Since we just started this blog, we didn’t have an opportunity to talk about World Water Day.
International World Water Day is held annually on March 22. The day was designed by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. This year’s topic was “Water and Food Security.”
Did you know that…?
It takes about 1500 liters of water to produce 1 kg of wheat, but it takes 10 times more to produce 1kg of beef.
Score one for the vegetarians.
It takes 1,000 times more water to feed people than to satisfy their thirst.
So when you told your mom you were hungry and she said drink a glass of water…she was right.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations hosted the official ceremony of UN-Water World Water Day 2012.
Some important issues that were presented at this year’s event.
Drought is still the #1 problem
Drought ranks as the single most common cause of severe food shortages in developing countries. Drought caused more deaths during the last century than any other natural disaster, and Asia and Africa rank first among continents in the number of people directly affected.
Estimates suggest that 30% to 50% of food produced is lost and/or wasted
By 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, a 50% increase compared to 2000. During the last few decades, unprecedented increases in food production have been accomplished. Little attention has, however, been devoted to the actual use of food produced.
We must be keen conservators of our water if we want future generations to live a full and healthy life. Greenpeace recommends these action steps to start your personal water advocacy program.
- Tell Apple, Amazon & Microsoft to Clean up our cloud!
- Tell Shell to stop Arctic oil drilling
- Tell companies to stop doing business with APP until they clean up their act!
- Stand with the people of Brazil to Save the Amazon
- Tell Chicken of the Sea to stop trashing our oceans
- Got Instagram? Star in our next video
- Donate to Greenpeace
- Donate a Tweet a day
- Add this list to your blog
Check out these additional resources:
Saving Water from Field to Fork
If you really want an in depth analysis of our world water usage, how water is used to provide our food, and how to reduce food waste and reduce our water footprint, read this 36 page report from the International Water Management Institute.
“Taste the Waste” – Documentary by Valentin Thurn
A documentary about the worldwide destruction of food. Why do we throw away so much? And how can we stop this kind of waste?
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