Increasing Our Water IQ

Treehugger has highlighted some useful ideas and issues surrounding world water use lately. For example, looking at each country's water footprint (defined as "water used plus the water inherent in products exported, then minus the water in exports" -- though I'm not sure I agree with that definition - shouldn't we count what we produce, as well as what we use?) reveals that the U.S. tops the list of water wielders at more than twice the world average. Each person in the U.S. uses an average of 2.5 million liters of water/year.

If you've always wanted to know how much water it takes to produce certain kinds of products, such as the average car, your newest pair of jeans, or that daily latte, check out their post that reveals the numbers for 14 different products. By the way, it takes nearly 40,000 gallons for your car, about 1,800 gallons per pair of jeans, and that latte? 53 gallons.

Another post looks at the water required to produce different kinds of foods, from fruits to grains to animal products to drinks. The survey assessed average gallons of water used per pound of food produced. Fruits, veggies and grains tend to require the least amount of water, though I was shocked to learn that chocolate clocked in at 2,847 gallons of water per pound! I've been paying attention to whether my chocolate is fair trade, organic and vegan, but I hadn't thought about the water use required. As the survey points out, the highest water requirements are for animal products, from 573 gallons for a pound of eggs, to between 2,500 and 5,000 gallons for a pound of cow flesh.

If you're looking for less-than traditional ways to save more water, check our their post offering seven "simple, unexpected ways" to save water, from only ordering water in a restaurant if you're going to actually drink it, to reusing the water you wash your fruits & veggies with.

To learn more about water issues and water use, check out resources such as Water for the Ages and WaterFootprint.org.

There's no doubt that clean, accessible water is a most precious resource that is growing more scarce. Fortunately, there is plenty we can do to reduce our own water footprint and to help create new systems that respect and fulfill everyone's water needs.

~ Marsha

Education Must Be the Key to Creating a Better World

Recently, I’ve been writing essays and speaking about this question: What is education for?. I’ve just read an essay, published almost two years ago, by British educator Susan Bassnett. It seems Britain, like the U.S., faces the same current challenges in schooling, and at least some are questioning the direction and approach of reform.

Bassnett writes:

"Education is about teaching children to grow up into adults who will take some responsibility for the world they inhabit, and who therefore will understand why they cast their votes in elections; why concern about climate change is essential; why preventive healthcare matters; why history remains relevant in modern society; why it is important to learn about how other cultures operate in a globalised, computer-driven, but also divided world.

"Perhaps above all, education is about teaching people how to think and how to question what they see and hear. The Burmese monks willing to risk death to challenge a repressive government are educated enough to understand that collective action combined with courage can bring about change. The Taliban hardliners who throw acid on women teachers in Afghanistan because women should not have the right to be educated are the antithesis of those Burmese martyrs.

"Children in British schools need to hear about both those worldviews, need to be able to weigh them up, understand how they came to exist, debate the rights and wrongs of each and so discover the value of freedom of speech and the right of human beings of all sexes, races, religions and classes to dignity and to education. In short, they need to be educated to live fully in the world, not merely trained to perform a set of limited and limiting tasks."

The debate is on. What should education be for? We must all participate in this conversation, as it holds the key to creating a better world for all. If we are neither parents nor students, we may not concern ourselves with this question, tackling instead what we consider to be more pressing issues. But education is perhaps the most pressing issue, as it offers a path toward creatively addressing everything else. It may not be sexy; it may not seem like the most important debate to have, but if we fail to address the purpose of schooling, we may fail at averting the mounting catastrophes that loom across the globe.

~ Zoe

Learn Something New...Today and Every Day

Several years ago I was talking to a neighbor about the conditions that factory farmed animals endure, and I mentioned that one of the practices the industry uses for many battery hens (those kept in cages to lay eggs) is forced molting. She asked me what exactly forced molting was. Uhhh. I didn’t know. I’d read that it was a bad thing done to battery hens, and that’s all I needed to know; it must therefore be a bad practice. But, if I was going to talk intelligently and knowledgeably about animal protection issues, I needed to learn more about them. A great opportunity for learning something new.

Many years before that, I’d been a staunch believer that homosexuality was a "sin" -- because that’s what I’d been taught. I had no reason to question it, because everyone else around me believed it (or at least chose not to say otherwise). I could safely assume it was true. And then, in college, I befriended my new fellow dance majors, many of whom were gay. And I realized that all my “facts” and beliefs were just assumptions that I’d established out of the culture, habits and traditions under which I was raised. A great opportunity for learning something new.

My new shampoo has an unpronounceable chemical in it. I see a label that says “certified humane.” I find the perfect outfit at a certain store, but I’m not sure where or how the outfit was made or what the business practices of the store are. All great opportunities to learn something new.

If we truly want to make choices that reflect values such as compassion and justice, and that do the most good and the least harm for all, it’s important that we educate ourselves about the impact of our choices, question our assumptions, and learn ways to create positive change.

Choose to learn something new -- today and every day.

~ Marsha

Humane Education Fits, Whatever the Subject

I write and speak often about how humane education can infuse all core subjects in school. Most of the time I talk about social studies, math and science. In this article about efforts at a Costa Rican university to bring humane issues into the foreign language program (in this case, English), we see a wonderful example of how what at first glance might appear to be a subject that doesn’t lend itself to humane education (learning a foreign language), can in fact become a vehicle for improving language skills, doing good, and connecting language acquisition to several other relevant and meaningful skills and contributions.

~ Zoe

Humane Issues in the News...

Each week we post links to news about humane education & humane living, and items connected to humane issues, from human rights to environmental preservation, to animal protection, to media, consumerism and culture.

