“Water Number: Between October 2003 and March 2009, more than 24 million acre-feet (30 cubic kilometers) of groundwater were pumped out of California’s Central Valley. This is overdraft of groundwater — the pumping of groundwater faster than nature recharges it. Most of the overdraft is occurring in the San Joaquin Valley and it is occurring at a rate far faster than previously reported by the California Department of Water Resources.
The pumping has been so extreme that NASA’s twin GRACE satellites can detect the changes in local gravity caused by the massive loss of water. The two satellites are so sensitive to gravity that they are affected by changes in mass on earth’s surface — and water is very heavy. Ironically, a few months ago this same research group at NASA reported a massive loss of groundwater in India over approximately the same period of time, but the California loss is nearly twice as large.” ~ Peter Gleick
According to TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, only about 2 percent of products that are labeled “eco-friendly” are entirely truthful. The other 98 percent are guilty of greenwashing to some degree. Let’s take a look at some of the worst cases of greenwashing in 2009.
3 out of the 10 ads featured either deal w/ water directly, or indirectly…that should tell you something!!
A three-year study of the nation’s drinking water quality has found more than 200 unregulated chemicals in the tap water of 45 states.
The Environmental Working Group analysis of 20 million tap water quality tests found a total of 316 contaminants — including industrial solvents, weed killers, refrigerants and the rocket fuel component perchlorate — in water supplied to the public between 2004 and 2009.
If L.A.’s rainwater harvesting program could put a barrel at each of the city’s 800,000 residential parcels, demand for tap water could drop by about 800 million gallons a year.
Environmental Chemistry student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Chris Morrow, is currently traveling to Chiapas to research the water crisis in Mexico…check out the youtube video at the link below to learn more about Chiapas! And stay tuned for updates and images from Chris…
We want you! …to help us design our PeakWater.org tshirt! Please share your most politically forward, eco-edgy ideas with us!! The person with the winning quote will have their name featured on the tshirt. This is your chance to be heard!
All shirts will be recycled from Salvation Army, Goodwill, and individual donors. No new production will be use…because, well, that would waste more water now wouldn’t it? This is about generating awareness. Quotes should tell the truth about our water use…not what we WANT to do. or WISH we did…. But rather, what we ACTUALLY do.
Examples:
“160 gallons of water were used to make my tshirt.”
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