As someone that always drinks the glass of a water at a restaurant, constantly refilling a recyclable water bottle, and is accustomed to drinking fountains in most buildings, I tend to take water for granted. After all, water is a utility, often cheaper than electricity or natural gas. Unfortunately, for many parts of the world, access to fresh water is a rarity. As this National Geographic article, The Burden of Thirst, so eloquently points out:

In wealthy parts of the world, people turn on a faucet and out pours abundant, clean water. Yet nearly 900 million people in the world have no access to clean water, and 2.5 billion people have no safe way to dispose of human waste—many defecate in open fields or near the same rivers they drink from.

As a response, the United Nations established March 22 as World Water Day. The idea of water having its own day of recognition might seem a bit ludicrous at first, until I started to consider how important fresh water is to life. Not only is water a vital substance to the human body, it’s very presence is responsible for the entire food chain (both plant and animal).

I asked myself how World Water Day could be any different than other ecological non-holiday observance. I don’t recall the last time I participated in any activities regarding Arbor Day, or the catch-all Earth Day. As I am accustomed to playing a devil’s advocate against popular causes, I find myself strangely drawn to a day to which even the most liberal, organic, tree-hugging planet saver has not heard of. If being “green” is the socially responsible thing to do, I had to find out what it meant to be “blue” as well.

I surrendered to the cause and decided to look into what World Water Day actually is. I discovered this year’s campaign website, worldwaterday2010.info, and read through several of the pages and a few of the documents. Some interesting facts that I learned included:

• People need 20-40 liters of water per day (50 liters if you include bathing and kitchen use)
• 1.1 billion people don’t have access to clean water, compared to the global population of 6.7 billion
• There is no binding water safety agreements among nations in the UN or otherwise

Mixed in the site are many photos of struggling people in shanty towns and disgusting waterways. I’m no stranger to late-night television pleas to help save children in Africa, but World Water Day puts it all into perspective. The site also has a full listing of the World Water Day events going on around the globe.

Reading this information gave me a sense of powerlessness. To ease my mind, I researched a few sites dedicated strictly to water conservation. A few of my favorites include Water Use It Wisely, WaterSense, and Water Conserve. Some tips I found for conserving water include:

1. Fix leaky pipes and faucets.
2. Save water from other uses (cleaning, boiling) and use it to water plants.
3. Take showers instead of baths. Take shorter showers (5 minutes).
4. Don’t let the water run while brushing you teeth.
5. Turn the garden hose tightly in the off position.
6. Use the garbage disposal less and the garbage more. It saves 50 to 150 gallons a month.
7. Don’t defrost frozen foods with running water. Either plan ahead by placing frozen items in the refrigerator overnight or defrost them in the microwave.
8. Water your lawn and garden in the morning or evening when temperatures are cooler to minimize evaporation.
9. Keep a bottle of drinking water in the refrigerator. This beats the wasteful habit of running tap water to cool it for drinking.
10. Dispose of hazardous materials properly! One quart of oil can contaminate 250,000 gallons of water, effectively eliminating that much water from our water supply. Contact your city officials for locations to dispose of hazardous materials.

In the end, I am not sure if I fully understand the need for one specific day for water awareness, but I suppose the publicity  and awareness are small steps to resolving a big problem. Water conservation is rarely touted in the media (at least much less than hunger). Water is essential to life and should be considered a right to living.

For more information on World Water Day or to find out the various ways you can help in your community, visit the UN Water Day website or read National Geographic’s Water: Our Thirsty World, set to hit news stands on at the end of the month.

Photos: J.C. Rojas, Pink Sherbert Photography, and UN Water.

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Lets do it like they do on the…Sundance Channel?

Yes!  That’s right!  The Sundance Channel, known for dry, independent programing full of self important documentaries and dull low budget movies gets raunchy, hilarious and informative with Green Porno.

Now in its second season, Green Porno stars Isabella Rossellini, who is also a writer, director, and producer of the series of short films about mating habits of the animal kingdom.  In each episode she assumes the identity of an animal and acts out its mating ritual.

If I were a Snail…

If I were a Starfish…

If I were an Earthworm…

Isabella tells us some background of her animal, and in absurd animal costumes proceeds to hump cardboard and foam cut outs, telling the viewer just how the mating ritual occurs.

The set is cartoon like and fun, showing the lighthearted side of the series.  This is not a dry documentary.  There is no stuffy old British man in a tweed suit doing dry voice overs.  This is definitely something new.  Learning about animal reproduction has never been so amusing.

I never cared too much for Blue Velvet and I always thought David Lynch was a bit of a hack, but no one can deny that Isabella Rossellini is a beautiful and talented woman.  She is fearless in Green Porno.  She holds nothing back in her performance and that is what makes it so brilliant.

Green Porno airs on the Sundance Channel Tuesdays at 9 pm, or you can just head over to the Sundance site and watch all of Season 1 and Season 2 so far.

What do you think about this series?

(Photo: Promotional shot from Sundance/Green Porno)

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