February 20, 2011

I'm sure everyone can pin-point that one moment when they realized or learned that their actions had consequences that affected the environment. Mine was when I was little, sesame-street watching age (can't remember the specific age), and I was watching sesame street when this cartoon came on:

When I watched this I felt SO bad for that poor fish! Ever since then I have never left the faucet running when I brushed my teeth, and I made sure none of my family members did either. It is from this point on that I have been aware of my actions and their consequences.

Visit this site for more information about the water we use, and waste. With regards to leaving the tap running while brushing your teeth, it says that that action can waste 4 gallons of water.

December 11, 2010

Take a look at these numbers of how many gallons of water it takes to produce certain things:

 

LOOK HOW MUCH WATER IS USED FOR BEEF!!!

Why is it that much you ask?

Here's why:

All of these photos are in the April 2010 National Geographic

This is why I am vegetarian.

With one in eight people on this planet lacking access to clean water, and then on top of that all this grain going to feed animals, which only the wealthy can afford to eat, why not just give the grain to people from the start? You'd be able to feed more people - especially with the population predicted to stabilize around 9 BILLION people, food and water scarcity are going to become huge issues and so we are not going to be able to allocate THIS MUCH WATER to beef. Just think how much other stuff this water could be used for if people just cut down how much meat they ate. I'm not saying become vegetarian, just eat less meat. You seriously do not need to eat meat for breakfast (bacon) lunch (sandwhiches) and dinner (roast, pasta sauce etc), every day! Honestly, think about how much meat you eat and how much water that takes up.

Also, look at the impact this has on deforestation.

The majority of forest is cleared in the amazon for cattle ranches

graph obtained from my ENVR 200 class at McGill

Just something to think about eh?

Also, I urge you to see the significance of eating meat vs being vegetarian vs being vegan by calculating your footprint (find link in my links section). You can do your footprint as a meat eater and then as a vegetarian and see the drastic difference it makes.
Arguably, what you eat makes a bigger impact on the planet than what type of transport you use.

again, something to think about in your day to day life choices.

October 21, 2010

There is a really neat article on the BBC website today about the discovery of water-ice on the moon. Take a look for yourself:

Moon's water is useful resource, Nasa says

"There are oases of water-rich soil that could sustain astronauts on the Moon, according to Nasa."
"A Nasa-led team tells Science magazine that about 155kg of water vapour and water-ice were blown out of the crater.

The researchers' analysis suggests some areas of lunar regolith, or soil, must contain as much as 5% by weight of water-ice.

"That's a significant amount of water," said Anthony Colaprete, from the US space agency's Ames research centre."

Thoughts? Could humans be drinking moon water somewhere down the road? Will austronauts be spending extended periods on the moon, and so be able to pursure more lengthy research in space?
And most importantly, will Wallace and Gromit make tea out of water-ice on their next Grand Day Out?

http://johngushue.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f25369e20115721c3d8e970b-800wi

Or will the little robot on the moon fulfill his skiing dreams somehow on mountains of water-ice?

http://www.davidszondy.com/images/grand_day.jpg

But seriously, as much as I want the moon robot to ski on moon water-ice, and while this doesn't directly link to our planet, it might someday. The water is underground, but apparently easily extractable and easily defrosted, so who knows, keep an eye out in the future to see if something comes of this!