March 22nd is 'World Water Day"

'Coping with Water Scarcity' is the theme for World Water Day 2007, which is celebrated each year on 22 March. This year's theme highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources, both at international and local levels.

Equity and rights, cultural and ethical issues are essential to be addressed when dealing with limited water resources. Imbalances between availability and demand, the degradation of groundwater and surface water quality, intersectoral competition, interregional and international disputes, all center around the question of how to cope with scarce water resources.

The theme was decided among all members of UN Water at the World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2006. FAO acts as coordinator, on behalf of all the UN Agencies and Programmes members of UN-Water for the celebration of World Water Day 2007. It is assisted by the Secretariat for UN-Water, which is based at UN DESA in New York, and which is serving as point of contact within the UN system for freshwater-related issues.

Please visit the UN Water web site, and the UN Water for Life Decade web site for the latest information on UN freshwater programmes.

Visit the World Water Day website to learn more.

Donate Your Unwanted Shoes

You know those shoes that sit in your closet just occupying space? Yes, those shoes that you NEVER wear. They can make a difference in the lives of people in places such as,Mexico, Venezuela,Ecuador,Guatemala,Honduras, The Dominican Republic,Haiti,Brazil,Uganda,Sudan,Romania,and The United States.
Watch the clip below and learn how.



Packing 100 Pairs of Shoes
By Paul Wilson, as told to Christopher Elliott
Published: March 20, 2007
Delivering shoes to people in the developing world proves to be an adventurous, and sometimes dangerous, job. Read more


For more information, please visit www.soles4souls.org

The Year Without Toilet Paper

[The New York Times - By PENELOPE GREEN Published: March 22, 2007]

DINNER was the usual affair on Thursday night in Apartment 9F in an elegant prewar on Lower Fifth Avenue. There was shredded cabbage with fruit-scrap vinegar; mashed parsnips and yellow carrots with local butter and fresh thyme; a terrific frittata; then homemade yogurt with honey and thyme tea, eaten under the greenish flickering light cast by two beeswax candles and a fluorescent bulb.

A sour odor hovered oh-so-slightly in the air, the faint tang, not wholly unpleasant, that is the mark of the home composter. Isabella Beavan, age 2, staggered around the neo-Modern furniture -- the Eames chairs, the brown velvet couch, the Lucite lamps and the steel cafe table upon which dinner was set -- her silhouette greatly amplified by her organic cotton diapers in their enormous boiled-wool, snap-front cover.

A visitor avoided the bathroom because she knew she would find no toilet paper there. Read more...

Dispoable Utensils - Some Alternatives

Some Facts on Disposables


970 thousand tons of paper cups and plates were discarded in 2003 (EPA). If, we approximate 15 grams weight for each cup or plate, we get 64 billion paper cups and plates being thrown away every year in USA.
730 thousand tons of styrofoam and plastic plates and cups (710 thousand tons were styrofoam) were disposed in 2003 (EPA). Using 10 grams weight for each cup or plate, we get 73 billion mostly styrofoam cups and plates being thrown away every year in USA.
According to EPA statistics, a total of 3,810 thousand tons of plastic containers & bottles were thrown away in 2003. Using a generous number of 20 grams for each container, we get a number of 190 billion plastic containers & bottles being landfilled or incinerated every year.
The above numbers do not include trash bags, grocery bags and other plastic materials like trays, utensils, clam shells, caps and other plastic packaging. A total of 8000 thousand tons of these items were discarded in 2003.
Why biocompostables?
Plastic and styrofoam disposables made from petroleum based chemicals & additives. Petroleum is not only becoming an increasingly scarce resource, but it causes pollution and toxicity every step of its use - extraction, transportation (e.g. oil spills), refining and eventual production of the end use product. In addition the end use products made of styrofoam and plastic do not degrade and persist in the environment for hundred of years, causing further pollution and toxicity.

Paper disposables on the other hand are made from "virgin" wood fiber, which comes from our steadily depleting forests. Forests provide invaluable ecosystem services in maintaining biodiversity, streams, regulating climate and rainfall etc. and it is quite amazing that even today forests are cut down to be made into disposable paper products with a lifetime use of few minutes or seconds.

Biodegradable and compostable food service and packaging disposables provide a sustainable alternative to the styrofoam, plastic and paper products as they are made from readily renewable sources like sugarcane fiber, corn and potato, take less energy to manufacture, are not made from toxic or pollution causing sources and can be composted to reduce the amount of waste generated. They can also help reduce waste collection bills in counties and cities, which have a food waste/green waste pickup.

Sugarcane fiber(bagasse) and Bioplastics - plastics made from corn, potato or other annually renewable sources are the two main sources of biodegradable food service and packaging disposables. Fiber waste remaining after extraction of the juice from the sugarcane is molded at high pressure & temperature into plates, bowls, cups, take out containers, trays etc., while starch from corn, potato, tapioca, soybeans etc. is used to make products which are traditionally made from plastic and styrofoam such as disposable eating utensils, bags, cold cups, drinking straws, etc.

We like to point out that, though using biocompostables is a step towards better environmental sustainability, it is not a solution to our throw-away culture. The use of biocompostables disposables does not in any way discourage use or change the mind-set of using disposable products. Furthermore, even biocompostables (specially bioplastics) may take a long time to biodegrade in landfills.

We strongly advocate using non-disposable products as much as possible and hope that counties and cities will pass regulations to tax use of disposable products and as well as their disposal to limit their use and disposal.

---You can shop for sugar cane and corn utensils at http://www.worldcentric.org/store/index.htm

[Source: worldcentric.org ]

Counteracting Smoking Effects with Physical Activities

New studies revealed that smokers who exercise are less likely to develop a serious lung ailment common to this group, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The article appears in the March issue of The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

For the study, Dr. Judith Garcia Aymerich of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona,
Spain, and her colleagues followed the health of 6,800 people, smokers and nonsmokers, over 11 years. Of these, 928 developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , which killed more than 10,000 Americans in 2003, the researchers said.

The study found that among the smokers, the disease occurred about 20 percent less in those who reported moderate or high level of exercise.

The study concludes that "regular physical activity could counteract the smoking effects through an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanism."

[Source: The New York Times - Science Times]

Dance Power

We all know that we, human beings, can create energy. It's better not to take this fact for granted because the future of our planet may reside there.

A group of Dutch people proved that this idea can be turned into reality by creating an itinerant nightclub. The project includes rain water powered bathrooms, 'chameleon walls' that change colors due to body heat reactions, and wind powered fans to air out the environment. At the bar, of course, you can buy organic beer.

But that is not all! The club electicity is generated by the dance floor. While club goers shake their bodies to the sound of a DJ, a floor system captures the energy generated by the movement on the dance floor, sending it to a generator that transforms movement into electricity used to power club equipment.

Considering that a night club, when open 3 times a week, uses 150 times more energy than a household, this can be a significant amount of energy.

The concept is based on a simple physics equation:mechanical energy generates electric energy, or in other words energy creates energy.

With every step we take we leave energy behind. We can't reuse it all the time, but there is simple things to do to leave lighter footprints on the planet. For example, use the stairs instead of the elevator, bike instead of drive,
use a manual juicer, and let go of the electric blender. It saves you $ and the planet will thank you!

[Source: Vida Simples Magazine]