Descriptive Essay : My Water Footprint

Carbon footprint is the total of greenhouse gases produced by an individual’s habits as well as the energy required to produce things an individual consumes.

In the modern age of high-speed internet, self-driving cars and VR it’s easy to forget that some places in the world still don’t have fresh water, let alone plumbing. The average person uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water a day. If you drink the recommended 8 glasses per day that’s only 8 oz a glass, or 64 oz in total. Of those 80 to 100 gallons we use an average of 3 every time we flush the toilet, 5 gallons per minute in the shower, 36 gallons for a bath, 8-27 gallons while doing the dishes, 25 gallons for every load of laundry and another 2 gallons a minute if you’re doing any outdoor watering or filling a kiddy pool. By using a newer toilet, you can reduce the gallons per flush to about 1.6 gallons, and when using a water saving shower head you can reduce your use to about 2 gallons per minute. This may not seem like much of a difference, but it can make a big impact.

In the article “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water” by Michael Hiltzik argues that water is complicated in California and how it has been used lately over the years. In the articles section Urban use: the shame of turf, says that the appliances have been made with a low use of water. I agree with Hiltzik that that we should consider/use low-flow toilets, water-stingy washing machines and other appliances that can help us conserve water. In the article “ The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, section Urban use: The shame of turf, it states that “...even though daily urban consumption fell to 178 gallons per capita in 2010 from 232 in 1995, according to the Public Policy Institute of California- thanks largely to low-flow

The way Americans use water all depends on the location and how much water is readily available. California, a dry state with scarce water supply, versus Florida, a tropical state with more water resources, have very different ways of using water throughout the day. For example, Coastal southern California has cutting-edge water usage policies, including mandatory low-flow toilets and strict lawn watering laws (Pickert, 19). Compared to Florida, which has an adequate water supply, Floridians still use more water than what is available, and have very little water usage policies to resolve this issue (Behn, 45). Although there are many issues concerning water usage in Florida and California, there are many ways in which they can be resolved,

Water sustainability is an ever-growing problem because of the increase in population, and over consumption used by agriculture, industry, and domestic which are using more water than we are able to supply. According to CBS News, California’s water shortage has been a big issue since 2011. Climate change has a lot to do with the amount of water we have available to us because the amount we need does not cut out to the amount needed to satisfy the population. Therefore, conservation is key; we must take into consideration the amount we use in a daily basis. Both you and I can easily save water we have, directly and indirectly like what we consume with what we eat, buy and use, which would overall improve water sustainability.

Our lives involve the emission of theses dangerous greenhouse gases (Bushnell 25). Carbon dioxide has increased to

The United States agriculture makes up for more than two-thirds of our nations water footprint. That huge water footprint is primarily due to the tremendous amount of water needed to grow the grass and feed that a cow eats over its lifetime. This also includes the Cattles drinking water, cleaning, and processing. Those who are greatly affected by the lack of water in their states, particularly in the west coast, feel that the amount of water consumption needs to be reduced significantly. According to the National Geographic, “the water it takes to produce the average American diet alone—approximately 1,000 gallons per person per day. This is more than the global average water footprint of 900 gallons per person per day for diet, household

Americans consume far more water on average than people in other countries. This means there is significant room for making lifestyle changes and reducing our per capita water usage. However,

Have you ever thought about how much water you waste each day? If you haven't, than that is pretty normal. People in America have it so good here because they can just walk to a fossate and get clean water. But in other parts of the world it is not that easy. They have to walk long treks just to get water that is not even clean.

Using less water also puts less pressure on our sewage treatment facilities, and uses less energy for water supply to the grid.

As I sat next to the loud river that was bursting out of the Sylvan Dam, I noticed the water was in an invariable battle with the rocks, crashing and thrashing against each other like medieval warriors scraping for land. I looked around the edges of the river to see the copiousness of colors from the trees contrasting the sinister blue water. The rapids put off a pleasant and dulcet sound that ultimately ended in me having to relieve some building pressure down the trail. After returning to my riverside view, I noticed that farther down the gleaming river, fish were jumping and flipping like delicious pancakes on a griddle. Making the split-second decision to fish, I sprinted to my 1999 black Chevy Silverado, unlatched the tailgate and snatched all of my waterproof fishing gear. Slipping on my Mossberg max 4 Camo Gander Mountain guided series waders is no easy chore. While looking like the most incapable human being ever I finally managed to slip on the foul scum smelling waders that I so dearly should have washed. Feeling like a professional mountain climber, I started scaling the steep inclement of the river bank. Stomping my insulated waders into the frigid dour murky water, I ventured my path out onto a construction of rocks forming a beautiful approach for spotting fish. I released my light green jointed shad Rapala from my St. Croix Legend Elite spinning rod and casted the shad into pooling backwater just off of my rocky approachment. Feeling the vibration of the shad through my rod, smacking against slime covered rocks and ripping through dense weedy areas. I felt aspirant to not get hung up on a rock resulting in a line break, I successfully retrieved my lure. After casting and reeling my line several times and just started zoning out, I was abruptly startled to hear a ruckus coming from the west side embankment. Glancing quickly back to the water to see where my lure was only to hear a loud splash coming from the same place where I first noticed the ruckus. Three deer, with golden brown fur coated enrolled into the water. Realizing that the leaders of the small herd were both doe’s and a younger buck eagerly followed. The buck had a nice six-point rack, with long tines and a wide spread. He kept his

But what is a carbon footprint? Basically, carbon footprints are defined as the total amount of greenhouse gasses that are produced when it comes to supporting human activities (and which are expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide) (What is a carbon footprint?). Driving a car, heating one's house, even buying

The footprint calculator also made suggestions regarding ways to reduce my impact on the planet. For example, I could reduce the

In order to be an integral part in saving the Earth’s environment and ensuring resources for future generations, the way individuals live needs to change. Being fortunate enough to reside in one of the nation’s most developed countries, I wanted to make sure the way I have been living has been meeting the standards set by sustainable living. Using the overall environmental footprint provided by Global Footprint Network, I was able to pinpoint the areas in my life that needed to improve in order for me to be more sustainable. I chose to use this Footprint calculator because it gives you a breakdown on how many resources from the planet are needed in order to provide for your living standards. Once you have input the information, the calculator provides a general ecological footprint explanation and gives real case scenarios in which you can do to reduce it. The results for my footprint were as follows: If everyone were to live the way I do, we would need 5.3 planet earths to provide enough resources. It would take 23.6 global acres of land for energy production, which would emit 23.6 tons of carbon dioxide, and the biggest impacts on my personal footprint included 36 percent of services, 21 percent food and 19 percent mobility.

According to water footprint studies, three classes of water use exists, namely, blue water which refers to the volume of surface and groundwater consumed in the manufacture of a product, green water which refers to the volume of consumption of rainwater excluding any runoffs and grey water is polluted water and by definition is the amount of freshwater needed to assimilate the load of pollutants given natural background concentrations and existing ambient water quality standards (Hoekstra et al 2011). The understanding of water footprint will eventually lead behavioral changes which will in turn ensure sustainable water use.