Wednesday, March 21, 2012

World Water Day 2012


Tomorrow, 22nd March is World Water Day!

How is it "celebrated" in your stretch of the river?

From the WWD website:
International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.
This year, the theme focuses on Food and Water Security:
There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.

When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure we cannot pretend the problem is ‘elsewhere’. Coping with population growth and ensuring access to nutritious food to everyone call for a series of actions we can all help with:

  • follow a healthier, sustainable diet;
  • consume less water-intensive products;
  • reduce the scandalous food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost!
  • produce more food, of better quality, with
  • less water.
I hate to say this, but I'm probably the most guilty person when it comes to this issue of  food and water security. I love my meat - chicken, pork, beef, fish, you name it. And I hate my greens. I suppose my water footprint just from sticking to my usual diet would be huge, based on this graphic alone:
http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/downloads/WWD2012_VW_FRIEZE.pdf

Interesting ain't it? And I bet you thought drinking a cup of tea used up only the amount of water needed to brew it. For more interesting (and sobering) information, videos and other materials can be found here:
http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/campaign.html

In my defence I'd like to mention that I'm not a particularly big fan of steak - the production of beef being the largest consumers of agricultural water.

How large is your water footprint?

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In Singapore, we're celebrating WWD by, well, gathering a bunch of people close to a body of water and have fun and games, while at the same time reminding everyone of the importance of keeping the waters clean.

http://www.singaporeworldwaterday.com/

Where will you be on WWD?

Sunday, March 11, 2012

忘れないで「2011年3月3日」

1 year ago, on this very day, March 11th 2011, an earthquake struck off the Eastern coast of Japan.

I was in school at the time, and I remember the horrible, sinking feeling of standing alongside my classmates, eyes glued on the TV screens that were broadcasting the terrible scenes of destruction.

1 year on, while rebuilding and recovery has been slow, the people of Tohoku have been resilient and endured the hardships of this past year, despite losing loved ones, homes and livelihoods.  It's been a difficult year for the Japanese people.



In memory of those lost, and in tribute to those who are fighting back...

Never forget - 11/03/2011