gas guzzling flights, but that doesn't mean that I can't do some small things. I can continue to walk the 20-40 minutes it takes to get to almost any of my destinations in Asuncion, instead of calling a taxi, or explore the bus system. I can continue to "Agroshop" on Tuesdays - local farmers with products (possible organic) available 6 blocks from house. I can make sure all that paper I'm throwing away at school goes into the recycle box instead of into the trash can. I can embrace reusable plastic containers over plastic bags for packing lunch and snacks. I am sure there are many other things I can be doing in the belief that the only thing that makes any big change is all of the little people making small changes. I encourage you to think about what steps you could take to help combat the problems brought about by the climate changes in our world.