Tag archives for Conserving Water
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Water is a very important resource for life. Every day we use it for drinking, washing, farming and cooking. But it’s not an unlimited resource, so we need to find ways to use it more wisely.
The Colorado River is one source of water that is disappearing. It stretches 1,450 miles (2,333 kilometers), but can barely even reach the sea anymore. The water is split up among seven states in the U.S. and Mexico. Around 30 million people use this source of water for drinking and irrigation. This means that there is little water left over to support the ecosystem that lives along the river’s path.
It may be hard to believe, but we all use the water from the Colorado River. It isn’t just farmers who use it for irrigation or big cities like Las Vegas. Many of us consume items produced in the region, such as hamburgers and cornmeal.
Did you know that the average American uses twice as much water as the global average? That’s about 2,000 gallons per person every day!
To make a difference, adults are pledging to change what they do on a daily basis, by eating less meat or carpooling. For every pledge that an adult makes, Change the Course will help put back 1,000 gallons of water to the Colorado River. Ask your parents if they want to learn more about Change the Course.
And yes, please do turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth. Every drop counts.
What will you do to change the course?
Posted by BOOK NAME: True Green
AUTHOR: Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin
True Green is a book about helping the environment. “Green” is a term used when referring to helping the environment and stopping global warming. For a while now our Earth has been getting warmer and warmer, in part, caused by gas and factories. One effect is that the ice in the North Pole and Antarctica is slowly melting. Animals are dying too. So that is why WE have to stop global warming soon.
The book gives you on each page one way to go “green” with a total of 100 ideas to become more environmentally friendly. For example, you can put a bucket outside on a rainy day and try to collect water for watering flowers the next day. Another way is you can send a letter to the mayor of your town or a politician about going green or stopping global warming. The book motivates you to worry about some of the problems that are going on around the world and to do something about it.
I decided to do one of the projects from the book. I made a list of ways that both my family and I could work on being more globally efficient. The things that were on my checklist were; turn off lights when you leave a room or the house, recycling, turn computer onto sleep mode, shorten showers to 4 minutes, water plants, and turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
Every time we do one of the ideas on the list, we get one “green” point. Once we get ten points, we get one iPod download or a little prize. It’s really working and for my younger brothers it shows them about why we are doing this and it gives them something to look forward to when they get ten points. This was a really GREAT book!