Plan to stop “blood diamonds” failing – BBC (6/24/09)
”The Kimberley Process certification scheme, which aims to stop the use of diamonds to fund conflict, is failing, according to a campaign group. Global Witness pointed to the smuggling of diamonds from Ivory Coast and an alleged massacre of diamond diggers by the military in Zimbabwe last year. “

Supreme Court rules that mining wastes can be dumped in waters – New York Times (6/23/09)
”In a 6-to-3 decision that drew fierce criticism from environmentalists, the court said the Corps of Engineers had the authority to grant Coeur Alaska Inc., a gold mining company, permission to dump the waste known as slurry into Lower Slate Lake, north of Juneau.”

“The death of macho” – Foreign Policy (6/22/09)
”The era of male dominance is coming to an end. Seriously. For years, the world has been witnessing a quiet but monumental shift of power from men to women. Today, the Great Recession has turned what was an evolutionary shift into a revolutionary one. The consequence will be not only a mortal blow to the macho men’s club called finance capitalism that got the world into the current economic catastrophe; it will be a collective crisis for millions and millions of working men around the globe.”

Inmates at Washington state prisons learning green skills - MNN.com (6/22/09)
“At Stafford Creek the goal is to reduce the amount of garbage the prison sends to landfills each year from 1200 tons down to just 200. But the Sustainable Prison Project also has a loftier and harder to measure goal: to prepare inmates for the green economy once they're released from prison.”
Thanks, Lime.com, for the heads up.

Fireworks of the future may be “green” – Physorg.com (6/22/09)
”Some of these fireworks have already been used at circuses, rock concerts and other events, but none have been used at large outdoor displays. The problem: cost. The big challenge in launching these "eco-friendly" pyrotechnics into the sky is making them cost-competitive with conventional fireworks while maintaining their dazzle and glow….Fireworks manufacturers have little incentive to further develop the new green fireworks because no federal regulations currently limit releases of perchlorate from pyrotechnics.”
Thanks, Lime.com, for the heads up.

Plastic “soup” found in Atlantic, other ocean bodies - Christian Science Monitor (6/18/09)
”Because the plastic has broken down into tiny pieces, it is virtually impossible to recover, meaning that it has essentially become a permanent part of the ecosystem. The full impact of its presence there – what happens if fish and other marine animals eat the plastic, which attracts toxins that could enter the food chain – is still unclear.”

Profits Follow Good Ethics

In the world of business, profit is everything, so when a study reveals that doing good is more profitable, all of us who are trying to make a difference in the world should cheer.

From the recent article, “Sustainable Success”:

"But here’s a lesson many executives have yet to learn: A commitment to improving social and environmental conditions in the developing countries where a company operates is the key to maximizing the profits and growth of those operations. That’s the conclusion we drew after studying more than 200 companies. As a group, the companies most engaged in social and environmental sustainability are also the most profitable."

You can read the whole article here.

~ Zoe

Teaching Our Children Common Sense Should Be...Common Sense

After running up our local mountain, my husband suggested we stop at our co-op to get some cereal. Since I didn’t know when we’d be back in town, I decided to stock up on other things as well, including two bottles of wine. The cashier was eighteen and legally can’t ring up wine so she called another employee to okay the purchase. I jokingly said I’d be happy to be carded since that would make me feel like I still looked young(ish). She turned to my husband instead and asked if he had an ID. He didn’t, because I was the one who was driving, so he hadn’t brought his wallet for our morning run; but he wasn’t buying the wine anyway. I was. So I pulled out my ID to show her (not that she asked me, mind you, but the whole thing seemed pretty funny, and I wanted to comply and feel younger at the same time -- which could be the topic of another blog post). Just so you know I’m about to turn 48 and my husband is 51. Now he’s a very young looking 51, but there’s no way to mistake him for a twenty-year-old. The woman became somewhat agitated. She said that she was required to check his ID if we were together. This seemed crazy to us, given that I can buy wine when my 15-year-old son is with me, but she was pretty insistent. The cashier tried to be the voice of reason and suggested that they could use their common sense, but the woman was still uneasy and uncomfortable about me buying the wine. She did allow it, but reluctantly, and with the comment that she shouldn’t let me buy it, but she would this time. Our exchange about carding a middle-aged woman had suddenly turned surreal.

I later clarified the policy at our co-op and researched the Maine laws on carding, and while it’s within the rights of an employee to card people who are with someone who’s purchasing alcohol (let’s say you have a bunch of young looking people hanging around the beer cooler handing the buyer six packs – you can ask to see everyone’s ID in the group), it’s not a law that you must card people who are with the purchaser. You can exercise your judgment.

Which leads me to common sense. Rob Shetterly’s commencement speech was a clarion call for common sense. It is common sense not to despoil the ecosystems that support your own life (or it should be). It is common sense to seek nonviolent resolutions to conflict before going to war (or it should be). It is common sense not to use up limited resources (or it should be). It is common sense not to spend money you don’t have and can’t be confident you’ll acquire (or it should be).

I think that our common sense, while innate, is curiously diminished in school. We are asked to memorize names and dates of battles and fill in circles on standardized tests to demonstrate that we’ve followed these rules, yet commonsense might suggest that such learning and acquisition of facts isn’t really useful and that our time could be better spent. It is common sense to finish a thought, a paragraph, a sentence or a discussion, but when the bell rings in school, students are taught to respond like robots rather than learners and immediately get up and move to the next class. It is common sense to eat healthy, tasty and nutritious foods, but our school cafeterias by and large serve foods that are anything but. It is commonsense to allow children to move their energetic bodies, but our schools confine them in hard chairs the vast majority of their days and are taking away or lessening the time for recess.

After years of learning to suppress their common sense, is it any wonder that we have learned not to trust ourselves and our good minds? Common sense tells us we should foster our children’s common sense as they grow up, and cultivate their capacity to think clearly and act wisely (or it should be).

~ Zoe