Page 53 - The Celestia Project

BEEF 1796

PORK 576 Water Required 43
468
CHICKEN

SOYBEANS 206 to Produce One Pound

WHEAT 132 (in gallons of water)

CORN 108

SOURCE: NationalGeographic.com (http://tinyurl.com/yg3c67u)

EASILY ACCESSIBLE ��WATER WITHIN LIVING
SURFACE FRESH ORGANISMS 1% RIVERS 1%
WATER 1% ATMOSPHERIC
��FRESHWATER3% ��GROUND
OCEAN 97% SOILWATERLAKES www.greenbuildermedia.com 09.2014
WATER 20% MOISTURE 52%
VAPOR 8%
ICE CAPS & 38%
GLACIERS 79%

ALL WATER FRESH WATER EASILY ACCESSIBLE
SURFACE FRESH WATER

Why Change? Although the planet is abundant with water, most of it is not directly consumable. Adjusting our water guzzling
dietary habits (top) could vastly reduce the strain we’re putting on that precious 3 percent. SOURCE: USDA

not re ll for centuries (or longer). At the same time, the growth people have a bad habit of using efficiency gains to justify
of the cattle and biofuels industries is guzzling ever-more water. additional consumption. Reductions in fresh water demand must
Suddenly, blue is the new gold. be accompanied by ongoing attention to water’s true value.

The next couple of decades are likely to be contentious. Major Conservation as a path to water security is not a new idea, but
issues will be decided around water rights, both globally and here in most places, it’s proceeding at a pace that’s glacial. In water-
in the U.S. Do citizens have the right to collect rainwater if aquifers worried Las Vegas, for example, there’s a plan to reduce per capita
are dry? How much water should go to farms versus cities? Do water consumption to about 199 gallons per capita per day by
residents of Las Vegas have rights to water that originated in their 2035. That’s a gain of only about 120 gallons below the national
state? These are very emotional, tough questions. But what if they household water-use average over a period of 20 years.
could be “softened” by dramatic changes in conservation?
These “baby steps” may be as far as utilities dare to project, but
Serious Action we’re under no such political restraints. So let’s look at just ve
attainable behavior and industry changes that could solve most of
In our view, impending debates about fresh water don’t have our future water woes at a throw—some of them by themselves.
to become bitter. We have within easy reach a whole palette of What you begin to realize is that the dire condition of our water
conservation solutions that would not result in major societal future has a lot to do with the way we have chosen to live. The
disruption. Of course, the challenge will be to avoid the “e ciency fault, in other words, “lies not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
trap.” As we’ve discussed in other chapters of The Celestia Project,
continued on page 44